Pamela S. Nadell is professor of history and director of the Jewish Studies program at American University. She holds a Ph.D. from Ohio State University. Her book Women Who Would Be Rabbis: A History of Women’s Ordination, 1889–1985 was a finalist for a National Jewish Book Award and a main selection of the Jewish Book Club. Her most recent books are Women and American Judaism: Historical Perspectives, co-edited with Jonathan D. Sarna, and American Jewish Women’s History: A Reader.
In 1913, the women of Reform Judaism, who were organized in independent, local synagogue sisterhoods founded in the 1890s and 1900s, united to create a national organization of women dedicated to religion. Reform Jewish women joined the American women of the era who established a host of voluntary associations to further various social and communal agendas.
Jewish women’s recent entrance to the brotherhood of the rabbinate masks a lengthy history of the question of women’s ordination.
On June 3, 1972, Sally Jane Priesand became the first female ordained rabbi in America.
Jewish Women's Archive. "Pamela S. Nadell." (Viewed on April 24, 2019) <https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/author/nadell-pamela>.