Rebecca T. Alpert is a rabbi and codirector of the women's studies program at Temple University. She is the author of Exploring Judaism: A Reconstructionist Approach and Like Bread on the Seder Plate: Jewish Lesbians and the Transformation of Tradition. Sue Levi Elwell is a rabbi and director of the Pennsylvania Council of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations. She is the editor of the Jewish Women's Studies Guide. Shirley Idelson is a rabbi who serves as associate chaplain at Carleton College and associate for Jewish Life at Macalester College.

• AcknowledgmentsIntroduction / Sue Levi Elwell / Rebecca T. AlpertPART I Serving a Denominational MovementStruggle, Change, and Celebration: My Life as a Lesbian Rabbi / Linda HoltzmanA Practical Theology of Presence / Nancy WienerWorking from the Inside, Out / Julie R. SpitzerWholeness and Holiness: A Life's Journey / Sue Levi ElwellBeing a Lesbian Rabbi / Elizabeth Tikvah SarahPART II Serving CongregationsTen Years on the Journey toward Wholeness / Leila Gal BernerCarrying On: A Lesbian Rabbi, Jewish Seekers, and All the Voices of Our Lives / Ellen LippmannShlichut: Claiming My Mission / Karen BenderGer V'toshav: Member and Outsider / Sydney MintzPART III Serving Gay and Lesbian CongregationsGay and Lesbian Synagogue as Spiritual Community / Sharon KleinbaumWhy I Choose to be a Rabbi of a GLBT Synagogue / Lisa A. EdwardsTen Years and Counting... / Denise L. EgerPART IV Working with Jews ``at the Margins'' and on CampusOn Being a Rabbi at the Margins / Rebecca T. AlpertMy Piece of Truth / Julie GreenbergMy Language Is My Country / Shirley IdelsonPART V Lesbian Rabbis and Conservative JudaismSaying No in the Name of a Higher Yes / Benay LappeNotes from the Underground / Dawn Robinson RoseIn Hiding / AnonymousGlossaryAbout the ContributorsIndex

This welcome collection reflects two visions: one that of a group of lesbians who came out at seminary and in their congregations with great risk to their dreams and livelihoods; the other of younger lesbians who were out at college and seminary, while they were on the job market, and in their professional positions. . . . The eighteen essays cover denominational movements, heterosexual congregations, gay and lesbian congregations, unaffiliated Jews and Jews on campus, and being a lesbian rabbi in the Conservative movement, the denomination that, after Orthodoxy, is the least flexible about sexual preference. . . . One comes away from this collection looking, like the younger woman pictured in [the bookÆs] front cover photograph, toward the future and the next generation, who will not have to fight as their older sisters did for acceptance and employment. (WomenÆs Review of Books) The eighteen diverse essays in this groundbreaking volume written by lesbian rabbis express, often with great eloquence and learning, the values of integrity, courageous leadership, and shlemut or wholeness. . . . The authors of these essays . . . are serious and courageous rabbis. (Lesbian Review of Books) Lesbian Rabbis: The First Generation gives voice to the women who followed Priesand in making history: the lesbians who marched bravely into an unfriendly sea and forced an open passage. In eighteen personal essays, their stories emerge as joyous, heartbreaking, and historical, outlining where Judaism has been and mapping where the future lies. (Lilith) This fascinating collection of essays by 18 lesbian rabbis breaks new ground and will surely inspire and challenge anyone who lives contradictions between a religion that denies or questions oneÆs existence while responding to an inner sense of truth and belief. Highly recommended. (Feminist Academic Press) A new collection of reminiscences by trailblazing lesbian rabbis, Lesbian Rabbis: The First Generation tells the tales of those who paved the way. (Foreword) This marvelous collection shows great women living good lives engaging in excellent ministry. (WATERwheel) æToday I am completely æoutÆ personally and professionally, and yet I have learned that the æcoming outÆ process never ends. Even today, I find myself in professional situations in which yet again I must reveal that I am a lesbian, yet again I must prove myself worthy of functioning professionally in the æstraightÆ world. I still encounter moments of awkwardness, some hostility, and some sense of exclusion as I negotiate the pathways of my professional life. - Rabbi Leila Gal Berner (from Lesbian Rabbis: The First Generation)

Rebecca T. Alpert is a rabbi and codirector of the women's studies program at Temple University. She is the author of Exploring Judaism: A Reconstructionist Approach and Like Bread on the Seder Plate: Jewish Lesbians and the Transformation of Tradition. Sue Levi Elwell is a rabbi and director of the Pennsylvania Council of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations. She is the editor of the Jewish Women's Studies Guide. Shirley Idelson is a rabbi who serves as associate chaplain at Carleton College and associate for Jewish Life at Macalester College.

• AcknowledgmentsIntroduction / Sue Levi Elwell / Rebecca T. AlpertPART I Serving a Denominational MovementStruggle, Change, and Celebration: My Life as a Lesbian Rabbi / Linda HoltzmanA Practical Theology of Presence / Nancy WienerWorking from the Inside, Out / Julie R. SpitzerWholeness and Holiness: A Life's Journey / Sue Levi ElwellBeing a Lesbian Rabbi / Elizabeth Tikvah SarahPART II Serving CongregationsTen Years on the Journey toward Wholeness / Leila Gal BernerCarrying On: A Lesbian Rabbi, Jewish Seekers, and All the Voices of Our Lives / Ellen LippmannShlichut: Claiming My Mission / Karen BenderGer V'toshav: Member and Outsider / Sydney MintzPART III Serving Gay and Lesbian CongregationsGay and Lesbian Synagogue as Spiritual Community / Sharon KleinbaumWhy I Choose to be a Rabbi of a GLBT Synagogue / Lisa A. EdwardsTen Years and Counting... / Denise L. EgerPART IV Working with Jews ``at the Margins'' and on CampusOn Being a Rabbi at the Margins / Rebecca T. AlpertMy Piece of Truth / Julie GreenbergMy Language Is My Country / Shirley IdelsonPART V Lesbian Rabbis and Conservative JudaismSaying No in the Name of a Higher Yes / Benay LappeNotes from the Underground / Dawn Robinson RoseIn Hiding / AnonymousGlossaryAbout the ContributorsIndex

This welcome collection reflects two visions: one that of a group of lesbians who came out at seminary and in their congregations with great risk to their dreams and livelihoods; the other of younger lesbians who were out at college and seminary, while they were on the job market, and in their professional positions. . . . The eighteen essays cover denominational movements, heterosexual congregations, gay and lesbian congregations, unaffiliated Jews and Jews on campus, and being a lesbian rabbi in the Conservative movement, the denomination that, after Orthodoxy, is the least flexible about sexual preference. . . . One comes away from this collection looking, like the younger woman pictured in [the bookÆs] front cover photograph, toward the future and the next generation, who will not have to fight as their older sisters did for acceptance and employment. (WomenÆs Review of Books) The eighteen diverse essays in this groundbreaking volume written by lesbian rabbis express, often with great eloquence and learning, the values of integrity, courageous leadership, and shlemut or wholeness. . . . The authors of these essays . . . are serious and courageous rabbis. (Lesbian Review of Books) Lesbian Rabbis: The First Generation gives voice to the women who followed Priesand in making history: the lesbians who marched bravely into an unfriendly sea and forced an open passage. In eighteen personal essays, their stories emerge as joyous, heartbreaking, and historical, outlining where Judaism has been and mapping where the future lies. (Lilith) This fascinating collection of essays by 18 lesbian rabbis breaks new ground and will surely inspire and challenge anyone who lives contradictions between a religion that denies or questions oneÆs existence while responding to an inner sense of truth and belief. Highly recommended. (Feminist Academic Press) A new collection of reminiscences by trailblazing lesbian rabbis, Lesbian Rabbis: The First Generation tells the tales of those who paved the way. (Foreword) This marvelous collection shows great women living good lives engaging in excellent ministry. (WATERwheel) æToday I am completely æoutÆ personally and professionally, and yet I have learned that the æcoming outÆ process never ends. Even today, I find myself in professional situations in which yet again I must reveal that I am a lesbian, yet again I must prove myself worthy of functioning professionally in the æstraightÆ world. I still encounter moments of awkwardness, some hostility, and some sense of exclusion as I negotiate the pathways of my professional life. - Rabbi Leila Gal Berner (from Lesbian Rabbis: The First Generation)

Rebecca T. Alpert is a rabbi and codirector of the women's studies program at Temple University. She is the author of Exploring Judaism: A Reconstructionist Approach and Like Bread on the Seder Plate: Jewish Lesbians and the Transformation of Tradition. Sue Levi Elwell is a rabbi and director of the Pennsylvania Council of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations. She is the editor of the Jewish Women's Studies Guide. Shirley Idelson is a rabbi who serves as associate chaplain at Carleton College and associate for Jewish Life at Macalester College.

• AcknowledgmentsIntroduction / Sue Levi Elwell / Rebecca T. AlpertPART I Serving a Denominational MovementStruggle, Change, and Celebration: My Life as a Lesbian Rabbi / Linda HoltzmanA Practical Theology of Presence / Nancy WienerWorking from the Inside, Out / Julie R. SpitzerWholeness and Holiness: A Life's Journey / Sue Levi ElwellBeing a Lesbian Rabbi / Elizabeth Tikvah SarahPART II Serving CongregationsTen Years on the Journey toward Wholeness / Leila Gal BernerCarrying On: A Lesbian Rabbi, Jewish Seekers, and All the Voices of Our Lives / Ellen LippmannShlichut: Claiming My Mission / Karen BenderGer V'toshav: Member and Outsider / Sydney MintzPART III Serving Gay and Lesbian CongregationsGay and Lesbian Synagogue as Spiritual Community / Sharon KleinbaumWhy I Choose to be a Rabbi of a GLBT Synagogue / Lisa A. EdwardsTen Years and Counting... / Denise L. EgerPART IV Working with Jews ``at the Margins'' and on CampusOn Being a Rabbi at the Margins / Rebecca T. AlpertMy Piece of Truth / Julie GreenbergMy Language Is My Country / Shirley IdelsonPART V Lesbian Rabbis and Conservative JudaismSaying No in the Name of a Higher Yes / Benay LappeNotes from the Underground / Dawn Robinson RoseIn Hiding / AnonymousGlossaryAbout the ContributorsIndex

This welcome collection reflects two visions: one that of a group of lesbians who came out at seminary and in their congregations with great risk to their dreams and livelihoods; the other of younger lesbians who were out at college and seminary, while they were on the job market, and in their professional positions. . . . The eighteen essays cover denominational movements, heterosexual congregations, gay and lesbian congregations, unaffiliated Jews and Jews on campus, and being a lesbian rabbi in the Conservative movement, the denomination that, after Orthodoxy, is the least flexible about sexual preference. . . . One comes away from this collection looking, like the younger woman pictured in [the bookÆs] front cover photograph, toward the future and the next generation, who will not have to fight as their older sisters did for acceptance and employment. (WomenÆs Review of Books) The eighteen diverse essays in this groundbreaking volume written by lesbian rabbis express, often with great eloquence and learning, the values of integrity, courageous leadership, and shlemut or wholeness. . . . The authors of these essays . . . are serious and courageous rabbis. (Lesbian Review of Books) Lesbian Rabbis: The First Generation gives voice to the women who followed Priesand in making history: the lesbians who marched bravely into an unfriendly sea and forced an open passage. In eighteen personal essays, their stories emerge as joyous, heartbreaking, and historical, outlining where Judaism has been and mapping where the future lies. (Lilith) This fascinating collection of essays by 18 lesbian rabbis breaks new ground and will surely inspire and challenge anyone who lives contradictions between a religion that denies or questions oneÆs existence while responding to an inner sense of truth and belief. Highly recommended. (Feminist Academic Press) A new collection of reminiscences by trailblazing lesbian rabbis, Lesbian Rabbis: The First Generation tells the tales of those who paved the way. (Foreword) This marvelous collection shows great women living good lives engaging in excellent ministry. (WATERwheel) æToday I am completely æoutÆ personally and professionally, and yet I have learned that the æcoming outÆ process never ends. Even today, I find myself in professional situations in which yet again I must reveal that I am a lesbian, yet again I must prove myself worthy of functioning professionally in the æstraightÆ world. I still encounter moments of awkwardness, some hostility, and some sense of exclusion as I negotiate the pathways of my professional life. - Rabbi Leila Gal Berner (from Lesbian Rabbis: The First Generation)