UA News

Shuly Rubin-Schwartz will give a lecture titled "They Married What They Wanted to Be: Rebbetzins in American Jewish Life."

The lecture is based on her book, "The Rabbi's Wife: The Rebbetzin in American Jewish Life," which won the 2006 National Jewish Book Award in the area of modern Jewish thought. This book is the first scholarly treatment of Jewish female religious leadership in America. Her lecture will examine how certain Jewish women found ways to serve the Jewish people by marrying what they wanted to be – a Rabbi. She will explain how  rabbis' wives worked in partnership with their husbands to strengthen Jewish life in America, detailing how they served their communities through counseling, teaching, speaking, writing and entertaining. These women became role models of female religious leadership for American Jews.