Spirituality
GROUNDBREAKING from page 77
sets her mind to doing something, she makes it happen."
Asked whether the committee views itself as having done something pioneer-
ing in hiring Rabbi Roston, Nierenberg said, "We really don't see it that way. We
really don't."
Beth El received 20 applications for the position and offered 10 of the initial
applicants telephone interviews. Of this group, three were women. The list was
then narrowed to three finalists, each of whom visited the synagogue for a week-
end to lead services, lecture and meet the congregation. Of the final three, only
Rabbi Roston was female.
Women Clergy
Women now constitute roughly 11 percent of the nearly 1,600 members of the
Rabbinical Assembly.
According to a Conservative movement survey released over the summer, 83
percent of the assembly's 177 women pulpit rabbis lead congregations of fewer
than 250 families, while 17 percent lead shuls of between 250 and 499 families.
By contrast, 27 percent of men lead congregations of less than 250 families,
48 percent lead mid-size congregations and 25 percent lead congregations of
more than 500 families.
In 1994, after she served as its assistant rabbi for some four years, Chicago's
Am Yisrael synagogue — which has 500 member families — appointed Rabbi
Debra Newman Kamin as its sole rabbi.
At that time, Am Yisrael was the first congregation in the Chicago metropoli-
tan area to be headed by a woman and, until now, was the largest Conservative
congregation in the country to have a woman rabbi at its helm.
"It's been 20 years now that we've had women ordained as rabbis from within
our movement and they've proven themselves to be extremely capable," said
Rabbi Reuven Hammer, immediate past president of the International
Rabbinical Assembly. "I think we're reaching a new period of time now when
congregations are no longer looking at women rabbis as strange and something
that they're not interested in."
Still, Rabbi Roston's appointment comes as questions about gender equality
in the Conservative rabbinate linger.
According to the movement survey released over the summer, Conservative
women rabbis are paid less, occupy fewer senior positions and are more likely to
HOMEGROWN from page 77
Rabbi Roston's mom is not surprised by her
achievements. "We saw this coming," she said.
"We've been watching for it for years.
"Francine wanted to be a rabbi before there were
women rabbis in the Conservative movement,"
Green said. "She didn't know how she was going to
do it — and I knew it was something she would
have to fight for — but she was determined."
Rabbi Roston's father, Sheldon Green of Novi,
said, "It was her dream all along and I am so proud
of her. To be where she is now is just amazing."
As a student at North Farmington High School,
she was involved in social-action groups. "She was
presented with the (Farmington-Farmington Hills
Breakfast Optimist Club) Optimist Leadership
Award for starting a chapter of Students Against
Drunk Driving in her school and also at Farmington
and Harrison high schools," her mother said.
"She also was part of a group that started Safe
Rides, that provided designated drivers for students."
Rabbi Roston savors fond memories of growing
up in Detroit. But now trips back home are few and
far between. The Rostons try to make it back here at
least once a year, with a plan to visit family in the
Detroit area next month, a trip that will include the
birthday celebration of Rabbi Roston's grandmother,
Roslyn Kaufman of West Bloomfield.
4/7
2005
78
be unmarried than their male counterparts.
The Reform movement, which began ordaining women in 1972, has at least
15 women serving in senior rabbinic positions at congregations with 500 or
more households as members.
Since 2001, for example, Rabbi Marcia Zimmerman has been senior rabbi at
Temple Israel in Minneapolis, a congregation of more than 1,900 families.
Rabbi Janet Marder, president of Reform's Central Conference of American
Rabbis, has been the top rabbi at Congregation Beth Am is Los Altos Hills,
Calif, a congregation of almost 1,300 households, since 1999. In 1988, Rabbi
Emily Lipof was appointed senior rabbi at Temple Ohabei Shalom in Brookline,
Mass., a congregation of more than 600 families.
Of the 12 largest Reconstructionist congregations in the United States, four
have women as their senior rabbis, and one has a female assistant rabbi. These
shuls range in size from 1,000 member units at the high end down to 237
members. Twenty-four of the movement's 106 total synagogues have women as
either senior or assistant rabbis.
Pioneer Women
Rabbi Roston, for her part, told the New Jersey Jewish News that as a rabbinical
student at the Jewish Theological Seminary in the 1990s, she did not consider
herself a pioneer.
"In rabbinical school, my classmates and I saw ourselves as the second genera-
tion," she said. "We weren't among the first who broke the doors down in '84 and
`85, who had been there fighting the battles."
Still, she added, once she graduated from JTS in 1998, "we realized that in
the Conservative movement, we were the first generation." That, she said, was
because, though the heated clash over whether or not to ordain women as rabbis
roiled the seminary, it hadn't very deeply affected the movement's congregations.
But today, Rabbi Reuven Hammer said, women rabbis have left their mark
on the Conservative movement.
"Once it's demonstrated that it can work, the opposition to it becomes
much less than it was before — and I think we've reached that point," he
said.
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Larry Yudelson of the New Jersey Jewish News contributed to this report.
Her other grandmother, Rebecca Green, also lives
in West Bloomfield, and her brother, David, and his
wife, Andrea Green, and their children, Avery, 4, and
Parker, 2, live in Commerce. A sister and her family
live in California.
When in town, the Rostons attend Shabbat servic-
es at Congregation B'nai Moshe, where Rabbi
Detroit roots lead Rabbi Francine
Roston to a landmark position.
Roston has been invited to give the sermon.
"Rabbi [Elliot] Pachter has always been very sup-
portive of me," she said. "He's a good friend and a
mentor. My parents and my grandparents were mar-
ried at B'nai Moshe."
Rabbi Roston has also officiated at several family
milestones. "She performed the ceremony for her sis-
ter and her husband's wedding," Sheldon Green said.
"Rabbi Roman took care of the state of Michigan
part and Francine did the religious ceremony."
Going Out East
Separated by distance, the Green family is still close-
knit. Family members will travel to New Jersey when
Rabbi Roston and her husband are honored with the
New Jersey Region Jewish Theological Seminary
Young Leadership Award on May 15.
"My family has always been incredibly supportive
of my journey and of my career and of Marc's and
my accomplishments," Rabbi Roston said. "I will
always be grateful to my parents for the strong Jewish
values and background that they gave me.
"My parents are active volunteers and taught us
the importance of communal service. My mother
works hard for the Jewish National Fund [she is on
the Detroit chapter board] and for the Jewish Home
and Aging Services auxiliary — and anyone else who
asks her!"
Rabbi Roston's father is also a longtime JHAS
auxiliary member, volunteering three times a week at
Fleischman Residence in West Bloomfield.
"I am a supporter of Federation because of my
parents and the examples they've set for me about the
importance of community service," said Rabbi
Roston, a member of the Rabbinic Cabinet of New
York-based United Jewish Communities.
"My love of Judaism was nurtured at Beth El and
my love of the Jewish community was learned
through all the hours spent at the JCC," she said.
"Detroit's Federation, [Camp] Tamarack and Beth
El all hold a strong place in my heart. I am very
proud of my Jewish background and the Detroit
Jewish community and I feel strong, strong roots in
Detroit."
❑