Amy Eilberg (born October 12, 1954) is the first
female rabbi
Women rabbis are individual Jewish women who have studied Jewish Law and received rabbinical ordination. Women rabbis are prominent in Progressive Jewish denominations, however, the subject of women rabbis in Orthodox Judaism is more complex. A ...
ordained in
Conservative Judaism
Conservative Judaism, known as Masorti Judaism outside North America, is a Jewish religious movement which regards the authority of ''halakha'' (Jewish law) and traditions as coming primarily from its people and community through the generatio ...
. She was ordained in 1985 by the
Jewish Theological Seminary of America
The Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) is a Conservative Jewish education organization in New York City, New York. It is one of the academic and spiritual centers of Conservative Judaism and a major center for academic scholarship in Jewish studie ...
,
[ one of the academic centers and spiritual centers of ]Conservative Judaism
Conservative Judaism, known as Masorti Judaism outside North America, is a Jewish religious movement which regards the authority of ''halakha'' (Jewish law) and traditions as coming primarily from its people and community through the generatio ...
.
Youth and early life
Eilberg was born October 12, 1954, in Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
, USA. Her father, Joshua Eilberg
Joshua Eilberg (February 12, 1921 – March 24, 2004) was a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania.
Early life and education
Eilberg was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Central High Schoo ...
, represented Pennsylvania in the U.S. House of Representatives, and her mother, Gladys, was a social worker
Social work is an academic discipline and practice-based profession concerned with meeting the basic needs of individuals, families, groups, communities, and society as a whole to enhance their individual and collective well-being. Social work ...
.[
] Her parents were proud but not observant Jews, but when Eilberg was fourteen, her newfound commitment to traditional Jewish observance led her mother to make their home kitchen conform to the Jewish dietary laws kashrut
(also or , ) is a set of dietary laws dealing with the foods that Jewish people are permitted to eat and how those foods must be prepared according to Jewish law. Food that may be consumed is deemed kosher ( in English, yi, כּשר), fro ...
. In high school, she was involved in the United Synagogue Youth
United Synagogue Youth (USY) is the youth movement of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism (USCJ). It was founded in 1951, under the auspices of the Youth Commission of what was then the United Synagogue of America.
USY operates in the ...
and she later worked at Camp Ramah
Camp Ramah ( he, מחנה רמה, Machaneh Ramah) is a network of Jewish summer camps affiliated with the Conservative Movement. The camps operate in the United States, Canada, and Israel. All Ramah camps serve kosher food and are '' Shabbat''-o ...
in the Poconos, in New England, and in Wisconsin.
Eilberg attended Brandeis University
, mottoeng = "Truth even unto its innermost parts"
, established =
, type = Private research university
, accreditation = NECHE
, president = Ronald D. Liebowitz
, pro ...
from 1972 to 1976, continuing to develop her deep interest in Judaism. She majored in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies, and also became an active member of Hillel International
Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life, also known as Hillel International or Hillel, is the largest Jewish campus organization in the world, working with thousands of college students globally. Hillel is represented at more than 550 colle ...
on campus. While at Brandeis she learned how to read the Torah
The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the s ...
and began to pray with tallit
A tallit ''talit'' in Modern Hebrew; ''tālēt'' in Sephardic Hebrew and Ladino language, Ladino; ''tallis'' in Ashkenazic Hebrew and Yiddish language, Yiddish. Mishnaic Hebrew, Mish. pl. טליות ''telayot''; Heb. pl. טליתות ''tallitot' ...
and tephillin
Tefillin (; Modern Hebrew language, Israeli Hebrew: / ; Ashkenazim, Ashkenazic pronunciation: ), or phylacteries, are a set of small black leather boxes with leather straps containing scrolls of parchment inscribed with verses from the Torah. Te ...
. In 1976 she graduated from Brandeis and enrolled in Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) to do graduate work in Talmud
The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cente ...
. After receiving her master's degree, she taught at Midreshet Yerushalayim, an intensive egalitarian yeshiva program run by the JTS in Israel. When she found out that JTS had tabled the question of women's ordination in 1979, she was disappointed but she began to pursue doctoral studies in Talmud, first at Neve Schechter, the JTS branch in Jerusalem, and then at JTS in New York City. She later enrolled in the Smith College School for Social Work
The Smith College School for Social Work is a professional school within Smith College that provides graduate social work education to students around the world. In its history, the school has educated approximately 7000 clinical social workers, ...
and in 1984 received her masters of social work.[
]
Rabbinical school
Eilberg was among the first group of women who immediately signed up for classes in the rabbinical school in the fall of 1984.[ Since the early 1970s, leaders of the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) had engaged in serious discussions and debates about women's ordination in Conservative Judaism. Hastened by the Reform movement's decision to ordain ]Sally Priesand
Sally Jane Priesand (born June 27, 1946) is America's first female rabbi Semikha, ordained by a rabbinical seminary, and the second formally ordained female rabbi in Jewish history, after Regina Jonas. Priesand was ordained by the Hebrew Union Co ...
in 1972 and the Reconstructionist movement to ordain Sandy Eisenberg Sasso
Sandy Eisenberg Sasso is the first woman to have been ordained a rabbi in Reconstructionist Judaism. She was ordained by the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Philadelphia, on May 19, 1974. She is also the author of many children's books on ...
in 1974, members of the Rabbinical Assembly, the central organization of Conservative rabbis, initiated exploratory studies about Jewish legal attitudes toward women's ordination.[Gerson Cohen, chancellor of JTS from 1972 to 1986, became an active proponent of the admission of women into rabbinical programs after reviewing the conclusions of a national study conducted in the late 1970s. In October 1983, shortly after the death of Rabbi Saul Lieberman, who had been a powerful force against women's ordination, the faculty of JTS voted to allow women to enter their rabbinical school. (See Nadell, Pamela S., "Women Who Would Be Rabbis: A History of Women's Ordination, 1889–1985" in ''Jewish Women's Life''.)] As of 2014, the seminaries of the Conservative Movement have ordained approximately 300 women rabbis.
Rabbinic life
On May 12, 1985, at the age of thirty, Eilberg became the first woman ordained in Conservative Judaism. In 1986 she became the first woman appointed to serve on the Rabbinical Assembly
The Rabbinical Assembly (RA) is the international association of Conservative rabbis. The RA was founded in 1901 to shape the ideology, programs, and practices of the Conservative movement. It publishes prayerbooks and books of Jewish interest, an ...
's Committee on Jewish Law and Standards
The Committee on Jewish Law and Standards is the central authority on halakha (Jewish law and tradition) within Conservative Judaism; it is one of the most active and widely known committees on the Conservative movement's Rabbinical Assembly. With ...
. She started her career as a chaplain at Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis
Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...
. She served for one year as the assistant rabbi at Har Zion Temple near Philadelphia. In 1989, she stepped down from that position at this synagogue, explaining in her resignation letter that her desire to spend more time with her young daughter was one of the primary motivations for her decision.[ She also realized that her true passion was for caring for the ill. She served as hospice chaplain for the Jewish Hospice Program in Philadelphia, then she helped found the Bay Area Jewish Healing Center in ]San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
where she directed the program's Jewish Hospice Care Program. At the height of the AIDS crisis
The AIDS epidemic, caused by HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus), found its way to the United States between the 1970s and 1980s, but was first noticed after doctors discovered clusters of Kaposi's sarcoma and pneumocystis pneumonia in homosexu ...
, the Jewish Healing Center offered spiritual care to Jews people living with illness, death, and loss.[
]
Eilberg appeared in a 2005 documentary, titled ''And the Gates Opened: Women in the Rabbinate,'' which features stories of and interviews with her, rabbi Sally Priesand
Sally Jane Priesand (born June 27, 1946) is America's first female rabbi Semikha, ordained by a rabbinical seminary, and the second formally ordained female rabbi in Jewish history, after Regina Jonas. Priesand was ordained by the Hebrew Union Co ...
, and rabbi Sandy Eisenberg Sasso
Sandy Eisenberg Sasso is the first woman to have been ordained a rabbi in Reconstructionist Judaism. She was ordained by the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Philadelphia, on May 19, 1974. She is also the author of many children's books on ...
.
On Dec. 6th, 2010, at Temple Reyim in Newton, MA
Newton is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is approximately west of downtown Boston. Newton resembles a patchwork of thirteen villages, without a city center. According to the 2020 U.S. Census, the population of Ne ...
, Amy Eilberg met for the first time with Sally Priesand
Sally Jane Priesand (born June 27, 1946) is America's first female rabbi Semikha, ordained by a rabbinical seminary, and the second formally ordained female rabbi in Jewish history, after Regina Jonas. Priesand was ordained by the Hebrew Union Co ...
, the first Reform female rabbi, Sandy Eisenberg Sasso
Sandy Eisenberg Sasso is the first woman to have been ordained a rabbi in Reconstructionist Judaism. She was ordained by the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Philadelphia, on May 19, 1974. She is also the author of many children's books on ...
, the first Reconstructionist female rabbi, and Sara Hurwitz
Sara Hurwitz is an Open Orthodox Jewish spiritual leader. She is considered by some to be the first female Orthodox rabbi. She serves as "Rabba" at the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, and the president and co-founder of Yeshivat Maharat, both in ...
, considered by some to be the first Orthodox female rabbi. They and approximately 30 other women rabbis lit Chanukah candles and then spoke about their experiences in an open forum.
On June 3, 2012, Priesand, Sasso, Eilberg, and Hurwitz met again, this time at Monmouth Reform Temple at a celebration honoring the four first women rabbis to be ordained in their respective denominations, and the 40th anniversary of Priesand's ordination.
The art exhibit “Holy Sparks”, which opened in February 2022 at the Heller Museum and the Skirball Museum, featured 24 Jewish women artists, who had each created an artwork about a female rabbi who was a first in some way. Pat Berger created the artwork about Eilberg.
Personal life
Eilberg has been married twice, first to Howard Eilberg-Schwartz, and then, in 1996, to Louis E. Newman, a professor of Judaic Studies at Carleton College
Carleton College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota. Founded in 1866, it had 2,105 undergraduate students and 269 faculty members in fall 2016. The 200-acre main campus is between Northfield and the 800-acre Cowling ...
.[ She has one daughter, Penina, from her first marriage, and two stepsons, Etan and Jonah, from her second.][ She lived in ]Mendota Heights, Minnesota
Mendota Heights is a city in Dakota County, Minnesota, United States. It is a first ring southern suburb of the Twin Cities. The population was 11,744 at the 2020 census.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a tot ...
, and was a regular member of Beth Jacob Congregation Beth Jacob Congregation is a Conservative Jewish synagogue located in Mendota Heights, Minnesota, United States. It was founded in 1985 and has a membership of 400 families. Beth Jacob is a community of Jews who come together to nurture relationship ...
in Mendota Heights. She currently lives in San Francisco.
Writings
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See also
*Timeline of women rabbis
This is a timeline of women rabbis.
* Pre-modern figures
** 1590–1670: Asenath Barzani is considered the first female rabbi of Jewish history by some scholars.
** 1805–1888 Hannah Rachel Verbermacher (the Maiden of Ludmir) was the only ...
Notes
References
External links
JTS Faculty Senate Votes to Admit Women
October 24, 1983
Amy Eilberg ordained as first female Conservative rabbi
Jewish Women and the Feminist Revolution
from the Jewish Women's Archive
March 18, 2009
Amy Eilberg, An Ordination First, and What Followed
in ''Jewish Daily Forward'', May 14, 2010
Videos
* at the 2010 Guardian of Democracy Dinner, October 16, 2010.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eilberg, Amy
1954 births
Living people
20th-century American rabbis
21st-century American rabbis
American Conservative rabbis
Brandeis University alumni
Conservative women rabbis
People from Mendota Heights, Minnesota
1985 in Judaism
American social workers
Smith College School for Social Work alumni