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Ellen Weinberg Dreyfus is an American rabbi. She is a founder and former president of the Women's Rabbinic Network.

Career

She was ordained in 1979 at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) in New York, and is to her knowledge the first woman to be ordained as a rabbi while pregnant.

In 1983, she moved back to Illinois, becoming the first female rabbi in that state.

In 2001, she became the first female president of the Chicago Board of Rabbis.

In 2009, she was installed as the second female president of Reform Judaism's Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR) in Jerusalem, making her the first female leader of a major rabbinic organization to begin her tenure in Israel.

Also in 2009, she was also inducted onto the Board of Governors of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion.

The piece "From Generation to Generation: A Roundtable Discussion with Rabbi Ellen Weinberg Dreyfus", appears in the book The Sacred Calling: Four Decades of Women in the Rabbinate, published in 2016.

Honors

In 2004, the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion awarded her an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree.

In 2010, she was selected as one of the top 50 rabbis in America by Newsweek and the Sisterhood blog of The Jewish Daily Forward.

In 2011, she received the Rabbi Mordecai Simon Memorial Award.

Personal life

She is married and has three children.

References

1. "CCAR Journal - 9/97". Archived from the original on 2006-02-05. Retrieved 2014-01-26.
2. ^ "The Sisterhood 50 –". Forward.com. 22 July 2010. Retrieved 2013-05-16.
3. ^ Donna Kiesling (2001-07-04). "Rabbi stays at forefront of change - Chicago Tribune". Articles.chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 2013-05-16.
4. ^ "HUC-JIR: Press Room - Rabbi Ellen W. Dreyfus Inducted onto Board of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion". Huc.edu. 2009-05-04. Retrieved 2013-05-16.
5. "First woman named president of rabbi board - WorldWide Religious News". Wwrn.org. 2001-03-20. Retrieved 2013-05-16.
6. "JUF News : Reform Jewish Rabbinate leadership remains in Chicago with new leader". Juf.org. Retrieved 2013-05-16.
7. Hirshel Jaffe (4 May 2016). "The Message of the Sacred Calling: Our Journey to True Equality | RavBlog". Ravblog.ccarnet.org. Retrieved 2016-05-26.
8. Zauzmer, Julie (2012-12-14). "'I not only envisioned it. I fought for it': The first female rabbi isn't done yet". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2016-05-26.
9. http://www.ccarpress.org/admin/manage_assetlibrary/file.asp?id=04646
10. "Chicago Board of Rabbis : Event Photos". Juf.org. Retrieved 2013-05-16.

v t e Women rabbis and Torah scholars
Timeline of women rabbis
Pre-modern figures	Bible and Talmud Deborah (1107–1067 BCE) Bruriah (2nd century) Medieval and early modern era Rashi's daughters (11th–12th century) Bat ha-Levi (12th century) Paula Dei Mansi (13th century) Miriam Shapira-Luria (14th century) Fioretta of Modena (1522–1580) Bayla Falk (16th century) Eva Bacharach (1580–1651) Asenath Barzani (1590–1670) Frehat Bat Avraham (d. 1756) Maiden of Ludmir (1805–1888)
Modern figures	Ray Frank (1861–1948) Lily Montagu (1873–1963) Regina Jonas (1902–1944) Tehilla Lichtenstein (1893–1973) Paula Ackerman (1893–1989) Martha Neumark (1904–1981) Avis Clamitz (1908-1991) Helen Levinthal (1910–1989) Sally Priesand (b. 1946) Mimi Feigelson (b. 1963) First ordination by denomination Regina Jonas (Reform, 1935) Sandy Sasso (Reconstructionist, 1974) Lynn Gottlieb (Renewal, 1981) Amy Eilberg (Conservative, 1985) Tamara Kolton (Humanistic, 1999) Sara Hurwitz (Orthodox, 2009)
Alternate rabbinical roles	Yoetzet halacha Toanot Rabniyot
Organisations and midrashot	Women's Rabbinic Network Yeshivat Maharat Matan Women's Institute Midreshet Lindenbaum Nishmat Center Hadran
Category: Women rabbis

• Rabbis from New York (state)
• American Reform rabbis
• Reform women rabbis
• Living people
• 21st-century American rabbis