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Sarah Schechter is the first female
Sarah Schechter is the first female 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 ...
in the U.S. Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Sign ...
. She joined the Air Force as a chaplain
A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secular institution (such as a hospital, prison, military unit, intellige ...
candidate, and became a chaplain when she was ordained as a Reform rabbi in 2003. Her father was an Air Force chaplain in 1960.
She grew up in Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the List of co ...
, and decided to join the military immediately after the September 11 attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerc ...
, calling a recruiter on September 12. Her daughter Yael Emunah was born during her military service.
In 2013, she became the Jewish chaplain of the 11th Wing at Joint Base Andrews
Joint Base Andrews (JBA) is a United States military facility located in Prince George's County, Maryland. The facility is under the jurisdiction of the United States Air Force 316th Wing, Air Force District of Washington (AFDW). The base was ...
, Maryland, and was featured on the chaplain section of the Air Force website.
She wrote the piece "Personal Reflection: A Rabbi in the Military", which appears in the book ''The Sacred Calling: Four Decades of Women in the Rabbinate'', published in 2016.
See also
*Timeline of women rabbis
This is a timeline of women rabbis.
* Pre-modern figures
** 1590–1670: Asenath Barzani is considered the first female rabbi of Jewish history by some scholars.
** 1805–1888 Hannah Rachel Verbermacher (the Maiden of Ludmir) was the only ...
*Women in Judaism
The role of women in Judaism is determined by the Hebrew Bible, the Oral Law (the corpus of rabbinic literature), by custom, and by cultural factors. Although the Hebrew Bible and rabbinic literature mention various female role models, religio ...
References
External links
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Schechter, Sarah Living people Rabbis from New York City Reform women rabbis People from Manhattan Women in the United States Air Force United States Air Force chaplains Rabbis in the military American Reform rabbis Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American rabbis