THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

he could have been the girl next
door — if the girl next door has news-
paper and TV cameras flashing in her
face.
To the people who knew her
when, she's just plain Amy. But to the
rest of the world she is Rabbi Amy
Eilberg, Conservative Judaism's first
woman rabbi.
In Detroit recently as the guest of
Adat Shalom Sisterhood, Rabbi Eil-
berg talked about her new-found fame
and what it means to be a woman
rabbi.
The daughter of Congressman
Joshua Eilberg (D-Pa.), Rabbi Eilberg
is a hard-driving feminist, whose
major concentration in that field cen-
ters around the equality of women,
particularly women in Jewish life.
"We're at a point as a community
at which we can now look forward and
begin to think not only about the fact
of women's participation and women's
equality which is now assured, but
about the quality of that participa-
tion.
"I hope to be able to do a lot of
work to encourage the community to
grow- with this new set of challenges
and to understand that women rabbis
may not function in the same way
men do because women will bring
with them a different kind of life ex-
perience, perhaps a different kind of
psychological orientation, than their
male counterparts."
One difference she brings with
her to the bimah is the lack of a head
covering. She dons tallit and tefillin
for morning prayers, but chooses not
to cover her head, even though she is
married.
She explains that the practice for
women to cover their heads comes
from a Talmudic commandment,
based on the belief that the sight of
women's hair may be sexually arous-
ing to men. An ardent feminist, Rabbi
Eilberg cannot adhere to that dictate.
"As a contemporary feminist,
that's a notion that I cannot live with.
So if that's the theory encouraging me
to cover my head, that I can't do."
She said the tradition of men
covering their heads in deference to
God is not a matter of law but custom.
Because of that, she believes it is not
necessary to imitate men in order to
be equal. She finds herself in a quan-
dary about the issue, she says, but is
willing to discuss it if hired by a con-
gregation which challenges her deci-
sion.
"I reject the symbolism according
to which married women cover their
heads. I don't want to wear a kippah
because that's a practice for men. So
for now I'm wearing nothing. I feel

Bill Puglia no

S

Rabbi Amy Eilberg firmly makes her point.

Breaking
With
radition

By becoming a rabbi,
Amy Eilberg found a
way in which her
womanhood and
Jewishness could
exist in concert.

BY HEIDI PRESS
Local News Editor

that I'm in a bit of flux about this. I
certainly would not rule out the pos-
sibility that I'd change my life about
this over the years, but that's the
practice I'm comfortable with now."
Articulate, bright and soft-
spoken, Rabbi Eilberg has an impres-
sive resume. In addition to the ordina-
tion, she holds an M.S.W. degree from
Smith College, an M.A. in Talmud
from the Jewish Theological Semi-
nary and a B.A. degree summa cum
laude with highest honors in Near
Eastern and Judaic studies from
Brandeis University. She has pursued
doctoral studies in Talmud at the

seminary and has taught there as
well. While at Brandeis, she served as
a High Holiday cantor.
Rabbi Eilberg was hired as a
chaplain at Methodist Hospital in In-
dianapolis, Ind., and will serve as a
community rabbi for that city's
Jewish Welfare Federation. Her hus-
band, Dr. Howard Eilberg-Schwartz,
teachers Judaic studies at Indiana
University.
Although she and her husband
have no children now, she hopes to
some day. How will she fit a family
into her busy schedule? The same way
other working women do, she says.

Friday, June 28, 1985

25

Not much will change in her life now
that she has been ordained. The har-
dest part, she says, will be making the
transition from student to profes-
sional.
But, she admits, there will be
great challenges to her as a woman
rabbi. As a woman she would like to
"see what I can do to advance the
process of the community's growing
acceptance of legitimacy of rabbinic
leadership by women. That is essen-
tially a matter of time, but I think
there's a lot of educational work that
can be done between now and the end
of the process.
"The other side of that is the
process of helping women to believe
deep down inside — whereas some of
them now may only believe in their
heads — that women really are
entitled to be full participants in the
life of the community."
As a rabbi, she sees her role in
helping to combat "passivity" among
Jews. "I think that's a challenge that
faces all rabbis . . .that's what I think
, is the central challenge to American
Judaism today — how to bridge that
gap, how to increase the level of ac,
tivity of the congregation even if that
means in a certain sense decreasing
the level of the activity of the profes-
sional staff, how to make the Jewish
community more egalitarian and par-
ticipatory in terms of the life of the
community."
Coming from a traditional but
not particularly observant Jewish
home, Rabbi Eilberg came to a deci-
sion to become more religious at age
14, when she participated in the USY
on Wheels program of United Syna-
gogue Youth. She was immersed in
Jewish ritual practice, and enjoyed it
so much she went home to proclaim
that from that point on she wanted to
be kosher.
Later, at Brandeis, she donned
tallit and tefillin, and found the ex-
perience of reading Torah exciting.
Her mentor is Rabbi Al Alexrad
at Brandeis, whom she said "combines
the best of human wisdom and inter-
personal skill, knowledge of Judaism
and a very high degree of understand-
ing of communal issues. He is a com-
munal activist in the best sense."
A sense of community is impor-
tant to Rabbi Eilberg, and she said
she discovered that following the
news of her ordination. Mail poured
across her desk, with 98-99 percent
supportive. Her family and friends
were behind her decision to enter the
rabbinate from the beginning. And
Rabbi Eilberg adds that the Conser-
vative movement has kept the discus-

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