FEMALE RABBIS COMMON TODAY

Q: Why does the Jewish faith allow female rabbis? Has this always been a part of the Jewish tradition? If not, when did the change take place? I don't remember females in this role in the Old Testament. -- D., from Pennsylvania, via godsquadquestion@aol.com

A: There were no women rabbis in the Hebrew Bible because there were no rabbis in the Bible. Rabbis emerged as the leaders and teachers of Judaism after the priestly Judaism died with the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans in the first century.

The opposition of rabbis to ordaining women was based on their ruling that women are exempt from all commandments that must be fulfilled at a specific time. This exemption was not the result of sexism but rather of not wanting to put women in a position where they'd face a conflict between their duties as mothers and their duty to fulfill a particular commandment. No one wanted women to have to leave a child to obey another commandment.

The problem, however, was that in Jewish law, you can't obey a commandment that you're not obligated to obey, and because women were not obligated to pray at a certain time and read from the torah at a certain time like men, they couldn't simply decide to do these things when they had no other family obligations. So, because women could not read from the torah, lead the congregation in prayer, or be counted in the group of 10 Jewish men needed to pray communally (called a minyan), they could not be rabbis.

After the rise of liberal Judaism at the beginning of the 19th century in Germany, and then in America, a more inclusive view of the role of women was adopted. Now women and men could sit together during prayer. Now women could have bat mitzvahs and could become rabbis.

However, for reasons that aren't entirely clear and have more to do with sexism in America than anything in the new understanding of Judaism, no women were ordained until Sally Priesand became a rabbi in 1972. I had the honor of being ordained with her at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, the seminary of Reform Judaism. (If you look at the Page 1 photo of Sally in the New York Times, you can see me behind her; I'm the one with the long hair who looks like a terrorist.) Sally just retired from the pulpit to become Rabbi Emerita of the only synagogue she ever served, Monmouth Reform Temple, Tinton Falls, N.J.)

Today a large percentage of rabbinical and cantorial students at HUC-JIR are women. Women can be ordained as rabbis in the seminary of Conservative Judaism and Reconstructionist Judaism. Even some orthodox rabbis are looking into ways to accommodate both the demands of traditional Jewish law and those of parents who want their daughters to have the same spiritual horizons in Judaism as their sons.

All this began with Sally Priesand, whose accomplishment reminds us all that one person can make a difference in the ancient wisdom traditions that must balance responsiveness to what the world is learning with respect for the accumulated wisdom of the past. God bless you, Sally!

Q: Please help my town work out a problem. Our interfaith community organization wanted an interfaith Thanksgiving service. The Baptists offered to host. However, a rabbi would participate only if prayers were not offered in name of Jesus. No solution was found.

I'm thinking of two possible solutions, but would like your opinion before I present them: 1) Christians should adapt to Jewish sensibilities because: We have the "prayer that Jesus taught us" (the Lord's Prayer, which doesn't mention Jesus); many prayers in my Christian tradition are to the Holy Spirit (no "Jesus"); and Christianity embraces the entire Hebrew bible; 2) Since some Christians objected to being asked not to use the name of Jesus name in their own house of worship, if a rabbi hosts the service, he/she sets the liturgical parameters for all Christian participants to respect.

Do you have any other suggestions for how we can honor both traditions? I strongly feel Christians should not fight about the name of Jesus -- the Prince of Peace. We should adapt to the Jews on this (then we Christians can go back to fighting one another!) -- Anonymous, from Florida, via godsquadquestion@aol.com )

A: Even though I'm generally in favor of adapting to the Jews, that's not the right solution here. An answer will be found when the rabbi and the hosting pastor get to know and respect each other, and hopefully, become friends. Then, each will say in his heart, "I'd never do anything to embarrass my friend. How can I conduct this service with sensitivity, kindness and respect?"

What I hope would happen is that the rabbi would say in his heart, "I'm going to attend the house of worship of my friend. If he prays to Jesus, I'll listen and pick out the parts of the prayer that don't invoke Jesus and I will say 'Amen' in my heart to those parts. I know my friend is not praying to Jesus to hurt or embarrass me, but because for him Jesus is God, and it's not my place to make my friend call God by the name I choose."

I would also hope the minister would say in his heart, "I have many ways to pray to Jesus as my Lord and Savior and not all of them require me to use his name. My friend the rabbi is standing next to me and I know that if I use Jesus' name, it will make him uncomfortable. Why would I want to do that to my friend? He was gracious and respectful to not demand that I leave out Jesus' name, so I'll return his kindness by leaving it out as an act of friendship and respect."

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