My story of becoming the first woman president of an Orthodox shul in St. Louis, Missouri—and perhaps only the second in the Midwest—is not a story of resistance. It is not a story of fighting the old guard. Rather, it is a story of welcome and delight, of the convergence of events that I thought then were simply fortuitous, but now see as quite deliberate and crucial in laying the foundation.
Bais Abraham, founded in 1894, was by 2011 a place open to women’s participation in many aspects of synagogue life. From as early as the 1980s, we had an active monthly women’s tefillah group. Women’s hakafot with a Torah on Simchat Torah were taken for granted, girls delivering bat mitzvah divrei Torah from the bima had become commonplace, and women took leadership roles in the running of the shul (for programming, building, etc.) without restriction.
In August 2011, when our then-president’s end of term was in sight and a new candidate was needed, it happened quite naturally that I was asked to assume the job. I had been active in the shul for years. After my initial serious reluctance to take on the responsibility, I finally accepted, mostly out of a desire to support our rabbi in his leadership.
An Unusual Happening in Orthodoxy
We barely realized that we were making history—that I would be the first woman president of an Orthodox shul in St. Louis. To me, it seemed surprising that this was newsworthy: Was the idea of a woman in a role of authority still that novel? The local Jewish newspaper, ever poised for a story, covered my installation. But it was not until I received a congratulatory email from JOFA (then-JOFA Executive Director Robin Bodner was an old acquaintance) that I understood that this was an unusual happening on the national level. Only when a highly secularly educated and modern young woman in our shul came up to me after the first time I “did announcements” from the bima on Shabbat, with a big hug and tears in her eyes, telling me what an important role model I was for her, did I understand that this was an unusual occurrence in Orthodoxy anywhere. (This woman has since assumed an important leadership role in the Orthodox community.)
I see now that my seemingly simple nomination as president was preceded by many small steps over many years. Each step—such as bringing the women’s tefillah group into the shul from private homes—was, indeed, met by some resistance, but because each step was small, things moved along relatively quietly. I attribute our success in large part to the two rabbis who led “Bais Abe” over the past forty years. Rabbi Abraham Magence, who occupied the pulpit from about 1973 to 2003, was educated in the yeshivas of Europe before the war and never lost his Old World manner, but he had a remarkably open mind when it came to issues of women and Orthodoxy (and other issues as well, such as conversion). He supported the women’s tefillah group when it was a new concept and went with us to speak to the chief rabbi of the city when we were challenged. His successor, our current rabbi, Rabbi Hyim Shafner, is a great supporter of women’s participation in Jewish learning and ritual life. So the culture at Bais Abe allowed my nomination as president to be supported unanimously.
Do we owe this phenomenon to being a small “outof-town” Orthodox shul where every Jew matters? Perhaps. During my two-year term, I was a very handson president. I viewed my role as enabling Rabbi Shafner as much as possible to see to the religious and spiritual growth of our diverse shul community. I was, after all, the president of a shul, not a commercial company.
It was a happy two years. I did enjoy being a minor local celebrity. And in January 2013, I was happy to officiate at the installation of our new president, a very capable man.