A List of Her Own: Top Rabbis Revisited

by: Erica Brody

Fri Jul 23, 2010 at 14:51:01 PM EDT

When Newsweek magazine ran its annual list of “The 50 Most Influential Rabbis in America” last month, many in the Jewish community were flummoxed by just how few Jewish women were on the list, given the sharp rise in the rabbinate of women and the impact that they’re having.  (And that’s without the kerfuffle that arose around “The Rabbi and the Rabba.”) There were just six. And while JFSJ was proud to see our then-rabbi-in-residence, Rabbi Jill Jacobs, take her rightful place on the list, there were many names that came to many minds that were not. They deserved to be.

The Forward was one of the publications that called out Newsweek for the paucity. And this week, Gabrielle Birkner, editor of the Sisterhood blog -- issued a list of her own, “The Sisterhood 50: America’s Influential Women Rabbis,” which includes those “whose influence cannot necessarily be measured by their national/international profile, their media presence or the size of their constituencies — some of the criteria on which Newsweek bases its rankings — but who, nonetheless, are playing important roles in shaping the Jewish story.”

We are proud (absolutely) to report that Jewish Funds for Justice appears on the list not once but three times, which isn’t surprising, given JFSJ’s work in congregation-based community organizing and our Rabbinic and Cantorial Fellowship for Leadership in Public Life. 

See for yourself what the Sisterhood 50 had to say:

Jill Jacobs (Conservative)
Newsweek Pick, 2010
Jacobs is among the most prominent voices on the importance of social and environmental justice within Judaism. She has served as the rabbi-in-residence at the Jewish Funds for Justice, and is author of "There Shall Be No Needy: Pursuing Social Justice Through Jewish Law and Tradition." Jacobs, who was on the Forward 50 in 2006 and in 2008 is a Forward columnist.

Stephanie Kolin (Reform)
Kolin, who heads the Los Angeles office of the Union for Reform Judaism’s Just Congregations program, has been a driving force behind the Jewish Funds for Justice’s Leadership for Public Life fellowship. The program teaches fellows — rabbinical and cantorial students at five seminaries — how to use congregation-based community organizing to bring about social change.

Felicia Sol (Reform, Transdenominational)
Sol is a rabbi at B’nai Jeshurun, the nondenominational synagogue on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. She serves on the board of Jewish Funds for Justice.

In an editorial that accompanies the Sisterhood 50, the Forward points out how “the face of the American rabbinate is changing dramatically”:

Non-Orthodox seminaries are educating record numbers of women: At the Jewish Theological Seminary, 40% of the rabbinic students are women. At Hebrew Union College, 61%. At the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, 68%. How we value influence and importance must catch up to this new reality.

When asked about the persistent gender gap in its high-profile project, Newsweek responded: “We have heard these and other criticisms and we welcome the conversation.” Let’s do more than talk.

Hello, list-makers? It's time you started looking beyond the usual suspects -- just like conference organizers and op-ed editors, radio producers and award-givers. 

Hey, readers: Who would you like to see in next year’s list?