Re-envisioning the Rabbinate: Looking Back, Looking Ahead

A Conference for the men and women of the RA as we celebrate together the 30th anniversary of women's ordination

For more information contact: Ellen Wolintz-Fields or Debra Newman-Kamin, co-chairs.

Download an electronic version of the Conference Program Book.

Register Here 

Schedule

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The JTS Convocation honoring our colleagues will follow the close of the RA Conference on Wednesday, April 29 at 5 pm. Tickets are required and subject to availability. RSVP for Convocation tickets at 2015 JTS Rabbinic Convocation.

 Limmud & Breakout Sessions

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Limmud with JTS Faculty – Tuesday, April 28^th at 11 am

When One Rabbi Visits Another the Result is Halakhic Change: A Close Reading of Five Very Short Talmudic Anecdotes | Mendelson Convocation Center
Teacher: Rabbi Dr. Judith Hauptman

Gender-Bending in 2 Kings 4: How a Great Woman Instructs a Man of God | Berman Board Room I
Teacher: Rabbi Dr. Amy Kalmanofsky
Description: The story of Elisha’s encounter with the great woman of Shunem challenges the Tanakh’s normative gender dynamic. Through a close reading of 2 Kings 4, we will consider how this story employs an unconventional gender dynamic in order to convey a deeply religious message, and how a woman teaches a man to behave like a prophet.
 

Finding God in Unlikely Places: Six Poems No Rabbi Should Be Without | Berman Board Room II
Teacher: Dr. Anne Lerner
Description: So-called secular Israeli poetry often supports our wrestling with God. We will analyze some recent poetry that speaks to contemporary issues.

Kaddish and Community: Reflecting on Gendered Perspectives | Seminar Room 
Teacher: Dr. Shuly Schwartz
Description: Reciting Kaddish has often catalyzed Jewish identity, but the way in which this occurred differed wildly by gender. As we examine select Kaddish narratives, we’ll reflect on how this experience has evolved in America over the past century for both men and for women.

Breakout Sessions - Wednesday, April 29 at 10:15 AM

Gender & the Rabbinate:  How has the ordination of women changed the role of the rabbi?

Jim Rosen & Ilana Garber, Rabbis, Beth El Temple, West Hartford, Connecticut
Craig Scheff & Paula Mack Drill, Rabbis, Orangetown Jewish Center, New York
Facilitator: Ellen Wolintz-Fields, Rabbi, Congregation B'nai Israel, Toms River, New Jersey.

Successful models for promoting change in communities
Analia Bortz, Rabbi, Congregation Or Hadash, Sandy Springs, Georgia
Gesa Ederberg, Rabbi, Synagoge Oranienburger Straße, Berlin, Germany
Facilitator : Debra Newman Kamin, Rabbi, Am Israel Congregation, Northfield, Illinois.  

Visioning & Goal Setting: What haven't we done yet? Where are the new opportunities? How do we get where we want to go?
Menachem Creditor, Rabbi, Congregation Netivot Shalom, Berkeley, California
Cheryl Peretz, Associate Dean, Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies, Lecturer in Practical Rabbinics. 

Taking our Torah beyond the Pulpit
Sara Paasche-Orlow, Director, Religious and Chaplaincy Services, Hebrew Senior Life, Boston, Massachusetts 
Lori Forman-Jacobi, Director, Jewish Journey Project, New York City
Debra Cantor, Rabbi, Congregation B'nai Tikvoh-Sholom, Bloomfield, Connecticut
Facilitator: Nina Beth Cardin, Directory of Baltimore Orchard Project; Sustainability Advisor to the Central Maryland Ecumenical Leaders Group, Baltimore, Maryland

Speakers

	Alisa Robbins Doctoroff President of the Board of UJA-Federation of New York. Alisa is a past president of the Abraham Joshua Heschel School, was instrumental in founding its high school division, and chaired the initiative for its recent expansion. She is active on the boards of a wide spectrum of foundations and organizations that promote engagement with Jewish life and identity. Alisa graduated from Harvard College, received an M.B.A at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Businessandan M.A. in Jewish Studies from the Jewish Theological Seminary. She lives in Manhattan with her husband, Dan, and they have three children.
	Blu Greenberg Author and lecturer Blu Greenberg has published widely on contemporary issues of feminism, Orthodoxy, and the Jewish family, as well as on other subjects of scholarly interest. Amidst a myriad of public roles, she chaired the first and second International Conferences on Feminism and Orthodoxy in 1997 and 1998 and is founding president of JOFA, the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance. She is author of On Women and Judaism: A View from Tradition; How to Run a Traditional Jewish Household; Black Bread, Poems after the Holocaust; and King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, co-authored with Rev. Linda Tarry. Greenberg is a member of the Jewish Women’s Archive Honorary Committee for the Celebration of 350 Years of Jewish Women in America.
	Francine Klagsbrun A columnist for The Jewish Week, Francine Klagsbrun is the author of more than a dozen books, most recently, The Fourth Commandment: Remember the Sabbath Day and is currently writing an in-depth biography of Golda Meir. She was the editor of The First Ms. Reader and of the bestselling Free To Be...You and Me, created with Marlo Thomas and the Ms. Foundation. She holds a BA degree from Brooklyn College; an MA from the Institute of Fine Arts, NYU; and a BHL and Honorary DHL from the Jewish Theological Seminary. Among her many awards are the Distinguished Alumna Award from Brooklyn College, the Outstanding Alumna Award from JTS and the Centennial Award from the Rabbinical Assembly. Ms. Klagsbrun was a member of the Commission for the Study of Women in the Rabbinate of the Jewish Theological Seminary and at the forefront of the struggle to have women ordained as rabbis in the Conservative Movement.
	Abigail Pogrebin Author of Stars of David: Prominent Jews Talk about Being Jewish, which recently became an Off-Broadway musical, and the memoir, One and the Same, which delves into the truth about growing up as an identical twin. A Yale graduate, Abigail Pogrebin was a producer for Charlie Rose and Bill Moyers at PBS, then for Ed Bradley and Mike Wallace at 60 Minutes. She has also been published in many magazines, and presently writes  a column for The Forward  about every Jewish holiday in our calendar, called "18 Holidays; One Wondering Jew." Abby lives in Manhattan with her husband and two teenage children.
	Letty Cottin Pogrebin A founding editor of Ms. magazine, Letty is the author of eleven books, most recently the novel, Single Jewish Male Seeking Soul Mate, to be published in May. Among her other titles are two acclaimed memoirs, Getting Over Getting Older, and Deborah, Golda, and Me: Being Female and Jewish in America. Her articles have been published in The New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, Huffington Post, and Harpers Bazaar, among other publications. She is a co-founder of a dozen or more activist organizations including the National Women's Political Caucus, the Ms. Foundation for Women, two Black-Jewish dialogue groups, and several Palestinian-Jewish dialogues.  She currently serves on the boards of the Brandeis University Women and Gender Studies program, and the Harvard Divinity School Women in Religion program. Letty lives in New York with her husband Bert, an attorney. They have three grown children and six grandchildren.
	Arnold M. Eisen One of the world’s foremost authorities on American Judaism, Arnold M. Eisen is the seventh chancellor of The Jewish Theological Seminary. Since taking office in 2007, Chancellor Eisen has transformed the education of religious, pedagogical, professional, and lay leaders for Conservative Judaism and the vital religious center of North American Jewry, enhancing JTS’s notable reputation and global reach. He has expanded the digitization and online accessibility of historic and contemporary JTS and JTS Library resources, and launched learn.jtsa.edu and popular JTS social media sites as a means of extending conversation about Judaism among the generations. Chancellor Eisen’s initiatives include dual-track degrees for rabbis and cantors; programs in early childhood, experiential, adult, and Israel education; an ambitious Arts Initiative; increased interdisciplinary teaching; the fully accredited and interreligious Center for Pastoral Education; the Milstein Center for Interreligious Dialogue; and the Mitzvah Initiative. Before coming to JTS, Chancellor Eisen served in the department of Religious Studies at Stanford University, the department of Jewish Philosophy at Tel Aviv University, and the department of Religion at Columbia University. The chancellor's many publications include Rethinking Modern Judaism: Ritual, Commandment, Community and Taking Hold of Torah: Jewish Commitment and Community in America, a personal essay. He is a lifelong and devoted member of the Conservative Movement.