CCAR

Edited by Rabbi Rebecca Einstein Schorr and
Rabbi Alysa Mendelson Graf

Winner of the 2016 National Jewish Book Award in Women's Studies, this pioneering anthology paints an illuminating and necessary picture of the past while laying the groundwork for important work yet to be done.

Women have been rabbis for over forty years. No longer are women rabbis a unique phenomenon, rather they are part of the fabric of Jewish life. In this anthology, rabbis and scholars from across the Jewish world reflect back on the historic significance of women in the rabbinate and explore issues related to both the professional and personal lives of female rabbis. This collection examines the ways in which the reality of women in the rabbinate has impacted all aspects of Jewish life, including congregational culture, liturgical development, life cycle ritual, the Jewish healing movement, spirituality, theology, and more.

Table of Contents
Contributor Bios
Study Guide - Free download
Want to host a Sacred Calling Event? We're here for you! Click for details.

Letter from CCAR Press Publisher, Rabbi Hara Person:
"How Far We've Come - and How Much Farther We Still Need to Go" - Jewish Philanthropy

Read an excerpt from The Sacred Calling in Lilith Magazine:
"Transference and the Female Rabbi" - Rabbi Ellen Jay Lewis

Learn more about The Sacred Calling from Rabbis Karen Fox and Peter Berg, current HUC-JIR students, and Rabbi Sally J. Priesand herself:


Also Available:

This book is going to be a very important document forever because it's so well-rounded, it has so many different views and it talks about so many different topics, not just written by women, but written by men, and that's important too.
- Rabbi Sally J. Priesand, first woman rabbi in the United States; Rabbi Emerita of Monmouth Reform Temple, Tinton Falls, NJ

Read Rabbi Priesand's interview with The Washington Post to learn more about The Sacred Calling: Four Decades of Women in the Rabbinate.

Read CCAR Press interview with Rabbi Sally J. Priesand - "The Sacred Calling: Courage to Dare and to Dream"

I think it's an important mission to tell our story....I would like my rabbinic students to have it as required reading, the men and the women, because they are often surprised at my story.
- Rabbi Karen Fox, first woman to serve as a Regional Director of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, now Union for Reform Judaism; Rabbi Emerita of Wilshire Boulevard Temple, Los Angeles, CA

I highly recommend The Sacred Calling: Four Decades of Women in the Rabbinate. I believe it is essential reading. It is not only an important historical narrative; it is also a call to action. It's essential reading for rabbis, for cantors, for Jewish Educators and Jewish professionals, but mostly I believe it is required reading for all lay leaders and members of our congregations.
- Rabbi Peter Berg, Senior Rabbi, The Temple, Atlanta, GA

I think The Sacred Calling can help us think inclusively. I think there are lessons from the women who fought their way to leadership roles; [they] teach us how to bring other groups from the margins into the center.
- Toba Schaller, fifth-year rabbinical student, HUC-JIR, New York, NY

Part of the CCAR Challenge and Change Series