This Shabbat we have a very unusual double Bat Mitzvah. Shea and Bryn are two best friends who are celebrating their big day together. But that is not what makes it so unusual. What is particularly noteworthy is that each of the girls chose to do this on their own accord. While their families are very supportive, after not being part of a Jewish community until recently they decided they wanted to affirm their Jewish identity for themselves.
This week’s Torah portion, Bamidbar, the first in the book of Numbers, begins with a census. In preparation for their journey into the Holy Land each tribe gave a count of all their military age men, leaving the majority of the community – women, children, and elders – completely unaccounted for. This gave an incomplete picture of who was actually in the Israelite camp. As I explained to Shea and Bryn, up until recently women were still not counted in our community. This began to change when Mordecai Kaplan’s daughter Judith Eisenstein had the first Bat Mitzvah a little over a century ago. Today, we have over fifty years of American female rabbis, over a thousand strong at this point, and hundreds of LGBTQ+ rabbis as well. Women have held key positions as heads of synagogues, Federations, JCCs, and all major Jewish organizations in Liberal Judaism. It has taken time, but we have balance. Sarah, Rebecca, Leah, Rachel, Miriam, Deborah and Ruth would be proud. Our annual Women of Shir Shalom service that takes place this Friday is just one of a myriad of examples in our community where women lead the way. How grateful we are to Shea and Bryn for their choice to be counted amongst the Women of Shir Shalom. Mazel Tov to them and their families!
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Alex