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Jun
9
Giving BlogHer.com link love on the subject of Rabbi Alysa Stanton. She was ordained last weekend – major mzael tov to her.
Here are some more readings about her journey, but there are many, many more throughout the Internet.
New York Times: Spiritual Journey Leads to a Historic First (written by fellow Cleveland-based freelance writer, Chris Maag and gives a nice nod to the attitude of the congregation which Rabbi Stanton will lead):
Ms. Stanton and members of her new synagogue, Congregation Bayt Shalom [in Greenville, NC], say they were surprised by the overwhelming national interest in her ordination. To them, her race and sex are footnotes to the more important story of a rabbi and a congregation finding themselves to be a comfortable fit.
“I’m just a little person trying to pay my bills and raise a daughter and help others on their spiritual path,” said Ms. Stanton, a single mother who adopted an infant girl 14 years ago.
The Greenville congregation is small and values diversity as a matter of choice and necessity. It is one of just a handful in the United States that is affiliated with both the Reform and Conservative branches of Judaism. Among its 60 families are “three or four” African-Americans, said Michael Barondes, Bayt Shalom’s president.
“We are a one-synagogue town, so we are trying to be inclusive,” Mr. Barondes said. “Naturally it’s unusual to have an African-American leading a Jewish congregation. But when she came here and spoke from the pulpit, it felt surprisingly natural.”
Jewesses with Attitude: Mazel Tov, Alysa Stanton! (from the excellent Jewish Women’s Archive)
Ebony Report: America’s First Black Female Rabbi: Alysa Stanton
TIME Magazine: Introducing America’s First Black, Female Rabbi
The path to the pulpit has been as colorful as it has been unusual for Alysa Stanton, 45, America’s first-ever female African-American rabbi. Stanton, who was born to a Christian family, was formally ordained on June 6, having completed seven years of rabbinical training at Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati. Stanton will now assume her new role as the first nonwhite rabbi of Congregation Bayt Shalom, a 60-family synagogue in Greenville, N.C.
“This is an exciting next step in my journey,” says Stanton, who feels both blessed and burdened by her “first-ever” status. “I’m honored and awed by this achievement,” she continues. “But I am foremost a rabbi who happens to be African-American, not The African-American Rabbi.”
Affrodite (a Columbus-based blogger I’ve been getting to know): The nation welcomes its first African American woman rabbi, Alysa Stanton
Jewlicious: Kol Hakavod, Alysa Stanton!
Ditto that.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:03 am June 9th, 2009 in Announcements, Civil Rights, Cleveland+, democracy, Gender, Jewish, Judaism, leadership, Religion, Women
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Thanks so much for including a link back to my post in this article. It’s beautiful to cultures and belief systems intertwine. I hope she is met with nothing but love and support in her new role.