Celebrate Jewish Moms!
We are celebrating Jewish American Heritage Month with a fact-a-day program. Every day we will be posting a new fact that can also be found on our Facebook Page and Twitter (@JCRCAtlanta). We will also be sharing other links and sources of information as we go, so please share! We would love to have your suggestions to add to our resources! In honor of Mother's Day, we are highlighting the first female ordained rabbi in the U.S. and have included a " Ode to a Jewish Mother."
You can also sign up for a daily email through the month of May.
Happy Mother's Day!
May 10
First Ordained Female Rabbis

The first female Rabbis in the major denominations of American Judaism were Sally Priesand, Sandy Eisenberg Sasso, Lynn Gottlieb, Amy Eilberg, and Sara Hurwitz. Sally Jane Priesand began her rabbinic studies at Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) in 1968, and was ordained in 1972. She served at two congregations in her first nine years, before being hired at Monmouth Reform Temple in New Jersey in 1981. She remained there until her retirement in 2006. Rabbi Priesand served on the Central Conference of American Rabbis’ Task force on Women in the Rabbinate and established the Rabbi Sally J. Priesand Visiting Professorship in Jewish Women’s Studies at HUC-JIR. 
Sandy Eisenberg Sasso
Ordained in 1974, Rabbi Sandy Eisenberg Sasso is the first woman ordained in the Reconstructionist movement. She and her husband are the first formally ordained practicing rabbinic couple in world Jewish history. She served as the Rabbi of Congregation Beth-El Zedeck in Indianapolis for thirty-six years. She now serves as the director of the Religion, Spirituality and the Arts
Initiative at Butler University. Sasso is the author of several children’s books.
Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb
Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb is the first woman ordained in the Jewish Renewal Movement. Formally, ordained in 1981, she began serving on the pulpit eight years earlier, as spiritual leader of Temple Beth Or of the Deaf in New York City. She co-founded and served at Congregation Nahalat Shalom in Albuquerque for twenty-two years. She co-founded the Muslim-Jewish Peace walk, and now heads Interfaith Inventions in Southern California.
Rabbi Amy Eilberg
Rabbi Amy Eilberg is the first woman ordained by the Conservative movement. Part of the first class of women accepted into the Jewish Theological Seminary in the fall of 1984, she was ordained only one year later, in 1985. She started her career as a hospital chaplain, took a short leave to serve as a synagogue rabbi at a synagogue and soon after left to follow her passion of chaplaincy work.
Eilberg co-founded the Bay Area Jewish Healing Center in San Francisco. She now serves as a pastoral counselor in nearby Palo Alto. 
Rabbi Sara Hurwitz
Rabbi Sara Hurwitz is the first Modern Orthodox woman rabbi ordained in the United States. She studied under Rabbi Avi Weiss who facilitated her ordination in 2009. Together, they founded Yeshivat Maharat, a rabbinical seminary for Orthodox women. Hurwitz created Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance’s Gender and Orthodoxy Curriculum Project and now serves as the president of Yeshivat Maharat as well as rabbi at the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale. 
Odes to Jewish Moms

“The Jewish mom is a fascinating creature. Often found in the kitchen, she can make any room her territory. The preferred source of sustenance is her children’s smiles. Be careful when approaching this specimen – you may find yourself the victim of forced feeding and excessive hugging.”
-Melody Niv, author

“ My mother made me a scientist without ever intending to. Every other Jewish mother in Brooklyn would ask her child after school, So? Did you learn anything today? But not my mother. Izzy, she would say, did you ask a good question today? That difference – asking good questions – made me become a scientist.”
 Nobel Prize Physicist

We look forward to connecting with our Jewish peoplehood and through our shared heritage. Feel free to share with the links below! Contact Leslie Anderson at info@jcrcatlanta.org or 770-366-7686 with questions, concerns or ideas.