Janet Marder was the first female president of the Reform Movement's

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 ...

(CCAR), which means she was the first woman to lead a major rabbinical organization and the first woman to lead any major Jewish co-ed religious organization in the United States; she became president of the CCAR in 2003. She was also the first woman and the first non-congregational rabbi to be elected as the President of the Pacific Association of Reform Rabbis. She was born in Los Angeles, and was ordained in New York in 1979 at 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 ...

, a Reform seminary. She became the first ordained rabbi of

Beth Chayim Chadashim Beth Chayim Chadashim (בית חיים חדשים, "House of New Life") was founded in Mid-City Los Angeles in 1972 as a synagogue primarily for lesbians and gays. Affiliated with Reform Judaism, it has been acknowledged by the Los Angeles Conser ...

(the world's first gay and lesbian synagogue recognized by Reform Judaism) in 1983. While there she founded NECHAMA, an

AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...

-education program for the Jewish community. In 1988, she became the assistant director of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations Pacific Southwest Council, where she worked for eleven years, eventually becoming director. In 1999, she became the Senior Rabbi of Congregation Beth Am in

Los Altos Hills Los Altos Hills (; ''Los Altos'', Spanish language, Spanish for "The Heights") is an List of municipalities in California, incorporated town in Santa Clara County, California, Santa Clara County, California, United States. The population was 8,4 ...

, California.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marder, Janet Reform women rabbis American Reform rabbis Living people People from Los Angeles People from Los Altos Hills, California Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American Jews

See also

References