Rabbi Carole Meyers, who became the first female rabbi to lead a congregation in the Los Angeles area when she took over Temple Sinai of Glendale in 1986, has died. She was 50.
Meyers died of bone cancer Thursday at her suburban Los Angeles home, 10 weeks after being diagnosed with the disease, said her husband, U.S. Magistrate Judge Ralph Zarefsky.
A vibrant preacher and insightful teacher who called herself a liberal activist, Meyers resigned in 2001 to devote more time to her husband and two children. But she remained a leader in the Jewish Reform movement, serving on the board of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, developing curriculum for Hebrew Union College in Los Angeles and presiding at marriages and bar and bat mitzvahs.
The appointment of a 29-year-old single woman three years removed from seminary as solo rabbi was uncommon for the time.
"What was unusual, to my mind, was what an unusual person Carole was," Rabbi Richard Levy, director of the School of Rabbinic Studies at Hebrew Union College, said Saturday. "Just a very thoughtful, wise person who listened unbelievably well, was just very intelligent."
Reform Judaism ordained its first female rabbi in 1972, and the Conservative movement followed in 1985. Orthodox Jews oppose the ordination of women. By 1987 there were 101 female Reform rabbis in the United States. Few of those women led their own congregations, however; most worked in social services, on college campuses or as assistant rabbis.
Meyers, ordained in 1983 after graduating from Hebrew Union College in New York, was an assistant rabbi in Houston when Temple Sinai selected her.
Mary Baron, a member of the Glendale synagogue's search committee, favored hiring Meyers.
"I said the congregation is ready to do this," Baron recalled Saturday. "And we need to do it -- choose this woman and not be afraid to break the mold of what the world saw as who a rabbi should be.
"One of her abilities was to answer questions directly and honestly," Baron said. "Part of what allowed the congregation to make this historic transition is that she was able to acknowledge that this was different and might seem scary and there might be uncertainties. And overall the congregation simply embraced her."
Temple Sinai of Glendale, founded in 1928, flourished during Meyers' 15 years as rabbi. Membership grew from about 200 families to a high of about 300. Her monthly storytelling services for children packed the synagogue, education programs for children and adults were expanded, and interfaith families were welcomed.
