A Former Pentecostal, An African-American Woman, and a Jewish Rabbi Walk Into a Synagogue...

Alyssa Stanton is about to become the first African-American woman to be ordained as a rabbi by a mainstream Jewish seminary.  As if that were not an interesting enough combination, she is also a former Pentecostal.  Such a journey has been difficult to say the least.  "Most of my Christian friends thought I’d grown horns,” she said. “Many of my African-American friends thought I’d sold out. And the Jewish community was less than welcoming."  But such difficulty has, if nothing else, helped her to stay humble in spite of the historical nature of her appointment.  “I feel awe and a healthy dose of fear about being the first,” she said. “I try to keep it simple. I am a Jew, and I will die a Jew.”

 

josh r