Sally Jane Priesand (born June 27, 1946) is America's first female

rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform ...

by a rabbinical seminary, and the second formally ordained female rabbi in Jewish history, after Regina Jonas. Priesand was ordained by the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion on June 3, 1972, at the Plum Street Temple in Cincinnati. After her ordination she served first as assistant and then as associate rabbi at Stephen Wise Free Synagogue in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, and later led Monmouth Reform Temple in

Tinton Falls, New Jersey Tinton Falls is a borough in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 17,892,

Early life and education

Sally Jane Priesand was born June 27, 1946, in

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

into a

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...

ish family. Her parents, Irving Theodore, an engineer, and Rose Elizabeth (Welch) Priesand were not religiously observant but they were active in Jewish organizations. Her mother served as president of the sisterhood of their temple, while her father was president of a

B'nai B'rith B'nai B'rith International (, from he, בְּנֵי בְּרִית, translit=b'né brit, lit=Children of the Covenant) is a Jewish service organization. B'nai B'rith states that it is committed to the security and continuity of the Jewish peo ...

lodge. Her family lit Shabbat candles, celebrated Chanukah and had a Passover Seder to which the children were encouraged to invite a non-Jewish friend to share in the festivities and learn about Judaism. The family first attended a non-egalitarian

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

synagogue, and later attended Beth Israel-West Temple, a

Reform Reform ( lat, reformo) means the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The use of the word in this way emerges in the late 18th century and is believed to originate from Christopher Wyvill's Association movement ...

congregation on Cleveland's West Side, where Priesand began to display a commitment to Judaism and Jewish life as a teenager. Priesand did not become Bat Mitzvah but was confirmed and continued her religious school education through the twelfth grade. At the age of 16, she decided she wanted to be a rabbi.Priesand writes in a statement: "I decided I wanted to be a rabbi in 1962 at the age of 16. Fortunately, my parents gave me one of the greatest gifts a parent can give a child: the courage to dare and to dream. With their encouragement, I was able to remain focused on my goal, relatively unconcerned that no woman had ever been ordained rabbi by a theological seminary and determined to succeed despite the doubts I heard expressed in the organized Jewish community." She later described her decision to become a rabbi as "an affirmation of my belief in God, in the worth of each individual, and in Judaism as a way of life." While still in high school, she requested admission information from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati (HUC-JIR). In answer to her letter, the school responded: Entering the

University of Cincinnati The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati) is a public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1819 as Cincinnati College, it is the oldest institution of higher education in Cincinnati and has an annual enrollment of over 44,0 ...

in 1964, she was accepted into the joint program of HUC-JIR and the University of Cincinnati. She graduated with a

Bachelor A bachelor is a man who is not and has never been married.Bachelors are, in Pitt & al.'s phrasing, "men who live independently, outside of their parents' home and other institutional settings, who are neither married nor cohabitating". (). Etymo ...

of Hebrew Letters and a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from HUC-JIR and the University of Cincinnati in 1968.

Rabbinic school

Upon her graduation, she was admitted to HUC-JIR's rabbinic school without undergoing a formal application process, being the only woman among 35 men. While still in rabbinical school, she received a great deal of attention from the media. In April 1971, she was the subject of an article in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', titled "Her Ambition Is to Become a Rabbi – And a Housewife", in which she stated: Despite opposition – many said she was at HUC-JIR to marry a rabbi and become a

rebbetzin Rebbetzin ( yi, רביצין) or Rabbanit ( he, רַבָּנִית) is the title used for the wife of a rabbi—typically among Orthodox, Haredi, and Hasidic Jews—or for a female Torah scholar or teacher. Etymology The Yiddish word h ...

rather than to officiate as a rabbi – she became the first woman at Hebrew Union College to make it to ordination, an accomplishment she credits to her parents and to Rabbi

Nelson Glueck Nelson Glueck (June 4, 1900 – February 12, 1971) was an American rabbi, academic and archaeologist. He served as president of Hebrew Union College from 1947 until his death, and his pioneering work in biblical archaeology resulted in the disco ...

, the college's president who died a few months before her ordination. Her thesis for her

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Th ...

in Hebrew Letters degree, "Historic and Changing Role of the Jewish Woman", published in 1975 under the title ''Judaism and the New Woman'', highlighted the changing role of women in Jewish history and was meant to advance their emancipation in Jewish religious life. It was only many years later that she learned her ordination certificate from HUC had different wording for her title than the certificates of men graduating with her. "It came as a shock to me," she noted. "When I was ordained I was told I would be getting an empty tube because they had forgotten to change the language to the feminine" on the ordination scroll. "I just accepted that. When I finally got it I thought the title, which they had changed to 'rav u'morah,' was what all my classmates got, too." In actuality, male candidates' certificates identified them by the Reform movement's traditional "morenu harav," or "our teacher the rabbi," while female candidates' certificates only used the term "rav u'morah," or "rabbi and teacher", up until 2016. After four years of deliberation, HUC decided to give women a choice of wording beginning in 2016, including the option to have the same wording as men.

Career

Ordination

Priesand was ordained on June 3, 1972, by Glueck's successor as HUC-JIR's president Rabbi Alfred Gottschalk at the Plum Street Temple in Cincinnati, making her the first woman to be ordained as a rabbi in the United States and believed to be only the second woman ever to be formally ordained in the history of Judaism.Blau, Eleanor
"1st Woman Rabbi in U.S. Ordained; She May Be Only the Second in History of Judaism"
''

'', June 4, 1972. Retrieved September 17, 2009. "Sally J. Priesand was ordained at the Isaac M. Wise Temple here today, becoming the first woman rabbi in this country and it is believed, the second in the history of Judaism." Gottschalk called the ordination of Priesand "historic", one that breaks stereotypes and allows "Jewish women to consider seeking the rabbinate" and a testament to Reform Judaism's efforts at achieving "equality of women in the congregation of the Lord". By acquiescing to women's ordination at a time of social and political changes in American life, the Reform movement portrayed itself as continuing its historic project of adapting Judaism to respond to modernity while simultaneously demonstrating its commitment to women's equality. After her ordination, then member of

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

Bella Abzug Bella Savitzky Abzug (July 24, 1920 – March 31, 1998), nicknamed "Battling Bella", was an American lawyer, politician, social activist, and a leader in the women's movement. In 1971, Abzug joined other leading feminists such as Gloria Steine ...

arranged for her to deliver the opening prayer at the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

, making her the first Jewish woman to do so.

Rabbinical positions

Upon ordination, she was interviewed by some synagogues for her "public value, so they could say they were first", as she says, but others would not speak to her, and she was the last of her class to get a job. She was offered a position at Stephen Wise Free Synagogue in

, where she served for seven years under Rabbi Edward Klein, first as Assistant Rabbi and then as Associate Rabbi, leaving the congregation in 1979, when she realised that she would not succeed Klein as senior rabbi. Not able to find a full-time position, she served as part-time rabbi of Temple Beth El in Elizabeth, New Jersey and as Chaplain at Manhattan's

Lenox Hill Hospital Lenox Hill Hospital (LHH) is a nationally ranked 450-bed non-profit, tertiary, research and academic medical center located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City, servicing the tri-state area. LHH is one of the region's many unive ...

until 1981, when she became rabbi of Monmouth Reform Temple in

Tinton Falls, New Jersey Tinton Falls is a borough in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 17,892, but rejected the traditional model which encourages rabbis to look for larger pulpits and remained at Monmouth Reform Temple, a congregation of 365 families, where she "forged a creative partnership with ... her congregation, acting upon her belief that a rabbi's primary task is to help Jews take responsibility for their Judaism". In 1986 at Monmouth Reform Temple, she and cantor Ellen Sussman became the first all-women team of rabbi and cantor in any congregation. Also during her rabbinate, Monmouth Reform Temple created a Social Action Committee which launched a nationally recognized gun safety campaign (Please ASK, which was given an award in 2003 by the

Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism The Religious Action Center (RAC) is the political and legislative outreach arm of Reform Judaism in the United States. The Religious Action Center is operated under the auspices of the Commission on Social Action of Reform Judaism, a joint body of ...

), was a leader in the fight against drunk driving, created a permanent Fund for the Homeless to support the work of Interfaith Neighbors, sponsored an annual food drive for The Center in

Asbury Park Asbury Park () is a beachfront city located on the Jersey Shore in Monmouth County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is part of the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 15,188

, continued to host an annual Monmouth County arts festival, and instituted an annual "Mitzvah Day" of charitable volunteerism.

Documentary appearance

Priesand appeared in a 2005 documentary, titled ''And the Gates Opened: Women in the Rabbinate,'' which features stories of and interviews with her, 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 ...

, and rabbi Amy Eilberg.

Health issues

In 1987, Priesand was diagnosed with

breast cancer Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or a r ...

, which struck again eight years later, and in 2003, she was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. She was able to continue working during her treatments for breast cancer, but the thyroid cancer treatments forced her to take a three-month leave of absence. Her illness affected her rabbinate, making her "more sensitive and aware of the needs of others who were dealing with health crises", she said.

Organizational affiliations

Priesand has served on the board of every major institution of Reform Judaism, including 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 ...

, 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 establishe ...

and the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. She is a member of Jewish Women International, Hadassah, the

National Council of Jewish Women The National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW) is a 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization. Founded in 1893, NCJW is self-described as the oldest Jewish women’s grassroots organization in the United States, now comprised by over 180,000 members. As of ...

, the

National Organization for Women The National Organization for Women (NOW) is an American feminist organization. Founded in 1966, it is legally a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization. The organization consists of 550 chapters in all 50 U.S. states and in Washington, D.C. It ...

and the National Breast Cancer Coalition. In her local community, she is an Honorary Vice President of the Jewish Federation of Greater Monmouth County and President of Interfaith Neighbors, an organization whose primary purpose is to provide rental assistance and support services for those who are homeless. She also chairs the Clergy Advisory Committee of Planned Parenthood of Central New Jersey and serves on the board of the Holocaust, Genocide and Human Rights Education Center at

Brookdale Community College Brookdale Community College is a public community college in the Lincroft section of Middletown Township, in Monmouth County, New Jersey, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1967, the college also has regional locations in Neptune Township, ...

, and the Jewish Heritage Museum of Monmouth County.

Retirement and current life

Priesand retired from Monmouth Reform Temple on June 30, 2006, after 25 years of service to that congregation. She explained her retirement, saying: "I'm retiring by choice, because I believe that rabbis should know when to leave and when it's time to inject 'newness' into synagogue life." She intends to remain "a part of the temple family" as rabbi emerita, adding "being here has been the fulfillment of my dream to be a congregational rabbi, which is why I went to rabbinic school in the first place." Upon her retirement, Monmouth Reform Temple set up the "Sally Priesand Endowment Fund for the Future" in her honor to preserve and protect the temple's legacy. Priesand lives in Ocean Township,

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, with her Boston Terrier, Shadow. She intends to establish a Monmouth County kollel, a center for adult Jewish study. Her hobbies include

photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employe ...

and abstract watercolor. She had her first solo exhibition in the Backman Gallery at HUC-JIR in New York in 2002, in honor of the thirtieth anniversary of her ordination, and exhibits annually in the Monmouth Festival of the Arts. In 2007, she invited her female rabbinic colleagues of all denominations to join her in donating their professional and personal papers to 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 be ...

in Cincinnati, Ohio, in order to document the history of women in the rabbinate. The first ever exhibit of the historical memorabilia of her career was displayed at the Jewish Heritage Museum of Monmouth County in the winter of 2010. On December 6, 2010, at Temple Reyim in

Newton, Massachusetts 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 ...

, Priesand and the other three first American ordained women rabbis of four denominations of American Judaism met for the first time in an event called "First Lights", videotaped by the Los Angeles-based ''Story Archive of Women Rabbis'', a project which videotapes interviews with women rabbis from all streams of Judaism and archives their stories online. Priesand together with

, the first Reconstructionist female rabbi ordained in 1974, Amy Eilberg, the first

female rabbi ordained in 1985, and Sara Hurwitz (see below), lit Chanuka candles together with some 30 other women rabbis, and then spoke about their experiences.

40th anniversary of ordination

Priesand was honored in several events on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of her ordination in 2012. In March 2012, the Annual Convention of the

celebrated the 40th anniversary of women's ordination by calling Priesand to the Torah at the Monday morning prayer service; through May 2012, the

was running a blog to celebrate "Forty Years of Women" in honor of the anniversary; and Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion honored her as special guest at the June 2, 2012 ordination ceremony at Plum Street Temple, during which 13 candidates were ordained – eight of them women. On the day of the anniversary on June 3, 2012, Priesand, Eisenberg Sasso, Eilberg, and Hurwitz met for a "Four First Women Rabbis" discussion at Monmouth Reform Temple for a celebration honoring the four first women rabbis ordained in North America in their respective denominations, and the 40th anniversary of Priesand's ordination.

After her 40th ordination anniversary

In 2014 Priesand was one of those who attended the ceremony when a memorial plaque to Regina Jonas, the first woman to be ordained as a rabbi, was unveiled at Theresienstadt in the Czech Republic, where Regina Jonas had been deported to and worked in for two years. There is a short documentary about the trip on which this plaque was unveiled, titled ''In the Footsteps of Regina Jonas'', which includes Priesand.

50th anniversary of ordination

Two exhibits on the Cincinnati campus of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion marked the fiftieth anniversary of Priesand's ordination; Priesand herself was the keynote speaker at the opening reception for them. One of those exhibits was the art exhibit “Holy Sparks”, which featured 24 Jewish women artists, who had each created an artwork about a female rabbi who was a first in some way. Joan Roth created the artwork about Priesand. The other exhibit, called "Sally Priesand Paves the Way", featured "documents relating to Rabbi Sally J. Priesand's journey to becoming the first woman rabbi ordained in North America", and memorabilia and personal artifacts donated by Priesand. The anniversary was also marked by a number of articles in various media outlets.

Writings

Priesand is the author of ''Judaism and the New Woman'', and a contributor to ''Women Rabbis: Exploration and Celebration'', and to ''A Treasury of Favorite Sermons by Leading American Rabbis''. She also wrote the foreword to the book ''The Sacred Calling: Four Decades of Women in the Rabbinate'', published in 2016, which contains one piece called "Letters from Hebrew Union College to Sally J. Priesand" and another called "The Ordination of Sally J. Priesand, A Historic Interview".

Awards and honors

In 1973, Priesand was awarded an honorary doctor of humane letters degree from

Florida International University Florida International University (FIU) is a public research university with its main campus in Miami-Dade County. Founded in 1965, the school opened its doors to students in 1972. FIU has grown to become the third-largest university in Florid ...

. In 1979, the Supersisters trading card set was produced and distributed; card number 6 featured Priesand's name and picture. From 1981 to 1983,

Bonnie Tiburzi Bonnie Tiburzi (born August 31, 1948), is an American aviator. In 1973, at age 24, she became the first female pilot for American Airlines and the first female pilot for a major American commercial airline. At the same time she also became the f ...

put on three “Women of Accomplishment” luncheons for the Wings Club honoring certain women, including Priesand. In 1997, Priesand received an honorary doctor of divinity degree from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR). In the same year, the Rabbi Sally J. Priesand Visiting Professorship in Jewish Women's Studies was established in her honor at HUC-JIR. In 2006, upon her retirement, Monmouth Reform Temple dedicated its sanctuary doors in her honor; they are inscribed with the following words, "פִּתְחוּ לִי שַׁעֲרֵי צֶדֶק אָבֹא בָם אוֹדֶה יָהּ Open the gates of righteousness for me that I may enter and praise God." Also in 2006 upon her retirement, Monmouth Reform Temple set up the "Sally Priesand Endowment Fund for the Future" in her honor to preserve and protect the temple's legacy. On April 23, 2009, she received the prestigious Elizabeth Blackwell Award given by Hobart and William Smith Colleges in

Geneva, New York Geneva is a city in Ontario and Seneca counties in the U.S. state of New York. It is at the northern end of Seneca Lake; all land portions of the city are within Ontario County; the water portions are in Seneca County. The population was 13, ...

to women whose lives exemplify outstanding service to humanity. The award is named after Dr.

Elizabeth Blackwell Elizabeth Blackwell (3 February 182131 May 1910) was a British physician, notable as the first woman to receive a medical degree in the United States, and the first woman on the Medical Register of the General Medical Council for the United Ki ...

(1821–1910), the first woman in America to receive the Doctor of Medicine degree. In 2010, in honor of its 125th anniversary, ''

Good Housekeeping ''Good Housekeeping'' is an American women's magazine featuring articles about women's interests, product testing by The Good Housekeeping Institute, recipes, diet, and health, as well as literary articles. It is well known for the "Good Hous ...

'' magazine named her one of "125 women who changed our world". The Rabbi Sally J. Priesand WRJ Award was created to honor the 45th anniversary of Priesand's ordination. The award is given out once every year to a graduating Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion Cincinnati campus woman, chosen because she "exemplif esthe mission and values of WRJ and embod esthe qualities that Rabbi Priesand has exhibited throughout her career, including her clarity of vision, her commitment to excellence, her professionalism, her dedication to the continuity of Reform Judaism, her passion, and her perseverance.

References

Bibliography

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External links

Bibliography
in Jewish Women's Archive
Bibliography
in Jewish Women's Encyclopedia
Monmouth Reform TempleRabbi Sally J. Priesand
on Monmouth Reform Temple
First American woman rabbi

Jewish Women and the Feminist Revolution
from th
Jewish Women's ArchiveRabbi Sally J. Priesand: Private Thoughts of a Public Person. Watercolors of the First Woman Rabbi in America on view at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion Museum, Manhattan, April 22-June 28, 2002
{{DEFAULTSORT:Priesand, Sally 1946 births Living people American Reform rabbis Religious leaders from Cleveland People from Ocean Township, Monmouth County, New Jersey Reform women rabbis Jewish-American history Reform Jewish feminists Brookdale Community College faculty 1972 in Judaism 20th-century American rabbis 21st-century American rabbis