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March 14, 2003/Adar2 10 5763, Vol. 55, No. 29
'On his own merits'
Reform movement's seminary accepts transgendered student
JOE BERKOFSKY
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
The first transgendered person to be accepted to rabbinical school, Reuben Zellman, sits in a pew at San Francisco's Congregation Sha'ar Zahav.
Photo by Joyce Goldschmid/JTA
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The Reform movement's rabbinical seminary has accepted a transgendered student, paving the way for what is believed would be the first ordination of a rabbi to have undergone a sex change.
The Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati confirmed this week that it accepted a male rabbinical school applicant who used to be a woman.
The prospective rabbi, Reuben Zellman, 24, of Oakland, Calif., who considers himself "transgender and queer," said in a telephone interview that he is not attempting to spark religious debates nor become a political lightning rod.
"As far as I know, I am the first person to do this, but that's not why I'm doing it," Zellman said.
Zellman - who was open about being transgender throughout the admissions process - was accepted "on his own merits," says the school's National Director of Admissions, Rabbi Roxanne Schneider Shapiro.
When Zellman begins his rabbinical training late this summer, he will be breaking new ground for the nation's largest denomination.
In 1990, the Reform movement became the first to ordain gays and three decades ago pioneered the ordination of women.
It also comes as the Conservative movement wrestles with the question of how Jewish law should treat homosexuality.
Rabbi Richard Address, director of the department of Jewish family concerns of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, the Reform movement's congregational arm, hailed the news about Zellman's admission.
"I see it as a historic move, but I also see it as a continued progression of the philosophy of the Reform movement," Address says.
Zellman will join between 57 and 65 rabbinical students who will be beginning their rabbinical training later this year.
Zellman hopes to become a pulpit rabbi, yet recognizes that he may encounter problems finding a job because of his background.
"I may be a little different," he said.
"I realize some people believe there is something wrong with transgendered people, but I have a lot of faith in the Jewish people, and faith that people will take this opportunity to apply the best of our Jewish values and be open-minded."
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