Word: rabbies
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...path to the pulpit has been as colorful as it has been unusual for Alysa Stanton, 45, America's first-ever female African-American rabbi. Stanton, who was born to a Christian family, was formally ordained on June 6, having completed seven years of rabbinical training at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati. Stanton will now assume her new role as the first nonwhite rabbi of Congregation Bayt Shalom, a 60-family synagogue in Greenville...
...This is an exciting next step in my journey," says Stanton, who feels both blessed and burdened by her "first-ever" status. "I'm honored and awed by this achievement," she continues. "But I am foremost a rabbi who happens to be African-American, not The African-American Rabbi." (See pictures of African-American Firsts at LIFE.com...
That would fairly describe Rabbi Stanton's journey. Her childhood in Ohio was a conventional one, but, as a self-described "old soul," Stanton says she was propelled early on by a search for spiritual nourishment, which led her far beyond her Pentecostal roots. She was attracted initially to Eastern religions and Evangelicalism, until her family moved to a predominantly Jewish suburb of Cleveland. Curious about the mezuzahs in the doorways of neighboring homes - along with other unfamiliar Jewish customs - Stanton turned for guidance to a Catholic uncle who occasionally worshipped at a local temple...
...that message sufficient? Rabbi David Rosen, the Jerusalem-based chair of the umbrella International Jewish Committee on Interreligious Consultations, says the Williamson affair is an "absolute gift" because it enabled the Pope to reiterate his affection for the Jews. Yet while Benedict may have been unaware of Williamson's Holocaust-denying interview, the Pope--who has been trying to pull the SSPX back into the fold for decades--must have been aware that anti-Semitism was something of an SSPX calling card. Says Eugene Fisher, a former Jewish-affairs expert for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, who generally lauds...
...admirer of the Jews, but one whose goodwill toward them may be moderated by his other concerns. Should that matter? "It's hard to imagine, but it's true that the Jews are not at the top of the agenda of everyone else in the world," quips Rabbi Jacob Neusner, a professor of Jewish studies at Bard College with whom the Pope has a fruitful scholarly relationship. One could justifiably wonder why, on an issue like the Latin Mass or SSPX, a busy Pope should constantly have to ask himself whether it's good for the Jews...