This is a timeline of women hazzans (also called cantors) worldwide.
The role of women in Judaism is determined by the Hebrew Bible, the Oral Law, by custom, and by cultural factors. Although the Hebrew Bible and rabbinic literature mention various female role models, religious law treats women differently in various circumstances. According to a 2017 study by the Pew Research Center, women are slightly more likely to identify with Judaism. They account for 52% of the worldwide Jewish population.
A hazzan or chazzan is a Jewish musician or precentor trained in the vocal arts who leads the congregation in songful prayer. In English, this prayer leader is often referred to as a cantor, a term also used in Christianity.
The ordination of women to ministerial or priestly office is an increasingly common practice among some contemporary major religious groups. It remains a controversial issue in certain Christian traditions and in most denominations in which "ordination" was often a traditionally male dominated profession.
The Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion is a Jewish seminary with three locations in the United States and one location in Jerusalem. It is the oldest extant Jewish seminary in the Americas and the main seminary for training rabbis, cantors, educators and communal workers in Reform Judaism. HUC-JIR has campuses in Cincinnati, Ohio, New York City, Los Angeles, California, and Jerusalem. The Jerusalem campus is the only seminary in Israel for training Reform Jewish clergy.
Regina Jonas was a Berlin-born Reform rabbi. In 1935, she became the first woman to be ordained as a rabbi. Jonas was murdered in the Holocaust.
Jewish feminism is a movement that seeks to make the religious, legal, and social status of Jewish women equal to that of Jewish men in Judaism. Feminist movements, with varying approaches and successes, have opened up within all major branches of the Jewish religion.
Congregation Emanu-El of San Francisco, California is one of the two oldest Jewish congregations in California, and one of the largest Jewish congregations in the United States. A member of the Union for Reform Judaism, Congregation Emanu-El is a significant gathering place for the Bay Area Jewish community.
Women rabbis are individual Jewish women who have studied Jewish Law and received rabbinical ordination. Women rabbis are prominent in Progressive Jewish denominations, however, the subject of women rabbis in Orthodox Judaism is more complex. Although Orthodox women have been ordained as rabbis, many major Orthodox Jewish communities and institutions do not accept the change. In an alternative approach, other Orthodox Jewish institutions train women as Torah scholars for various Jewish religious leadership roles. These roles typically involve training women as religious authorities in Jewish Law but without formal rabbinic ordination, instead, alternate titles are used. Yet, despite this alteration in title, these women are often perceived as equivalent to ordained rabbis. Since the 1970s, over 1,200 Jewish women have been ordained as rabbis.
The cantor in the Reform movement is a clergy member who fills a diverse role within the Jewish community. Cantors lead worship, officiate at lifecycle events, teach adults and children, run synagogue music programs, and offer pastoral care. Cantors typically serve along with other clergy members, usually rabbis and occasionally additional cantors, in partnership to lead synagogue communities. The Reform cantor is a professional office with a prescribed educational path and professional organization. Cantors are "invested", a term borrowed from the idea of priestly vestments, at the conclusion of study. "Investiture" confers the status of clergy to cantors, just as "ordination" does for rabbis.
Angela Warnick Buchdahl is an American rabbi. She was the first Asian-American to be ordained as a rabbi, and the first Asian-American to be ordained as a hazzan (cantor). In 2011 she was named by Newsweek and The Daily Beast as one of America's "Most Influential Rabbis", and in 2012 by The Daily Beast as one of America's "Top 50 Rabbis". Buchdahl was recognized as one of the top five in The Forward's 2014 "Forward Fifty", a list of American Jews who had the most impact on the national scene in the previous year.
Cantors Assembly (CA) is the international association of hazzanim (cantors) affiliated with Conservative Judaism. Cantors Assembly was founded in 1947 to develop the profession of the hazzan, to foster the fellowship and welfare of hazzanim, and to establish a conservatory for hazzanim. The latter goal was realized in 1952 with the establishment of the Cantors Institute at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. This Institute later developed into the H. L. Miller Cantorial School of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America.
Marla Rosenfeld Barugel is, along with Erica Lippitz, one of the first two female hazzans ordained in Conservative Judaism.
Erica Jan (Riki) Lippitz and Marla Rosenfeld Barugel were the first two female hazzans ordained in Conservative Judaism. Their ordination was held in 1987, two years after the first woman was ordained a Conservative rabbi.
Avitall Gerstetter is the first female hazzan (cantor) in Jewish Renewal and the first female cantor in Germany.
Deborah Davis is the first hazzan of either sex in Humanistic Judaism. She was ordained in 2001. She is the lead singer of the Second Avenue Klezmer Ensemble, which she also named.
This is a timeline of women rabbis:
Julie Rosewald (1847–1906), called “Cantor Soprano” by her congregation, was America's first unofficial cantor, serving San Francisco's Temple Emanu-El from 1884 until 1893.
This is a timeline of women in religion. See also: Timeline of women in religion in the United States.
This is a timeline of notable moments in the history of women's ordination in the world's religious traditions. It is not an exhaustive list of all historic or contemporary ordinations of women.
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