By Sheri Steinman

The year was 1978, and Lorraine Astren was President of the Midwest Branch of Women’s League for Conservative Judaism and attending a National Women's League Convention in New York. Lorraine, along with branch delegates from the three synagogues of Minneapolis (Adath, Beth El and B’nai Emet) brought up a motion that the Conservative seminaries should allow women to be trained as rabbis, cantors and educators—but their motion was tabled. However, two years later at the next National Convention, the same motion was brought up, and this time it was unanimously passed. It was then sent to the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) where they subsequently passed the motion and the Conservative Movement’s seminaries became open to women.

D'var Torah by Rabbi Aaron Weininger
on June 2, 2018


I’d bet most people here know how to complete this sentence, so please fill in the blank with me. The cold weather in Minnesota keeps out the ______.  We know the cold weather keeps out the riffraff.
 
If you’re not from Minnesota, welcome.
 
Our Torah reading Behaalotekha introduces us to the Hebrew word for riffraff in chapter 11. First we read about the bitter complaining of the people before God and the fire that God sends, incensed at them, “ravaging the outskirts of the camp.”