Jane Evans (1907–2004) was the executive director of the National Federation of Temple Sisterhoods (now the

Women of Reform Judaism Women of Reform Judaism (WRJ), formerly known as the National Federation of Temple Sisterhoods, is the women's affiliate of the Union for Reform Judaism. As the primary women's organization in the Reform Jewish movement, WRJ represents over 65,000 ...

) from 1933 to 1976. She was its first full-time Executive Director, as from 1913 until 1933 (its first twenty years) the National Federation of Temple Sisterhoods was led by volunteer presidents. Evans also became president of the National Peace Conference in 1950. Evans supported ordination for women. On April 29, 1957, she spoke to 1,000 delegates at a biennial general assembly meeting of the

Union for Reform Judaism The Union for Reform Judaism (URJ), known as the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (UAHC) until 2003, founded in 1873 by Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, is the congregational arm of Reform Judaism in North America. The other two arms established ...

(then called the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (UAHC)) in favor of ordaining women, a speech which the New York Times called a "strong plea," though the UAHC took no action. While Evans was still executive director of the National Federation of Temple Sisterhoods in 1963, it approved a resolution at its biennial assembly calling on the UAHC, the

Central Conference of American Rabbis The Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR), founded in 1889 by Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, is the principal organization of Reform rabbis in the United States and Canada. The CCAR is the largest and oldest rabbinical organization in the world. I ...

, and the

Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

to move forward on the ordination of women. In 1958, Evans reported that she and several other women had informally filled the role of rabbis upon the request of their congregations. In 2003 Rabbi Adrienne Scott, who was then a rabbinic student at

in Cincinnati, wrote her thesis on Jane Evans, titled ''An Analysis of Dr. Jane Evans' Professional Contributions to the National Federation of Temple Sisterhoods''; it is the first and as of 2005 the only full-length study of Evans' life. The Jane Evans Papers are now held in the

American Jewish Archives The Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives, founded in 1947, is committed to preserving a documentary heritage of the religious, organizational, economic, cultural, personal, social and family life of American Jewry. It has bec ...

, where they were donated by the Union for Reform Judaism in June 2004.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Evans, Jane American Reform Jews Reform Jewish feminists 1907 births 2004 deaths