26 Friday, January 3, 1986

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

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B'nai Moshe Sisterhood President Ruth Marcus watches as fellow
congregation board member Pearlena Bodzin reads from the Torah.

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•

Less liberal Conservative rabbis
who have come to accept a
broader role for women often
have done so only after a lot of
soul-searching, and with more
their a little residual reluctance.
Provizer of Shaarey Zedek talks
about her religious leader,
Rabbi Groner: "It'sheen difficult
for him. He grew up with an Or-
thodox background, but has cho-
sen to lead a Conservative con-
gregation. He's not able to make
snap judgments (on women's is-
sues) to please the congregation.
He has to be able to accept it
according to his rabbinical
background."
Rabbi Groner himself states,
"Questions of Jewish law should
be decided by the rabbis of the
congregations, rather than pub-
lic sentiment ... There have
been changes in my own views
and a change in the perspective
of the Conservative movement
as a whole, that have reflected a
growing awareness of Judaism
to the changing role of women
in every aspect of modern life —
in this instance, their participa-
tion in the religious life of the
synagogue."
Rabbi Milton Arm of Cong.
Beth Achim is another indi-
vidualist, who follows his own
conscience. Conseriative
Judaism's changing attitudes on
women "has had no effect on
s." \ He points out that his con-
giegation offered the option of
Bat` Mitzvah "long before the
others did" but a Beth Achim
Bat. Mitzvah girl is never per-
mitted to read from the Torah
as the boys do. B'notMitzvah are
held on Saturday mornings,
after the Torah is replaced in
the ark. The girls, chant selec-
tions of their own choice, from ,a

,

booklet of Biblical readings,
which includes chapters from
the earlier and later Prophets of
the Bible. If they wish to, the
Bat Mitzvah girls may give a
talk on a commendable Jewish
personality (male or female) of
the past or present. "The girls
probably get more time than the
boys," says Rabbi Arm.
Millie Rosenbaum was pleased
with her daughter Alissa's re-
cent Bat Mitzvah at Beth
Achim. "I was happy the Torahs
were. put away before my
daughter came to the bimah,"
she says. In order to read from
the Book of Prophets, Alissa had
to learn to' read the Haftorah,
learning to chant the tunes as
the boys do. That her daughter
could not demonstrate her
abilities is not a concern for
Roienbaum.
It would have been for
Jeanette Tilchin. Although she
is the 'second woman to have
served as president of . Cong.
Beth Shalom (the only area
Conservative congregation to
have had two women presidents,
Rabbi 'Nelson states proudly),
Tilchin hasn't forgotten when
women's participation was not
so accepted at her synagogue , "I
remember a big meeting where
they (Beth Shalom leadership)
talked about letting women re-
ceive aliyot," she says. There
were some who were "terribly
against it and others for it."
She was convinced that
women must be given an equal
role. "We had to do it for our
daughters. They studied like
their brothers and deserved the
same opportunities."
Indeed., at the Conservative
religious schools in this area,
girls, and boya Appear ito be o