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Around the time that Barack Obama was elected as the first African-American president of the United States, a few articles appeared about Michelle Obama's cousin. Rabbi Capers Funnye leads a congreagation of African-American Jews in Chicago, and has worked extensively to bridge the gap between white Jewish congregations and congregations that serve Jews of color. One article that I read suggested that the "mainstream" reform Jewish unions would welcome Rabbi Funnye's congregation as members, but since they are more conservative, they practice gender-segregation during services. And this is why I was so excited to learn about Rabbi Alysa Stanton.
On June 6, Stanton became the first African-American female rabbi in the world. The single mother was ordained by the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati. Mata H. blogged about Rabbi Stanton's background and spiritual journey at BlogHer at the time of her ordination. For me, as a non-religious Jew focused on gender and racial equality, I am more interested in how Rabbi Stanton crossed so many barriers to get to the position she is at today.
One of the things that makes me proud to be Jewish is the role that many liberal, secular Jewish people have played in various equal rights movements. (At the BlogHer conference, a Tropicana representative encouraged my friend and I to record our thoughts on the juice lifestyle. "The Jewish lifestyle?" I innocently asked. "I have a lot of thoughts on that. He grimaced, "No, the juice lifestyle." But man, that cracked me up. This juice-Jewish joke has a long history in my family. When I was a toddler, I'd stand in my crib yelling for juice, and my mom would reply, "Yes, Suzanne, I know you are Jewish," and laugh hysterically. But I digress...) Yet the racism and sexism that taints many Jewish practices has always pained me. I can't tolerate a branch of Judaism that preaches that women most remain covered and separate from men, and worse that we are "dirty" due to the curse of menstruation. While racism is not part of the Jewish religion in the same way that sexism is, I have witnessed many disturbing biases perpetrated against people of color by Jewish groups (not to mention my own relatives). This makes Rabbi Stanton's status especially inspiring to me.
I am certainly not the only one who looks to Rabbi Stanton as a sign that Judaism can be more inclusive for people of color and women. Jordan at The Black Jewish Experience noted that when he was encouraged to pursue a career as a rabbi by his Jewish day school:
...the daunting thought of being a Black Jewish Rabbi seemed an impossible task. Just being accepted as Black and Jewish was hard enough. So for Rabbi Alysa Stanton to dare to dream to be so much is really inspiring and wonderfully challenging.
Again, I can't emphasize enough how much of an additional barrier it can be to be female when one wants a leadership role in a traditional Jewish community. Living in the US, I am lucky that the reform movement is so large and encompassing. But whenever I travel to Europe, I find that the only Jewish communities follow Orthodox gender segregation practices. (Granted, these remaining Jewish communities tend to be very, very small, but still. There are no opportunities for women - much less women of color - to ascend to a leadership role within synagogues there.)
At JVoices, April N. Baskin celebrates Rabbi Stanton's achievement, but blasts the media frenzy that surrounded it:
Rabbi Stanton’s ordination did not happen in a vacuum. She is not the first person of color to become a rabbi, nor is she the first woman of color to become a rabbi. Just as Rosa Parks wasn’t the first or even the second to refuse to move to the back of the bus, Stanton is the rabbi of color who received the attention of the mass media. It is true that she IS the first African American female rabbi. Yet it needs to be acknowledged that other Jewish clergy of color who are not of African American descent have preceded her in mainstream synagogues, and more are in rabbinical school or on the way. Furthermore, Jews of color who are currently serving as presidents of congregations and working on synagogue boards are not the first to do so.
Certainly I see
