A Collective Effort to Remember the First Woman Rabbi on Her Yahrzeit

by Rabbi Laura Geller

This summer, we had a wonderful congregational riverboat cruise along the Danube, exploring the Jewish dimensions of Europe, and the roles Jews played throughout the centuries in what is now Hungary, Austria, Germany and the Czech Republic. In almost every town, even when there were no longer Jews, there was a Judenstrasse, a Jew Street, or a Jewish quarter. It was like the feeling that people who have had amputations report: Even though one’s leg has been cut off, the person still feels its presence.

And of course being in Europe means confronting the Holocaust. We saw the bronzed shoes on the banks of the Danube in Budapest depicting the horror of the Blue Danube turning red with the blood of Jews forced to take off their shoes before they were shot and their bodies dumped into the river. We saw the tripping stones in front of houses from where Jews were deported. And we went to Terezin, the concentration camp where Jews struggled to maintain culture and dignity in the face of terror, from where 42,005 Jews were deported, the majority of them murdered at Auschwitz

I had been to Terezin once before as part of a delegation organized by the Jewish Women’s Archive and the American Jewish Archives to honor the memory of Rabbi Regina Jonas, the first woman rabbi. Her story didn’t emerge until after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 when a researcher in an archive in East Berlin accidentally happened upon some of her papers. She had effectively been written out of history.

That delegation dedicated a monument to her with the inscription:  

“ ‘… to  be blessed by God means to give wherever one steps in every life situation blessing, kindness, faithfulness …’

Regina Jonas (1902-1944), the first woman rabbi in history, spoke these words in a sermon at Terezin. Born in Berlin, Jonas was ordained in 1935. She served the Jewish community of Berlin in a rabbinical capacity from 1937 through November 1942, when she was deported to Terezin. With extraordinary spiritual strength, she continued to preach uplifting sermons, give lectures and provide pastoral care to her fellow prisoners. In October 1944, she was deported to Auschwitz, where she was murdered.”

I can’t even imagine the courage and faith it required of her to be a rabbi in those dark times. How did she persevere in the face of all of the opposition she faced to be recognized as a rabbi? I wonder if she knew that her story would be forgotten.   

It was important to me to take my congregants to her memorial in Terezin. I wanted to say Kaddish for her with them, with the people who honor me as their rabbi. She didn’t have a congregation who honored her. Leading them in Kaddish was so overwhelming for me that I could hardly speak the words. I know that I am standing on her shoulders. I also know that that might have been the first time anyone had said Kaddish for her. 

That is about to change. The 2014 delegation made a commitment to choose a date on which the Jewish community could commemorate Jonas’ yahrzeit. We don’t know the exact date of her death, but we know she arrived in Auschwitz  the week of Shabbat Bereshit. She was probably murdered immediately. So the date that was chosen is Shabbat Bereshit — which this year falls on Oct. 10.

The Jewish Women’s Archive has  produced resources for this commemoration — a short biography of Jonas, links to her own writings and links to the articles written by others about Jonas. The hashtag #ReginaRemembered was also created to commemorate Jonas on social media.

Temple Emanuel of Beverly Hills will add Rabbi Regina Jonas’ name to our yahrzeit list for Shabbat Bereshit. Rabbi Sarah Bassin, representing the next generation of women rabbinic leadership, will teach about her that Shabbat morning.  And from now on, the yahrzeit list on Shabbat Bereshit will include her name. Congregants will be reminded that she existed, and our community will be  enriched by her courage and the model of her life. Her memory will be a blessing as we still feel her presence. 

Laura Geller is Senior Rabbi of Temple Emanuel of Beverly Hills.

This piece originally appeared in the Los Angeles Jewish Journal.

For more great Jewish content, please subscribe in the righthand column. Once you confirm your subscription, you'll get an email whenever new content is published to the Jewish Values Online blog.