and allowing them to come up to the Torah for aliyot. They also continued the practice of bat mitzvah. Reconstructionist Judaism also allowed women to perform other traditional male tasks, such as serving as witnesses, leading services, public Torah reading, and wearing ritual prayer garments like kippot and tallitot. Female Reconstructionist rabbis have been instrumental in the creation of rituals, stories, and music that have begun to give women's experience a voice in Judaism. Most of the focus has been on rituals for life-cycle events. New ceremonies have been created for births, weddings, divorces, conversions, weaning, and the onset of menarche and menopause. The Reconstructionist movement as a whole has been committed to creating liturgy that is in consonance with gender equality and the celebration of women's lives. Another major step: The Federation of Reconstructionist Congregations has also developed educational programs that teach the full acceptance of lesbians, as well as rituals that affirm lesbian relationships. Reconstructionist rabbis officiate at same-sex weddings. Reconstructionist Judaism also allows openly LGBT men and women to be ordained as rabbis and cantors. Several prominent members of the Reconstructionist community have focused on issues like domestic violence. Others have devoted energy to helping women gain the right of divorce in traditional Jewish communities. Many have spoken out for the right of Jewish women to pray aloud and read from the Torah at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, particularly members of the Women of the Wall group. When the roles of women in religion change, there may also be changed roles for men. With their acceptance of patrilineal descent in 1979, the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association supported the principle that a man can pass Judaism on to the next generation as well as a woman. Jewish Renewal Jewish Renewal is a recent movement in Judaism which endeavors to reinvigorate modern Judaism with Kabbalistic, Hasidic, musical and meditative practices; it describes itself as "a worldwide, transdenominational movement grounded in Judaism's prophetic and mystical traditions". The Jewish Renewal movement ordains women as well as men as rabbis and cantors. Lynn Gottlieb became the first female rabbi in Jewish Renewal in 1981, and Avitall Gerstetter, who lives in Germany, became the first female cantor in Jewish Renewal (and the first female cantor in Germany) in 2002. In 2009 and 2012 respectively, OHALAH (Association of Rabbis for Jewish Renewal) issued a board statement and a resolution supporting Women of the Wall.