Alysa Stanton (born August 2, 1963) is an American

Reform Reform ( lat, reformo) means the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The use of the word in this way emerges in the late 18th century and is believed to originate from Christopher Wyvill's Association movement ...

rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...

, and the first

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

female rabbi.

Ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform ...

on June 6, 2009, in August 2009 she began work as a rabbi at Congregation Bayt Shalom, a small majority-white synagogue in Greenville, North Carolina, making her the first African American rabbi to lead a majority-white congregation. Stanton converted to Judaism at age 24 and first studied and worked as a psychotherapist.

Early life and education

Stanton was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and moved to

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

, with her family at the age of 11. Although raised in the Church of God in Christ, when she was 24 Stanton converted to

Judaism Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in t ...

after considering several

Eastern religion The Eastern religions are the religions which originated in East, South and Southeast Asia and thus have dissimilarities with Western, African and Iranian religions. This includes the East Asian religions such as Confucianism, Taoism, Chinese ...

s. She has said she was "born Jewish—just not to a Jewish womb". She earned her BA in Psychology in 1988, an MA in Education in 1992, from Colorado State University.

Career

In her first career, Stanton was a psychotherapist. She specialized in grief counseling, and was asked to speak to people in Columbine after the 1999 high school massacre. Before preparing for the rabbinate, she sought to become a

cantor A cantor or chanter is a person who leads people in singing or sometimes in prayer. In formal Jewish worship, a cantor is a person who sings solo verses or passages to which the choir or congregation responds. In Judaism, a cantor sings and lead ...

, but heard that Jewish leadership positions were not available to women. When she finally saw a female cantor, she decided to pursue the studies necessary to become a rabbi. Stanton graduated from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, a

Reform Jewish Reform Judaism, also known as Liberal Judaism or Progressive Judaism, is a major Jewish denomination that emphasizes the evolving nature of Judaism, the superiority of its ethical aspects to its ceremonial ones, and belief in a continuous sear ...

seminary. She has said that she is not concerned with being the first Black woman to become a rabbi, "I try not to focus on being the first. I focus on being the best—the best human being, the best rabbi I can be." "If I were the 50,000th, I’d still be doing what I do.... Me being first was just the luck of the draw." In August 2009, Stanton became the rabbi of Congregation Bayt Shalom, a small majority-white synagogue in Greenville, North Carolina. The congregation's president said that the fact that Stanton is African-American and a woman had nothing to do with the decision to hire her: "I'm very proud of my community. tanton's being a woman or being Blacknever came up in conversation. Obviously, we all know that's unusual but when she got on the pulpit during her visit, it was totally comfortable." In 2011, the congregation decided not to renew her contract, which expired July 31, 2011.

Footnotes

External links

Congregation Bayt Shalom
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stanton, Alysa African-American religious leaders American former Protestants American Reform rabbis Women rabbis African-American Jews Hebrew Union College alumni Living people Religious leaders from Cleveland People from Denver Converts to Reform Judaism Converts to Judaism from Pentecostal Christian denominations 1960s births African-American former Christians Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American rabbis 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American people

Early life and education

Career

See also

Footnotes

Further reading

External links