Judaism-Reform

Content type
Collection

Agunot

Agunot are women who are unable to obtain a rabbinic divorce because their husbands or husbands’ male next of kin are unable to give one, leaving them chained in marital captivity. Although many efforts have been made to address these problems, for those most part agunot in halakhically observant communities continue to face deep-seated challenges.

Rabbi Cantor Angela Warnick Buchdahl

Angela Buchdahl

Angela Warnick Buchdahl is the first Asian American to be ordained as a rabbi and cantor. She is the senior rabbi of Central Synagogue in New York and is a major leader in American Judaism’s continued work on diversity, equity, inclusion, and innovation.

Painting with the outline of a human figure. Grey background with overlapping square shapes. One contains another small outlined face that faces the outlined figure.
November 22, 2019

A Trip to Crown Heights

Belle Gage

I was visiting Brooklyn, New York with a group of students in my Reform synagogue’s confirmation class. 

Topics: Women's Rights, Judaism-Reform, Synagogues/Temples
Camp counselor surrounded by campers, all wearing white. Sitting on benches during services.
November 4, 2019

In the Image of God?

Mica Maltzman

When I was younger, around the time of my consecration, my vision of God was simple.

Topics: Jewish Education, Judaism-Reform, Theology
Elyse Goldstein with Torah

Elyse Goldstein

As one of the first women rabbis in Canada, Elyse Goldstein has broken down barriers by founding inclusive communities for learning and prayer.

Rabbi Ellen Weinberg Dreyfus

Ellen Dreyfus

As one of the first women rabbis (and the first to be ordained while pregnant), Ellen Weinberg Dreyfus helped create a model for work-life balance for both women and men in the rabbinate.

Elaine Zecher

Elaine Zecher

Rabbi Elaine Zecher uses her own experiences of illness and struggle to counsel congregants and craft prayers for Mishkan T’fillah and Mishkan HaNefesh, the prayer books of the Reform Movement.
Ellen Dreyfus

Ellen Dreyfus

As one of the very first women to be ordained, Rabbi Ellen Weinberg Dreyfus helped shape policy for rabbis throughout the Reform movement.
NFTY STR Spring Kallah 2016
October 11, 2016

Leading a Sea of Voices

Hannah Himmelgreen

I never realized that it was possible for my whole outlook on Judaism to be transformed in an hour and a half, or that a few moments of hearing voices come together in prayer could move me so deeply. But that’s exactly what happened when I led my youth group in Shabbat services this past March. 

Topics: Spirituality and Religious Life, Judaism-Reform
Ray Frank in San Francisco, circa 1897

Ray Frank's Yom Kippur Sermon, 1890

Read the 1890 Yom Kippur sermon by Ray Frank, the first Jewish woman to preach formally from a pulpit, and consider what unites and divides the Jewish people both historically and today.

Miri Gold

Miri Gold

In a landmark case in 2012, Miri Gold became the first non-Orthodox rabbi to have her salary paid by the Israeli government.
Naamah Kelman cropped

Naamah Kelman

The first woman rabbi to be ordained in Israel, Naamah Kelman has helped cultivate future rabbis as the first female dean of Hebrew Union College’s Jerusalem campus.
Kinneret Shiryon cropped

Kinneret Shiryon

The first female congregational rabbi to serve in Israel, Kinneret Shiryon went on to establish Kehillat Yozma, the first non-Orthodox congregation to receive funding from the state.

Jane Evans

Although she never became a rabbi, Jane Evans, Executive Director of the National Federation of Temple Sisterhoods, became a powerful voice for women’s ordination within the Reform Movement.
Carrie Obendorfer Simon

Carrie Obendorfer Simon

Carrie Obendorfer Simon helped shape the Reform movement as founder of the National Federation of Temple Sisterhoods, which quickly became the largest Jewish women’s organization in America.
Penina Moise

Penina Moïse

Penina Moïse shaped Jewish culture through her poetry as the first woman poet included in an American prayer book.

Adele Bluthenthal Heiman

Adele Blumenthal Heiman spent her life in Arkansas, helping create and lead the state’s close-knit Jewish community.

Reina Hartmann

Reina Goldstein Hartmann focused her career on improving the lives of Jewish women in her native Chicago.

Stella Heinsheimer Freiberg

Stella Heinsheimer Freiberg helped found the Reform Movement’s National Federation of Temple Sisterhoods and pushed for the major American Reform organizations to join the World Union for Progressive Judaism.
Amy K. Blank, circa 1940s

Death of writer Amy K. Blank

September 17, 1990

Amy Blank's poetry expressed the gentleness, insight, and devotion for which she was known.

Laura Geller

Laura Geller

As one of the first women rabbis, Laura Geller pushed for women’s greater inclusion in both Jewish liturgy and Jewish leadership.
Helen Miller Dalsheimer

Helen Miller Dalsheimer

Helen Miller Dalsheimer took on leadership roles both locally through her synagogue, the Baltimore Hebrew Congregation, and on a national level.
Ruth F. Brin

Ruth F. Brin

Ruth F. Brin helped transform modern prayer with her evocative writing, translation, and poetry.

Esther Jane Ruskay

At a time when the Jewish community was focused on the benefits of assimilation and the possibilities of ethical culture, Esther Jane Ruskay argued passionately for a return to traditional religious practice and study.
Betty Robbins

Betty Robbins

Betty Robbins spent her life breaking gender boundaries in the Jewish community even before she made history as the first woman cantor in 1955.

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