Sally Priesand

Sally Jane Priesand
Personal life
Born (1946-06-27) June 27, 1946
Parents
  • Irving Theodore Priesand (father)
  • Rose Elizabeth (Welch) Priesand (mother)
Religious life
ReligionJudaism
SynagogueStephen Wise Free Synagogue, Temple Beth El, Lenox Hill Hospital, Monmouth Reform Temple
Began1972
Ended2006

Sally Jane Priesand (born June 27, 1946) is America's first female rabbi ordained by a rabbinical seminary, and the second formally ordained female rabbi in Jewish history, after Regina Jonas. Priesand was ordained by the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion on June 3, 1972, at the Plum Street Temple in Cincinnati. After her ordination she served first as assistant and then as associate rabbi at Stephen Wise Free Synagogue in New York City, and later led Monmouth Reform Temple in Tinton Falls, New Jersey from 1981 until her retirement in 2006. She is featured in numerous books including Rabbis: The Many Faces of Judaism and Fifty Jewish Women who Changed the World.