Helene Ferris

Helene Ferris is the first second-career female rabbi in Judaism.[1]

Biography

Helene Ferris was ordained by the Reform Jewish seminary Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 1981, and worked as an associate rabbi for Stephen Wise Free Synagogue in New York from 1981 until 1991 when she felt she had reached the limits of her work there.[1][2][3] From 1991 until her retirement in 2006 Ferris was the chief rabbi at Temple Israel of Northern Westchester, a Reform synagogue in Croton-on-Hudson, New York.[3]

Among her most well-known activities, on December 1, 1988, Ferris helped prepare a prayer service and read from the Torah at the Western Wall, along with over 70 other Jewish women. This was the first time in history Jewish women prayed together and read from the Torah together at the Western Wall.[4][5][6] Ferris is a board member of the International Committee for Women of the Wall (ICWOW), which is a group working to give women the right to pray at the Western Wall, which is now illegal.[6]

Ferris supports the inclusion of lesbian and gay Jews in religious life. In 1986 she organized a conference on lesbian and gay Jews in New York City.[7] In 1989 she presided over a same-sex wedding ceremony for Ileen Kaufman and Jan Catalfumo; few rabbis would officiate such a ceremony in those days.[8]

In 2007 Letty Cottin Pogrebin chose her as one of "The Other Fifty Top Rabbis in America." [9] She has written for Reform Judaism magazine.[10]

References
  1. "Stephen Wise Free Synagogue > 4 Decades of Women Rabbis In the Rabbinate and SWFS". Swfs.org. Archived from the original on 2012-05-25. Retrieved 2012-09-03.
  2. "In their 40s and 50s, embarking on second careers as rabbis |". Jewishworldnews.org. 2011-08-04. Archived from the original on 2013-04-15. Retrieved 2012-09-03.
  3. Shaw, Dan (2008-02-03). "He Got His Workshop, She Got Her Privacy". The New York Times. Retrieved 2012-09-04.
  4. "About". Womenofthewall.org.il. Archived from the original on 2012-10-01. Retrieved 2012-09-03.
  5. Phyllis Chesler. "The Walls Came Tumbling Down: How Jewish Feminists Made History :: The Phyllis Chesler Organization". Phyllis-chesler.com. Archived from the original on 2012-07-29. Retrieved 2012-09-03.
  6. "Temple Shaaray Tefila - New York City". Shaaraytefilanyc.org. Archived from the original on 2012-11-07. Retrieved 2012-09-03.
  7. "Temple Israel of Northern Westchester". Tinw.org. Retrieved 2012-09-03.
  8. "Reform Judaism Magazine". Reformjudaismmag.net. Archived from the original on 2011-10-19. Retrieved 2012-09-03.
  9. "Rabbis, Rabbis Everywhere! |". Lilith.org. 2007-04-16. Retrieved 2012-09-03.
  10. "Reform Judaism Magazine - Great-Grandfather's Blessings". Reformjudaismmag.org. Archived from the original on 2010-12-22. Retrieved 2012-09-03.


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