JERUSALEM -- Naamah Kelman didn't just exceed her parents' expectations, she went above and beyond anything they hoped for. They wanted Kelman to make a respectable living as a teacher; instead, she became the first woman rabbi in Israel and a leader in Judaism's Reform movement.

"How do we create an Israel that's Jewish, democratic, pluralistic, inclusive, egalitarian?" asked Kelman, 55,  dean of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) in Jerusalem.

"My dream is to create the programs that can help make that happen."

In the 1980s, when Kelman began to consider studying for the rabbinate, the Reform and the Reconstructionist branches of Judaism ordained women.  In the United States, both movements had a growing number of female clergy, but the situation was very different in Israel where Kelman lived. Orthodox Judaism is Israel's state religion and it does not allow women to be rabbis. Neither does it recognize Judaism's other branches. As a result, Reform, Conservative and Reconstructionist rabbis cannot conduct weddings, conversions or other official ceremonies in Israel.
 
"When I moved to Israel after college this was a wasteland," Kelman said. "There was no such thing as Jewish feminism."

Kelman persevered and in 1992 she was the first female at HUC-JIR's Jerusalem campus to receive ordination. At that time, she was among six men and another woman studying to become rabbis.

Both nature and nurture inspired Kelman to become a progressive female rabbi. Her family lineage of rabbis and teachers stretches back 10 generations. These were all ultra Orthodox Jews from Eastern Europe, but Kelman was raised in a liberal Jewish household in New York's Upper West Side. She became interested in women's issues during college.

"My parents were very proud because my father was already a more liberal rabbi, very involved in the civil rights and feminist movements," she said. "It wasn't a conflict ever really in my family; it was more of a concern."

Growing up as the middle of three children, Kelman said she rarely considered herself a first of anything. She continues to be self-deprecating even when describing her groundbreaking ordination.
 
"I just happened to get there first," said Kelman with a throaty laugh. "When I got to the finish line, I looked behind me and saw so many more women after me."
 
The Reform movement in Israel is growing. HUC-JIR's Jerusalem campus is headquarters to two of the movement's major advocacy groups in Israel--the World Union for Progressive Judaism (WUPJ) and its constituent member, the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism (IMPJ). WUPJ is an international organization of the Reform, Liberal, Progressive and Reconstructionist movements serving 1,200 congregations with 1.7 million members in 42 countries.
 
However,  Reformers in Israel still face serious obstacles. These include a lack of funding, the apathy of many secular Jews and, most important, the clout of the country's Orthodox political parties.

Reform Jews were not at the table when, in 1948, secular Zionists who founded Israel gave the Orthodox rabbinate control over many social and family issues. The pioneer generation never imagined that Orthodox Jews would become as powerful as they are today, Kelman said.

"So that's when we're stuck with those old arrangements," she said.
 
For example, if an Israeli wants her marriage recognized in Israel, but does not want to be wed by an Orthodox rabbi, she needs to leave Israel for the ceremony. When she returns, the marriage will be recognized under international law.
 
Kelman faced that situation when her daughter was married. Because Kelman's daughter did not want an orthodox wedding, the bride and her groom--along with their families-- traveled to Cyprus for the wedding.

"It's infuriating that Jews are spending millions of shekels to marry outside Israel and it's a basic human rights violation," Kelman said.

Last year, Kelman was appointed dean of HUC-JIR's Jerusalem campus, which was established in 1963. In addition to the Israel Rabbinical Program, the college also offers spiritual care training, the master's program in pluralistic Jewish education, Year-In-Israel, and the Jacob and Hilda Blaustein Center for Pastoral Care. HUC-JIR also has campuses in New York, Los Angeles and Cincinnati that train and ordain rabbis.
 
Sixty-five students, 26 of which are women, have been ordained by the college's Israel Rabbinical Program since 1982. Currently 23 students are in that program.

One of Kelman's goals for the campus is to double and triple the number of student enrollment and increase the number of people being trained. HUC-JIR graduates serve in various parts of the world, including in over 900 Reform congregations in North America, in Progressive Movement synagogues worldwide, and in U.S. military chaplaincies.

Kelman attributes the movement's strength to its egalitarian message and its pioneers who are scattered in Israeli cities such as Haifa, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
 
"There's a lot I need to accomplish here so I feel it's a battle worth fighting," Kelman said. "So much we have accomplished. This is not the same Israel I came to."

 

Reach reporter Len Ly here.