Janet Marder

American rabbi

Janet Marder was the first female president of the Reform Movement's Central Conference of American Rabbis (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.^[1] 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 their president in 1995.^[2]^[3]

She was born in Los Angeles, and was ordained in New York in 1979 at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, a Reform seminary.^[4] She became the first ordained rabbi of Beth Chayim Chadashim (the world's first gay and lesbian synagogue recognized by Reform Judaism) in 1983.^[4]^[5] While there she founded NECHAMA, an AIDS-education program for the Jewish community.^[5] 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.^[3] In 1999, she became the Senior Rabbi of Congregation Beth Am in Los Altos Hills, California.^[4] She is now retired.^[6]

References

^ "Rabbi Janet Marder becomes president of Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR)". Jwa.org. 2003-03-26. Retrieved 2010-11-19.
^ "PARR - PARR History & Presidents". www.parrabbis.org.
^ ^a ^b "Who is involved: National Interreligious Leadership". Adifferentfuture.org. Retrieved 2011-12-16.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Beth Am Professional Staff". Betham.org. 2006-11-14. Archived from the original on 2011-11-19. Retrieved 2011-12-16.
^ ^a ^b "This Week in History - Rabbi Janet Marder becomes president of Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR) | Jewish Women's Archive". Jwa.org. 2003-03-26. Retrieved 2011-12-16.
^ "Clergy Bios - Congregation Beth Am". www.betham.org. Retrieved 2024-04-19.

Women rabbis and Torah scholars

Timeline of women rabbis

Pre-modern
figures

Bible and Talmud	Deborah (1107–1067 BCE) Bruriah (2nd century)
Medieval and early modern era	Rashi's daughters (11th–12th century) Bat ha-Levi (12th century) Paula Dei Mansi (13th century) Miriam Shapira-Luria (14th century) Fioretta of Modena (1522–1580) Bayla Falk (16th century) Eva Bacharach (1580–1651) Asenath Barzani (1590–1670) Frehat Bat Avraham (d. 1756) Maiden of Ludmir (1805–1888)

Modern figures

Ray Frank (1861–1948)
Lily Montagu (1873–1963)
Regina Jonas (1902–1944)
Tehilla Lichtenstein (1893–1973)
Paula Ackerman (1893–1989)
Martha Neumark (1904–1981)
Avis Clamitz (1908-1991)
Helen Levinthal (1910–1989)
Sally Priesand (b. 1946)
Mimi Feigelson (b. 1963)

First ordination by denomination	Regina Jonas (Reform, 1935) Sandy Sasso (Reconstructionist, 1974) Lynn Gottlieb (Renewal, 1981) Amy Eilberg (Conservative, 1985) Tamara Kolton (Humanistic, 1999) Sara Hurwitz (Orthodox, 2009)