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First African-American female rabbi ordained

June 7, 2009

(JTA) -- The first African-American woman rabbi in the United States was ordained. 

Cleveland native Alysa Stanton, 45, was one of 14 rabbis ordained Saturday at the Plum Street Temple in Cincinnati. She is a graduate of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion.

Stanton, a convert and mother to an adopted 14-year-old daughter, will take up her new pulpit as the spiritual leader of Congregation Bayt Shalom in Greenville, S.C. Bayt Shalom is a small Conservative congregation that two years ago also affiliated with the Reform movement.

The former Pentecostal Christian converted 20 years ago while in college. She is a trained psychotherapist who specializes in trauma and grief.
 

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