This week, I had the honor of attending the General Assembly meeting of the Jewish Federations of North America as a Wexner Graduate Fellow. My fellowship cohort is composed of 20 Jewish leaders from different denominations and career paths. We are rabbinical students attending Reform, Conservative, Orthodox, and non-denominational schools; we are Jewish professionals and Ph.D students. We reflect the great diversity and complexity of the Jewish community today. The Federation “GA,” as it’s commonly called, provided a unique backdrop to highlight the pluralistic reality of both my Wexner cohort and the North American Jewish community. As a student in HUC-JIR’s rabbinical program, I was proud to be represented by URJ President, Rabbi Rick Jacobs, who was selected as the…
Imagine a world without the voices of women. In Reform Jewish communities, it is natural for a rabbi to lead her congregation in song, for a cantor to teach her favorite niggun during a Friday evening service, or for a young woman to lead birkhat hamazon, the blessing after meals, for her youth group. As a rabbinical student, I take the greatest joy in chanting Torah and creating lively musical services at my congregation. At our URJ summer camps, at our Biennial gatherings, at our synagogue Shabbat services, and beyond, music and song are essential to who we are as a movement. In our daily lives and in our sacred moments, a world without the voices of women would be dramatically different in the ways…