Commentary

The Feminization of the American Jewish Community

After Sally Priesand became the first female American rabbi , more than 350 American women have become rabbis in the Reform, Conservative, and Reconstructionist movements. For years, the issue of women’s ordination was discussed at meetings of numerous Jewish organizations and in the Jewish press .  These discussions were conducted by men only because women were absent from Jewish organizations and did not write in Jewish newspapers . Not until 1920, after World War I, did women themselves begin to agitate for the right to ordination. This was the time when American women of all ethnicities began to demand access to colleges and universities and sought to become professionals.

Yet, already in 1889 Mary M. Cohen wrote an essay on the front page of The Jewish Exponent. Cohen raised the question of whether women could become rabbis . By the 20th century, Conservative Jews were also discussing this possibility, although none were ready to follow Reform until much later. Theoretical debates concerning women’s ordination continued among professors at seminaries, rabbis, members of Jewish organizations , and members of Jewish sisterhoods .

In the early 20^th Century the National Council of Jewish Women was formed, as was Hadassah, the Hebrew name of Esther.  Both organizations paved the way for the participation of women in the all male Jewish institutions, including the rabbinate.

The Conservative movement is based on the assumption that Jewish law is evolving. Therefore Conservatives are willing to change the law.  Nevertheless, the dispute concerning women ’s ordination led a number of Conservative scholars to leave the Conservative movement and start their own organization. The first change approved by the Conservative “Committee on Jewish Law and Standards ” allowed women to count as part of a quorum (Minyan) of ten Jews needed to hold a prayer service. Yet, one year later, the committee voted against allowing women to become rabbis or cantors (singer). In 1977, the Conservative Rabbinical Assembly and the Jewish Theological Seminary founded a Commission  for the Study of  the Ordination of Women. Within a year that commission reported that there was no law preventing women from becoming rabbis. That report was shelved by the Rabbinical Assembly as the controversy continued. Then in October of 1983, Rabbi Gershon Cohen , Chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary, asked the faculty to vote on the issue. The faculty approved the admission of women to the Rabbinical Seminary and women were admitted . Consequently, women were also admitted to the cantorial school.

The Reconstructionist movement was founded by Rabbi Mordechai Kaplan , whose book Judaism as a Civilization laid the foundation for this movement.

This book is heavily influenced by the scientific study of religion , as found in the books and other writings of sociologists. There was no dispute among Reconstructionists when women were accepted into the Rabbinical College, since the movement was founded on the assumption that men and women have equal rights. The first female rabbi graduated from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College was Sandy Eisenberg Sasso , who was appointed Rabbi of Beth-El Zedeck in Indianapolis in 1977.

The American Orthodox movement does not admit women to the rabbinate. However, there are a few women who claim to have been ordained by an orthodox rabbi in Israel . In this country, Mimi Feigelson studied with Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach and was ordained by three rabbis after the death of Carlebach.

Those who refuse ordination for women argue that it originated with Moses and was passed down only to men. This sounds like the Catholic argument for refusing to allow women to become priests.

Despite this opinion, there are orthodox rabbis who see no reason either in Jewish law or for any other cause for preventing women from become rabbis. In fact, some highly respected seminary scholars agree that there is no barrier for the ordination of women other than private disdain.

Women Cantors

On February 12, 2009, a Colgan Air plane crashed into a house in Clarence Center, New York , killing all 49 persons aboard and one person in the house. The plane had come from the Newark, New Jersey airport  and was 5 miles from the Buffalo airport when the engine stalled. The pilot, poorly trained, made a major error in attempting to recover from the stall. His actions and those of the co-pilot made the stall worse so  that the plane crashed. Among the dead was Susan Wehle , the cantor at congregation Shir Shalom (Song of Peace) in Amherst, New York, a suburb of Buffalo.  Susan Wehle was one of the earliest female cantors to serve Jewish congregations throughout the United States. Wehle was the daughter of two Holocaust survivors and had two sons. She was 59 years old when she died.

     The entrance of women into the profession of cantor was far easier to attain than was true of rabbis , as women in the rabbinate had already “paved the way” for women to be admitted to cantorial schools such as the cantorial school of the Jewish Theological Seminary or the Debbie Friedman School of Sacred Music at the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati.

Women Cantors who are Composers

In 1982, the Women Cantors’ Network was founded. This meant that a good part of the sacred music used in Jewish services had to be rewritten to suit women ’s voices. There are several women cantors who have written cantorial music for women. Among these is Cantor Benjie Ellen Schiller . She is professor of Cantorial Arts at Hebrew Union College . She composed “Hallelujah Psalm 30” and a new “Oseh Shalom.” She also wrote “May you live to see your world fulfilled,” sung at bar/bat Mitzvahs and “Zeh Dodi,” sung at weddings.

Cantor Natasha Hirschhorn is music director at congregation Anshe Chesed in New York City and is on the faculty (Latin: facultatem or power to do) of the Jewish Theological Seminary . She composed a new “Oseh Shalom” and “God Was in this Place and I Did Not Know It.”

     Cantor Robin Sherwin is both cantor and rabbi . She plays with a popular band and is a leader in the Women’s Cantor Network. Together with cantor Marci Witkins , she wrote “Atah Kadosh” or “You are Holy,” and “Love Your God.”

Cantor Rachelle Nelson directs the “In the Spirit Music Foundation,” which encourages writing new inspirational cantorial music. She is a graduate of the Hebrew Union College School of Sacred Music. She has composed a thanksgiving song called “Modim Anachnu Lach,” which is sung at Thanksgiving in November.

Cantor Beth Styles is a composer of Jewish music. She is also a producer of Jewish CD’s. Her songs include. “Grateful,” “Light These Lights,” “Mi Shebayrach,” “Shehecheyanu,” and numerous others.

Cantor Lisa Levine is a songwriter and recording artist who has been writing songs for over thirty years. She has combined yoga and Judaism in some of her music.

Ellen Allard is a well known children ’s composer . She wrote “Holy Holyness,” which can be performed by three year old children. “I Feel Like I am an Angel” and other works for children make her popular as a cantor in residence at numerous synagogues .

The Women Cantors’ Network has published a songbook by women cantors .

     There are today, in 2020, several hundred women cantors . Their duties are considerable and exhausting. In Conservative synagogues the Sabbath service begins at  9 a.m. and concludes three hours later, at noon. Reform services are shorter, lasting about 90 minutes. In Conservative synagogues the cantor recites all prayers in a Hebrew chant interrupted by a few English prayers, which the congregation recites together. Likewise, several hymns are sung by the congregation and led by the cantor, not the rabbi . The Conservative prayer book is opened from the right, as Hebrew is written from right to left. The prayer book has a left hand page which translates the service into English. Most American Jews do not know Hebrew, a Semitic language, related to Arabic and Aramaic. Aramaic was spoken by Lebanese Christians until most were driven out of Lebanon by the Muslim majority.

American Jews usually know the meaning a few of the Hebrew prayers but are therefore forced to read the English side of the prayer book or recite the Hebrew, which they can read without understanding the contents. Evidently, Conservative cantors must know Hebrew well enough to sing in that language.

Reform cantors sing the same melodies as Conservative cantors, however abbreviated. This is also true of the reading of the Hebrew Bible or Torah . In Conservative congregations, either the cantor or a layman, and sometimes the rabbi , chant a segment of the Five Books of Moses , reading the entire Five Books in the course of a year. A layman with Hebrew knowledge recites a segment of the Prophets , such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, Amos, etc. while the congregation follows in English. In the course of the service, the American rabbi delivers a sermon.

European rabbis spoke rarely. They were concerned with the interpretation of Jewish law and the study of the Talmud and were appointed because of their scholarship. This is still true among some American orthodox rabbis, but is rare among the Conservative and Reform rabbis. 

The chant and the songs in synagogues around the world are usually the same everywhere. This is true because of the dispersion of the Jewish people as the consequence of the persecution in Europe. From England to Australia, from San Francisco to Florida and everywhere where Jews live, the melodies written by Cantor Louis Lewandowski and Solomon Sulzer are sung. These composers wrote only for the male voice, so that women cantors need to adjust the music to their needs. Today, hundreds of women cantors learn these melodies, which made some male cantors famous and led some into operatic careers.

Lewandowski (1821 – 1894) was a talented musician. He was the music director of The New Synagogue in Berlin. This synagogue, like all synagogues in Germany and Austria, were burned down  by the German government on the night of November 9-10, 1938. He was the first Jew to be admitted to the School of Composition of the Berlin Academy. Lewandowski’s students became prominent cantors and, like the great Italian opera composer Giuseppe Verdi, founded an Institute for Aged and Indigent Musicians.

Solomon Sulzer (1804-1890)  was born in Vienna, Austria. In 1826 he was appointed chief cantor in Vienna, as his reputation as composer and singer had made him famous. Sulzer introduced choir music, as no synagogue had any organ or other musical instrument because the rabbis had ruled that no music should be played, in commemoration of the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans in the year 70. Sulzer was named “The Father of the Modern Cantorate” after he wrote and sang music for cantors with choirs and as soloists.

Women cantors in the 21^st century learn the contributions of Lewandowski and Sulzer not only because of their prominence but mainly because the songs and hymns of these men are very familiar to Jewish congregations whose members have no idea who composed this music. This ignorance is not surprising. Few Americans know much about the history of their religion. Most people who attend religious events know only how to recite a few prayers and are otherwise not interested in religion. There are, however, a few cantors who became opera stars and therefore expanded their audience immensely. The oldest of these super-cantors was Joseph (Jossele) Rosenblatt (1882-1933). He, and several other cantors with operatic voices, became role models for the profession and therefore influence both male and female cantors to this day (2020). Of course, the average American Jewish congregation cannot afford such superstars, although some congregations in New York , Toronto, Chicago, and San Francisco have cantors who deliver vocal concerts on any Saturday as good as any concert by professional  singers of all ethnicities sung on the concert stage. This means that much is expected of women cantors who, like their male colleagues, “stand on the shoulders of giants.”

Rosenblatt was born in the Ukraine and began his career as a cantor when he was only 12 years old. His father was a lay cantor from who he learned a great deal. As an adult, Rosenblatt served in several eastern European cities and became cantor in the great synagogue in Hamburg, Germany, before leaving for New York in 1912, where he was appointed cantor by a wealthy orthodox congregation. It did not take long before Rosenblatt was offered opportunities at the Metropolitan Opera, which he turned down because he was unwilling to sing on the Sabbath or Jewish Holy Days, and also because he wore a beard and a skullcap at all times. He did give concerts all over the United States, and was acclaimed by other singers such as Enrico Caruso, then the star of the opera. Rosenblatt dominated the cantorial profession in America until his death in 1933. Thereafter old recordings of his voice have been “cleaned up” by removing all background noise, so that his talent is still alive in 2020.

Richard Tucker (1913-1975), the son of Yiddish speaking immigrants , was born in Brooklyn, New York . His unusual voice led to an appointment as cantor in Temple Emanuel in Passaic, New Jersey, and later to an appointment at a large congregation in the Bronx, followed by a move to the prestigious Jewish Center in Brooklyn. His brother-in-law, also a cantor, had been recruited by the Metropolitan Opera Company . Tucker studied operatic singing with a renowned music teacher and then entered the Metropolitan Opera Company “Auditions of the Air.” He did not win but was nevertheless offered a contract by Edward Johnson, manager of the Metropolitan Opera. That was in 1945. He then had a 30 year career with that opera as the leading tenor, singing Italian opera. After his death, his friends and admirers sponsored a monument at Richard Tucker Square adjacent to the home of the Metropolitan Opera Company at Lincoln Center.

Jan Peerce (1904-1984) was Jacob Pincus Perelmuth until his operatic career led to his new name. He was born in New York of a poor immigrant family. He grew up on the lower east side of Manhattan in an all Jewish neighborhood. In 1932 he was hired by Radio City Music Hall as a tenor soloist after studying singing with Giuseppe Boghetti. When Arturo Toscanini heard him on the radio, Toscanini, the conductor of the NBC Orchestra, asked him to sing at several concerts. That led to his appointment to sing at the Philadelphia Opera, and in 1941 he began his career at the Metropolitan Opera. Although Peerce was never a congregational cantor, he recorded a great amount of synagogue music which became most popular in the Jewish community and can be accessed to this day. He therefore became a role model of what a cantor can be.

The first female cantor in Jewish history was Betty Robbins. In July of 1955 she was appointed by the trustees of Temple Avodah in Oceanside, N.Y. as cantor. She therefore shattered five thousand years of Jewish tradition . She was inspired by recordings of the voice of Jossele Rosenblatt . First she became a soloist in a boys’ choir for six years. Married to an American soldier in Australia, she came to the United States in 1944.

Her appointment as cantor became a sensation in the Jewish and secular press. The New York Times published a front page article on August 3, 1955, recalling that there was no religious law but only tradition which excluded women from becoming cantors.

In 1982, Cantor Deborah Katchko Zimmerman founded the Women’s Cantors Network . Zimmerman was the granddaughter of a cantor and the daughter of a cantor. Her father trained her to become a cantor. Although only two women cantors attended its first meeting, it now has over two hundred members. The network is a source for employment of women and also provides concerts by women cantors who often introduce new music composed by them.

Women rabbis and women cantors are an important stimulus for the liberation of Jewish women from their erstwhile role of helpers and adjunct to men. They were the catalyst giving Jewish women the impetus to become officers of Jewish congregations, major contributors to Jewish community organizations, and finally elected politicians, as governors, senators, and representatives of the United States.

Gender Equality in the Jewish Community

It seems ridiculous and petty for women executives at Jewish non-profits to make an issue of the title CEO (Chief Executive Officer ), generally awarded to men, while women in similar positions are usually called Executive Director . The disputes over a title demonstrates American anxiety concerning prestige over achievement. Albert Einstein had no title, nor did Beethoven or Leonardo da Vinci. They and others like them had a monopoly on themselves, such as the remark “I am no Einstein.” In American culture , however, labels mean a lot, and so Ivy Harley, the executive director of the Jewish Community Center of Wilmington, Delaware, demanded that her title be changed to CEO. Likewise Gail Cooks , founding executive director of Leading Edge, demanded to be called CEO because she believed that people would not take her seriously without  this title.

There are in 2020 a number of Jewish women who have assumed positions once reserved for men. Brent Saliman was president of the Wilmington, Delaware Jewish Community Center. Judith Rosenbaum is the CEO of Jewish Women’s Archive, and Jamie Allen Black is CEO of the Jewish Women’s Foundation of New York .

Some women have also been appointed CEO’s of Jewish Federations . Naomi Adler is he Chief Executive Officer of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, PA.  That community is the home of over 351,000 Jews. Therefore the Federation of that community is one of the largest in the country. Nevertheless, the salary of Naomi Adler is only $433,371 according to Charity Navigator . Evidently the Jewish community is to be credited for appointing women to responsible positions. However, the gender gap in salaries is glaring. The Cleveland, Ohio Jewish Federation has appointed Erika Rudin as executive director at a salary of $557,189 Arlene Miller is the CEO of the Orange County, Cal. Federation at $222,508  and  Sara Wagner heads the Jewish Federation of Louisville, Kentucky at $177,500. Women are more likely to be appointed as CEO’s in smaller Jewish Communities where the salaries are less than in large communities because the contributions are of necessity less.

John S. Ruskay , the CEO of the United Jewish Appeal of New York City, is paid $3.151 million ($3,151,000) annually. No doubt the Jewish population of New York is larger than that of any other American community. That is also true of poverty among New York Jews. Those who give Mr. Ruskay this huge amount of money argue that only someone paid that much has the skill and competence to raise large funds in the New York community. That is spurious since it implies that Federation executives who earn a lot less are less competent. The fact is that the size of the Jewish community controls executive salaries , not competence. The salary of the executive director of the Buffalo, NY Jewish Federation is $205,000. Yet, Robert Goldberg , the Buffalo Federation executive, is an unusually talented executive with many years’ experience within Jewish organizations and has an sincere interest  in helping the needy Jews in Western New York. He earns so much less that Ruskay because Buffslo has only 10,000 Jews. Women also  earn less, either because they work in small Jewish communities or because of gender discrimination which still plagues the American Jewish community.

The Ascendancy of Jewish Women in the 20th Century

Although the entrance of women into the Jewish clergy was the most dramatic event in the feminization of the American Jewish community, there are Jewish women who defeated the so-called “glass ceiling ” as early as the 1950’s.

An outstanding example is the career of U.A. A refugee from the German Nazi horrors, she came to the United States at age ten. Her father had preceded the family by coming to America when a relative paid for the the father only  and submitted an affidavit of support to the Immigration and Naturalization Service only for the father but not his family. U.A.’s father had been sent by the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society to a small southern town because a Jewish owner of a dairy was willing to employ him. Once arrived in America, U.A. learned English in six months and continued there until her father moved the family to a large Ohio city, where he found work in a defense plant during the Second World War. U.A. was then fourteen years old. At that time, she decided to earn enough money to eventually go to college. She therefore worked nights in a factory. The employer needed help, as almost all men were in the armed forces, so that he “believed” U.A. was sixteen years old. U.A. then went to high school in the daytime and worked in the factory during the night.  She saved her money and upon graduating from high school was admitted to a university some miles from her home. Her parents were adamantly opposed to her entrance into higher education . “Refugee girls should become typists,” said they. “Refugees have no business in a college.” U. A. went alone just the same. Her money was enough to pay for tuition and a room but not enough to eat. She therefore worked occasional jobs for other students and professors in exchange for food. After one academic year she spent the summer at home. There she met a twenty-two-year-old college student who was a veteran and therefore enjoyed the aid of the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act , also known as The G.I. Bill of Rights. He too, was a Jewish refugee. Shortly they became engaged and married two years later. Meanwhile U.A. finished another college year. Once married, she and her husband moved from city to city four times before the settled in a midwestern town. By then, U.A. had graduated from college by transferring credits from colleges in any town where she lived,, however shortly. She therefore won a scholarship to enter an exclusive women’s college, where in two years she earned an M.S.W. (Master of Social Work ) degree. Because the B.A. in social work did not exist until years later, M.S.W.’s were in short supply and could “write their own ticket” to work for any social work agency they wished. U.A. therefore accepted a job with a well-known social work agency and hired a babysitter to watch the three children they and her husband had produced. As the children became older, U.A. added to her normal employment several part time jobs, teaching in a number of colleges and consulting in nursing homes. She worked almost day and night, saving her money while her husband supported the family. After several years of such an overload she was accepted to earn a doctorate at the local university. She therefore opened a private practice as a psychotherapist, worked part time as a nursing home consultant and wrote a dissertation after finishing course work, all at the same time. Years went by as she and her husband worked full time and part time jobs becoming millionaires several times over. In short, U.A. came from total abject poverty , a persecuted child without an education and no money, to a lady with three college degrees and millions in the bank.

Included among Jewish women  who have promoted the feminization of America and that of the American Jewish community is Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader  Ginsburg . A graduate of the Columbia University Law School, she began her career as an advocate for the equal and fair treatment of women. She joined the American Civil Liberties Union and participated in the Women’s Rights Project. This activity led to her appointment by President Carter to the U.S. Court of Appeals and her appointment by President Clinton to the Supreme Court in 1993.

Ruth Bader was born in Brooklyn on March 15, 1933. She grew up in a poor working class environment. Her mother worked in a garment factory so she could pay for Ruth’s brother’s college education . Then her mother died of cancer on the day Ruth graduated from high school.

In 1954, Bader earned her B.A. degree in government from Cornell University, finishing first in her class. She then married a law student,  Martin Ginsburg . Ruth and Martin had one child. Together they enrolled in the Harvard Law School , where she was one of nine women among 500 students. Although accused of taking the places of qualified men and hearing sexist remarks from the dean, Ruth became the first woman to ever become a member of the Harvard Law Review editors. She transferred to the Columbia Law School in New York, because Martin had graduated and accepted a position at a New York law firm. On graduation, she taught at the Rutgers Law School in New Jersey, and then became the first tenured female law professor at Columbia. She also joined the American Civil Liberties Union , and argued six cases before the U.S. Supreme Court . She won five of these cases and was then appointed by President Jimmy Carter to the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. Then in 1993, President Clinton appointed her to the U.S. Supreme Court . On the court she has favored gender equality, the rights of the poor, and the separation of church and state.  In 1996, she wrote the important decision United States vs. Virginia, which would no longer allow the Virginia Military Institute to exclude women. In 1999, she was awarded the Thurgood Marshall Award for her fight for civil rights and gender equality.

The voters in the presidential election of 2000 delivered a tie between Al Gore, the Democrat and George W. Bush , Republican. The Supreme Court majority “elected” Bush, but Ginsburg dissented. In more recent years, Ginsburg voted to allow men to marry men in Obergefell v. Hodges. In 2018, the documentary film RBG premiered. Then in 2016, her book My Own Words became a New York Times bestseller.

There are undoubtedly some who disagree with Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s opinions and decisions. Yet, it is hardly possible not to agree that she was a heroine of the civil rights movement, a prominent figure among the great Americans of any generation and the very model of Jewish feminism in the 21^st century.

Some would say, “Only in America,” and that is true.  Nevertheless, few have the stamina, the courage, and the strength to achieve so much in a lifetime.  Indeed, there are Americans of all ethnic and religious backgrounds who have done the same, because that which makes America great is not that everything is free and given away, but that it is the land of opportunity for those willing to work.

The feminization of the American Jewish community, or America generally, did not begin in the 21^st century, nor did it begin in the 20^th century.  It began when millions of immigrants sailed into New York harbor and saw the Statue of Liberty erected as a gift from France in 1886.  Inscribed on the statue is a poem by the Jewish American Emma Lazarus (1849-87).  She lived too soon to experience the Nazi horrors or the Russian persecution.  Yet she knew what America meant for those who were coming day after day to escape the slavery and cruelties of the old world.  Women, even more than men, saw the statue and wept with joy to have escaped hell and arrived in heaven.  The poem which Lazarus had composed was attached to the statue, but could not be seen from the ships bringing the immigrants.  Most of them could not have read the English language.  Yet, the sight of that statue aroused these foreigners and brought them to tears and shouts of joy.  They were free and welcomed despite their ignorance, their poverty , and their utter exhaustion from traveling so long across the mighty Atlantic.  The immigrants could not read what Lazarus had written, but Emma Lazarus , although born in America, understood why the immigrants had come.  Her poem, “The New Colossus,” includes these famous lines:  “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore, Send these, the homeless tempest tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”

Shalom u'vracha.

Dr. Gerhard Falk is the author of numerous publications, including 30 books and 45 journal articles.

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