Word: rabbie
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
ORDAINED Although she grew up in a Pentecostal home, on June 6, Alysa Stanton, 45, will become the first female African-American rabbi...
...Like the 2001 astronauts, Sam has a chatty computer, named Gerty, which comes equipped with a metallic arm, as in the arcade claw games, three expressions (smiley-face, frowny-ace and deadpan) and the would-be soothing voice of Kevin Spacey. Like Socrates or a rabbi or a shrink, Gerty annoyingly answers questions with questions. (Sam, agitated: "Am I a f---in' clone?" Gerty, trying to deflect the issue: "Are you hungry?") Unlike HAL-9000 from the Kubrick movie, however, this computer is not totally the slave of his programmers. Sometimes it will aid Sam as he rises from impotence...
...Stanton had found a permanent home in Judaism, and formally converted to the religion after a year of study with a rabbi in Denver. Her family and community, however, were skeptical of her defection to the synagogue. There was a sense of betrayal, Stanton concedes, but there was also the reality that Stanton would never quite look like your average American Jew. "I definitely don't blend in," Stanton says. "Worldwide, Jews come in every color and hue, but in America, mainstream Judaism is definitely an Anglo demographic." (See the top 10 religion stories...
...Stanton's outsider status did nothing to keep her from becoming the ultimate Jewish insider, an officially ordained rabbi. She beat out some half-dozen candidates for the position of rabbi at Congregation Bayt Shalom in North Carolina. Much of Stanton's appeal, says synagogue president Michael Barondes, lies in her ability to connect and communicate powerfully, both from the pulpit and face-to-face. Those are skills Stanton honed during an earlier career, before entering the seminary - as a psychotherapist specializing in grief and loss. She helped counsel victims of the 1999 shooting at Columbine High School. "She knows...
...Stanton's color played no role in her candidacy, but neither he nor Stanton - a divorced single mother to Shana, 14 - is unaccustomed to the impact of race in America, particularly in the South. Indeed, leaders of the Alabama synagogue where Stanton trained for a year as a student rabbi never believed their white congregation would accept an African-American at the pulpit. Complaints were lodged and calls were made. Yet by the end of her training, the synagogue was deeply saddened to see her go. "Everyone has their initial impressions and outmoded stereotypes," Stanton reflects on the experience...