Just two years after women were granted the right to vote in the 19th amendment, Judith Kaplan, the daughter, of Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan became the first bat mitzvah in America. She had mixed feelings, happy to be important, but scared to be different than her friends. Her act of courage became a gift to all of us. A precocious student, a brilliant musician, Judy went on to become one of the world’s premier Jewish musicologists.
Celebrate the 100th anniversary of the first bat mitzvah as Rabbi Sandy Eisenberg Sasso, the first woman ordained as rabbi from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and a friend of Judy’s, explores her story and the change it augured.
Contact Liz at lrappaport@bethelsynagogue.org for the Zoom link for this event
This program generously underwritten by the Richard Kelber and Sharon Van Dyck Education Fund
Sandy Eisenberg Sasso is Rabbi Emerita of Congregation Beth-El Zedeck, Indianapolis, Indiana where she served for 36 years, and is presently director of the Religion, Spirituality, and the Arts Initiative, IUPUI Arts and Humanities Institute. She was the first woman ordained at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in 1974. She and her Husband, Dennis C. Sasso were the first practicing rabbinical couple in would Jewish history. She is co-founder of Women4Change Indiana, a statewide organization of 5000 focused on educating, equipping, and mobilizing Hoosier to create positive change for women. Rabbis Sandy and Dennis Sasso are the parents of two children, David (Naomi) and Debbie (Brad) and grandparents of Darwin, Raven, Ari and Levi.