On June 3, 1972, Sally J. Priesand became the first woman to be ordained as a rabbi in the United States. On May 23, just ahead of the 50th anniversary of Rabbi Priesand’s ordination, the Stephen Wise Temple Center for Jewish Life will host a special webinar celebrating 50 years of women in the rabbinate, featuring Rabbi Carole Balin, Ph.D., and our own Rabbi Sari Laufer.
Stephen Wise Temple’s Center for Jewish Life Presents: “Sacred Calling: Celebrating 50 Years of Women in the Rabbinate”
Rabbi Carole Balin, Ph.D., in conversation with Rabbi Sari Laufer
Monday, May 23, 2022 at 7 p.m. | Register
When Sally Priesand walked across the bimah at the Plum Street Temple in Cincinnati, Ohio, on June 3, 1972, she changed the American Jewish experience. By receiving her rabbinic ordination that day from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, she became the first woman ordained in America, the first woman ordained by a recognized seminary, and the second woman ever given the title of Rabbi.
In the 50 years since, women have followed through the door that Rabbi Priesand opened, becoming rabbis in not only the Reform Movement, but in Reconstructionist, Conservative, and Orthodox Judaism as well. Rabbi Carole Balin, Ph.D., and Stephen Wise Temple Rabbi Sari Laufer will talk about the ways that women have and continue to change not only the rabbinate, but the American Jewish experience as a whole.
A Zoom webinar link will be sent upon completion of your registration.
About Rabbi Carole Balin, Ph.D.: As a prolific writer and teacher, Rabbi Carole B. Balin, Ph.D., is known for her fresh ideas, authenticity, and way with words. She is chair of the board of the Jewish Women’s Archive and professor emerita of history at her alma mater, Hebrew Union College, where she was the first woman at the New York campus to earn tenure. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Wellesley College, she earned a doctorate at Columbia University and speaks and publishes widely on gender and the Jewish experience.
Carole is currently writing a book about bat mitzvah anchored in the stories of the pioneering girls who sparked a gender revolution in Jewish life. Her expertise on the Jewish coming-of-age rite has informed NPR’s “All Things Considered,” The New York Times, The Forward, Huffington Post, Kveller, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency and the podcasts Can We Talk? and Adventures in Jewish Studies. Her research interests included gender studies, Modern Jewish History, American Judaism, and the intersection thereof.