🌹🎶 Roses of Berlin 4: Regina Jonas

A ramble following the sparkling trail of the first female rabbi

🌹🎶 Roses of Berlin

A series of rambles about Women of Berlin
Wandering the streets of Berlin this September, I wondered at the tales and trails left by women who changed the course of the city and herstory. We’ll meet everyday heroines, pious saints, dynastic Queens and political activists as I share weekly posts about my discoveries. This week we follow the trail of sparks left by the first modern female rabbi, Regina Jonas.

Built in 1866 to hold a congregation of over 3000, the Neue Synagogue of Berlin was described as ‘most gorgeous’ by Alice in the Wonderland author Lewis Carroll in 1867 and hosted concerts by illustrious musicians including Albert Einstein in 1930. Having survived the most horrific of histories, and near destruction in Kristallnacht and World War II, the restored golden dome sparkles amongst Berlin’s rooftops. A living memorial, the building now houses a museum and an active synagogue, led since 2002 by groundbreaking female Rabbi Gesa Ederberg, who converted from Protestantism in 1995. 

In a city so often caught on the fault lines of conflict, the ability to bridge seemingly irreconcilable differences characterises many of the courageous women of Berlin. Throughout this series, finding their full stories has required turning over stones of oppression, blowing away the dust of obscurity and casting a searchlight through the long shadows cast by their male counterparts. So my curiosity was sparked when I caught sight of a tribute to Rabbi Regina Jonas at the Neue Synagogue.

“Almost nothing halakhically but prejudice and lack of familiarity stand against women holding rabbinic office.” - Regina Jonas, ‘Can a Woman Hold Rabbinic Office?’ (1930) 

The first modern female rabbi, Regina Jonas (1902-1944) was ordained in Berlin in 1935 after a long battle for recognition. The daughter of two religious teachers, Regina and Abraham, she grew up in the deprived Jewish Berlin neighbourhood of Scheunenviertel and attended the orthodox progressive Rykestraße Synagogue. Regina declared her intentions to become a rabbi whilst at the synagogue school and found a longstanding mentor in rabbi Dr Max Weyl, who supported the religious education of girls. 

In 1924, Regina entered the Hochschule für die Wissenschaft des Judentums (University for the Science of Judaism) alongside other female students training as teachers. Her graduation thesis in 1930, ‘Can a Woman Hold Rabbinic Office?’ bridged both orthodox and reform thinking by making a case that female rabbinate was a continuation of halakhah - Jewish law. Countering and contextualising negative statements about women, she drew on examples of significant women in the Talmud, such as the scholar Beruryah, whose halakhic opinions were praised. After the death of her supportive Talmud Professor, Eduard Baneth, she was refused ordination by his successor Hanokh Albeck. Undeterred she began lobbying and preaching in smaller synagogues until her former tutor Rabbi Leo Baeck, supported her ordination by liberal Rabbi Max Dienemann in 1935.

Pictures (L-R) Regina Jonas 1939 - image source Centrum Judaicum Archives, Wikipedia
“Regina Jonas – Woman Rabbi,” a comic published 2011 by Habitus: A Diaspora Journal image source: Steiner Comix

“God has placed abilities and callings in our hearts, without regard to gender. Thus each of us has the duty, whether man or woman, to realize those gifts God has given. When one sees things this way, one takes men and women as they are: as human beings.”
- Regina Jonas, Central Verein Zeitung/ Central Association Newspaper, 1938

Berlin’s Jewish leaders refused to recognise Regina’s ordination and restricted her to rabbinic-pastoral duties as a teacher and chaplain in institutions such as the Jewish Hospital. However, the exodus and deportation of many Jewish Rabbis as a result of Nazi rule, meant that her gifts were greatly needed. In 1940 she was appointed rabbi of Woltersdorf and by 1941 was serving at synagogues across Frankfurt, Bremen, Wolfenbütte, Stolpe and Berlin. Letters indicate that her sermons, pastoral care and fundraising brought solace, resilience and practical aid to communities enduring horror. Defying brutal Nazi eugenics, she continuously advocated for the care of the most vulnerable members of society.

Deported to Theresienstadt in 1942, Regina continued her rabbinical and pastoral duties, at times working alongside psychiatrist Viktor Frankl to support those who were at risk of suicide. Lecturing within the Friezeitgestaltung/ ‘leisure activities’ which supported inmates to access arts and cultural activities, she brought humanity to the living hell of the Holocaust.

In October 1944, the Theresienstadt community, including Regina and her elderly mother were deported to Auschwitz and murdered. In her twenty-four articles, preserved in the Terezin archives, she defines the calling of the Jews, as a blessed nation to “offer blessings, lovingkindness and loyalty, regardless of place and situation. Our work in Theresienstadt, serious and full of trials as it is, also serves this end: to be God’s servants and as such to move from earthly spheres to eternal ones. May all our work be a blessing for Israel’s future (and the future of humanity).”

Images - (L-R) Regina Jonas painted by Yehuda Blum, Regina Jonas - image source Wikipedia

The world would have to wait until 1972 to see the ordination of the next female Rabbi, Sally Priesand in the US, followed by Rabbi Jackie Tabick in the UK in 1975. This new wave of Jewish female leadership helped unearth Regina’s story, which has been retold in an opera and documentary. Today she is commemorated in a plaque by her former home in Krausnickstraße 6, a portrait in Hackescher Market, Berlin and a memorial at Theresienstadt.

Tikkun olam is a multi-layered Jewish concept of repairing the world, described by Kabbalistic mystics as recovering the sparks of light scattered during Creation. In modern perspectives, tikkun olam is a form of social justice that arises by embodying the core ethical values of Judaism. Regina’s understanding of her faith underlined her mission to challenge and repair social and gender inequality. Against a backdrop of horror, she sparkles as a shining example of pioneering female leadership.

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