Mazel Tov
TOTAL OF 141 WOMEN RABBIS
Eleven woman were ordained in June as Reform and Reconstructionist rabbis, bringing to 141 the total number of women ordained since 1972.
Nine women were ordained into the Reform rabbinate: Esther Jo Adler, of Tarzana Beach CA; Beth Dina Davidson, of Sag Harbor NY; Susan Laemmel Fletcher of Hermosa Beach CA; Lynn Heather Goldstein of Philadelphia; Sara Jo Messinger of Scars dale NY; Miriam Ella Shapiro of Van Nuys CA; Marjorie Slome of Cincinnati; Sue Ann Wasserman of Pound Ridge NY, and Donna Ilene Greenfield Adler of Brookline MA.
The Reconstructionist Rabbinicial School ordained two new women rabbis: Barbara Rosman Penzer of Leawood KS, and Amy Zweiback Levenson of Vineland NJ.
NORMA JOSEPH APPOINTED “SCHOLAR-IN RESIDENCE”
Norma Joseph, a leading Jewish feminist author and lecturer, has been appointed “scholar-in-residence” at the Women’s Federation of Allied Jewish Community Services in Montreal for 1987-88.
Joseph, a PhD candidate in the Religion Department of Concordia University, will help members of the Women’s Federation “enhance their’ awareness of their Jewish values as well as their identity as part of a Jewish women’s organization.”
The Women’s Federation and Joseph have worked out a thematic approach for the year, with “different women, different times … same Jewish values” as its working title. Joseph will present a four-part series of lectures, open to the public, based on this theme, and will also help the organization weave it through its programming for the year.
This is the first time a volunteer women’s organization in North America has engaged a scholar-in-residence on a yearly basis.
AWARDS AND APPOINTMENTS
Arlene Agus, appointed assistant director of the William Petchek family Foundation at the American Jewish Committee.
Wendy Elliman, a staff writer for Hadassah Magazine awarded the Boris Smolar Award for Excellence in North American Jewish Journalism.
Claudia Fogel, elected president of the Association of Jewish Vocational Service Professionals.
Shirley Frank, appointed assistant director of communications at the National Jewish Welfare Board and editor of the JWB Circle.
Billie Gold, appointed president of the Board of Jewish Education of Greater New York.
Beverly Gribetz appointed dean of Prozdor, the Jewish Theological Seminary’s high school program.
Gerda W. Klein‘s book, Promise of a New Spring: The Holocaust and Renewal, received a Merit of Distinction Citation by the International Center for Holocaust Studies of the ADL of B’nai B’rith.
Helen Marcus, elected president of the Syracuse Jewish Federation.
Lucille R. Perlman, appointed chairperson of the Givat Haviva Educational Foundation.
Daphne Raz, appointed manager of the North American office of the Jerusalem Post, located in New York.
Bertha Reider, 76, a resident of the Jewish Home and Hospital for the Aged in New York, recently read from the Torah as she celebrated her Bat Mitzvah before her children and grandchildren. Ten months ago, when she moved into the home, she didn’t know a letter of Hebrew.
Victoria Rouff, re-elected president of the Jewish Federation of Broome County New York.
Eileen Bluestone Sherman, author of Monday in Odessa, and Myra Livingston, author of Poems for Jewish Holidays, were the recipients of the 38th annual National Jewish Book Awards for Children’s Literature.
Marilyn Silverstein, a feature writer for the Jewish Exponent of Philadelphia, received the Simon Rockower Award for Excellence in Jewish Journalism from the American Jewish Press Association.
Amy Sternberg, elected president of the Jewish Federation of the Greater East Bay, in Oakland CA.
Rachel Tannenbaum, associate executive director of the Jewish Federation of St. Louis, was the recipient of the National Association of Jewish Vocational Services’ Benjamin S. Lowenstein Outstanding Professional Award.
Susan Tomchin, editor of Women’s World, was awarded both the Simon Rockover Award for Excellence in Jewish Journalism by the American Jewish Press Association, and the Boris Smolar Award for Excellence in North American Jewish Journalism.
Renee Unterman has become the first woman mayor of Loganville GA.
