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ANNUAL MEETING OF THE
UNITED JEWISH FOUNDATION
Notice is hereby given that the Annual Meeting of the United Jewish
Foundation of Metropolitan Detroit will take place on Thursday, June 11,
1998 at 4 p.m. at Temple Shir Shalom, 3999 Walnut Lake Road, West
Bloomfield.
The following individuals have been appointed by President Robert
Slatkin to serve on the 1998 Nominating Committee:
STACEY A. CRANE
CHAIR
BARBARA S. COOK LEO S. EISENBERG MERTON J. SEGAL
Petition Candidates: Other persons may be nominated for member-
ship on the Board of Directors by petition signed by not less than twenty-
five (25) members of the United Jewish Foundation and filed with the
Secretary not less than thirty days prior to the date of the Annual Meet-
ing. Only one person may be nominated in each petition, and no nomi-
nations shall be valid unless the nominee shall have consented to be a
candidate in writing either in the petition or in a separate written docu-
ment filed with the Secretary not less than thirty days prior to the date
of the Annual Meeting.
Filings should be sent to:
United Jewish Foundation
Robert P. Aronson, Secretary
P.O. Box 2030
Bloomfield Hills, Michigan 48303-2030
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86US
(248) 3
MADE MOOCH WEATHER'
of Metropolitan Detroit
While the adversity faced by his
female colleagues unquestionably
exists, RA Executive Vice President
Rabbi Joel Meyers attributes it to the
fact that they just haven't been around
long enough or in great enough num-
bers to make members of the move-
ment at ease with their presence. He
relates a story of the first time he saw
a female police officer on the street.
"I did a double take because I just
wasn't used to seeing women in that
role," he said.
Lewittes said initially the novelty
was coupled with the movement's
neglect to aggressively inform the con-
gregants of the ordination decision,
the result of which left some congre-
gants in the dark as to the mere exis-
tence of female Conservative rabbis.
While the Halachic debate raged,
the sociological implications were
given little weight or further consider-
ation.
Instead, the female rabbis, through
their exposure to the public in lectures
and in daily existence, have had to
take on the role of defending their .
presence, an uncomfortable task for
some and a welcome challenge for
others.
"I think it is a burden I am willing
to take on because it is part of an edu-
cation process," Orenstein said.
To ease the transition for the female
rabbis and the congregations, the Rab-
binical Assembly has pushed for
women to take on more prominent
roles or to have a presence on its com-
mittees and organizations. The Assem-
bly also tries to keep a handle on the
activities of synagogue hiring commit-
tees through the interview process, in
part to check for unfair hiring prac-
tices.
"We ask that the congregations
interview all candidates for rabbinic
positions," Meyers said. "Then we
debrief the rabbis after their interviews
to gauge what is going on."
The measures, however, only go so
far, he acknowledged. While women
have made gains and contributed
greatly in the fields of education,
chaplaincy and ritual, a glass ceiling
still exists in the field of pulpit rabbis.
In the 12 years since ordination
began, no major congregation the size
of a Congregation Shaarey Zedek or
an Adat Shalom Synagogue has been
headed by a female rabbi. This is in
part due to the fact that to apply for
these positions, a rabbi must have at
least 10 years of experience, Meyers
said.
But that doesn't explain why only a
small fraction of the women lead even
medium-sized congregations. Kamin is
the rabbinic head of a congregation of
500 families in a suburb north of
Chicago, the largest Conservative shul
with female leadership on the planet.
"My female colleagues are mostly in
assistantships or are with smaller con-
gregations. They are ready to move on
and move up and they are having a
hard time finding congregations who
want them," Kamin said. "The men
are moving up faster than the
women."
The seminary itself also has moved
slowly. Of the 57 full-time, tenured
faculty members, 12 are women; of
the 110 total teaching faculty (assist-
ing, part-time, visiting, etc.), about 25
percent are women.
And while all public seminary
events have been egalitarian in the
Female rabbis
have influenced
Jewish law
on issues
ranging from
healing to
mourning rites.
past year, the non-egalitarian minyan
continues to exist, a sticking point
with many of the female rabbis.
"The seminary as a whole did not
embrace women as rabbis," Lewittes
said of her time as a rabbinic student
in the late 1980s. "And the seminary
today does not, as a whole, embrace
women as rabbis."
Struggles and challenges aside,
however, not a single female rabbi
interviewed for this story would have
chosen a different career path. On the
contrary, they are happy to have been
a part of a historical change in Con-
servative Judaism.
"Being a rabbi is so rewarding, so
gratifying. You are with people in all
different times of their life," said
Kamin. "It is exciting and heartwarm-
ing and sometimes tragic.
"My husband, Daniel Kamin,
always tells me that I am a pioneer
and compares me to Jackie Robinson,"
she said. "I guess someone always has