Drash on Breishit 2024

Rabbi Dr Esther Jilovsky

Progressive Judaism Victoria

It’s a cold and sunny winter’s day in Melbourne. I walk into the shiny new apartment building and take the lift to the seventh floor. At the doorway to his apartment, an elderly Jewish man from Berlin waits to greet me. He shakes my hand warmly, his pale blue eyes sparkling in his weathered face. We sit down inside, and a panoramic view of the Yarra River spreads before us, its glossy brown surface unfurling like a copper ribbon. His wife serves us afternoon tea, beautifully presented on delicate china. Platters of tasty nuts and colourful fruits accompany the delicate cakes, which we eat with dainty little forks. We sip hot tea from elegant glass cups with silver handles.

[Rabbinerin Regina Jonas (1902-1944) in early 1936, shortly after her ordination in Berlin in December 1935]

We begin to talk. I ask him about memories of his childhood and what it was like to grow up in Berlin in the 1930s. He can’t tell me much. It’s like the memories are locked away somewhere, and he can’t remember where he put the key. But he does remember why I’m there. He knows I’m interested in Regina Jonas z”l, the first woman to be ordained as a rabbi, who was ordained in Berlin in 1935 and murdered in Auschwitz in 1944.[1] She was his Sunday School teacher.

The Torah begins with the word בְּרֵאשִׁ֖ית, b’reishit, usually translated as something like ‘in the beginning’ (Genesis 1:1). This week is a week of new beginnings. We’re only a couple of weeks into the new Jewish year of 5785 and this week, we celebrate Simchat Torah. It marks one year in the Jewish calendar since the 7th October 2023 attacks on Israel, which fell on Simchat Torah 5784. On Simchat Torah, we finish reading the Torah in the yearly cycle, and immediately start reading again at B’reishit. Yet how can we begin reading the Torah again, when there are still over one hundred hostages held in Gaza? How can we embark on a joyous celebration of Simchat Torah, when Israel is still at war?

Simchat Torah marks both an ending, and a painful new beginning. The first word of the Torah, בְּרֵאשִׁ֖ית, b’reishit, doesn’t exactly mean ‘in the beginning.’ Some medieval commentators believe that b’reishit is part of an unfinished s’michut, meaning that it’s the first half of a conjoined word that’s missing its second half.[2] An example of a s’michut, a construct state, in Modern Hebrew isסוֹף שָׁבוּעַ sof shavua, literally ‘week’ plus ‘end,’ meaning ‘weekend.’ Rashi, however, showing his unmatched brilliance, explains that the second half of the s’michut, is actually the entirety of this verse (and the two that follow). So b’reishit doesn’t mean ‘in the beginning,’ in a general sense, rather it means ‘at the beginning of the Creation of heaven and earth’ specifically.[3] From this we learn that there is more than one way to understand creation. We can read the very first word of the Torah, בְּרֵאשִׁ֖ית b’reishit as an unfinished construct state, or we can read בְּרֵאשִׁ֖ית b’reishit as an opening to a broader understanding of creation.

Simchat Torah will never be the same as it was. And yet, the courage of those like Rabbi Jonas z”l to seek change in dark times can inspire us to persevere even when times are tough. Rabbi Jonas’ path to becoming the first woman to be ordained as a rabbi was not easy, but she made it happen. Using her extensive knowledge of classical Jewish sources, she wrote her rabbinic thesis on the topic of whether women could become rabbis.[4] She completed her thesis in Berlin in June 1930, and clearly demonstrated that there were no halachic barriers to women becoming rabbis. She concluded that: ‘Almost nothing halakhically but prejudice and lack of familiarity stand against women holding rabbinic office.’[5]

But Rabbi Jonas did not get ordained with the male rabbis she had studied with at the Hochschule für die Wissenschaft des Judentums that year. Female students were enrolled to gain teaching degrees, not to become rabbis. Rabbi Jonas had to persist for a further five and a half years before she was ordained. The Hochschule refused to ordain her, but in December 1935 Rabbi Max Dienemann z”l, head of the Conference of Liberal Rabbis, ordained her privately.

In 1938, Rabbi Jonas shared:
“If I confess what motivated me, a woman, to become a rabbi, two things come to mind. My belief in God’s calling and my love of humans. God planted in our heart skills and a vocation without asking about gender. Therefore, it is the duty of men and women alike to work and create according to the skills given by God.”[6]

In a time of great hardship and terror for the Jewish people, she provided inspiration and comfort. As we grapple with the first Simchat Torah after that Simchat Torah, Rabbi Jonas gives us an inspiring challenge. How do we continue to create and inspire creation, in the face of destruction?

And yet, in her story there is both creation and destruction, as perhaps there is in all of ours. On 12th October 1944, eighty years ago this week, she was transported to Auschwitz and likely killed on arrival. For this reason it has become tradition to mark her Yahrzeit on Shabbat B’reishit. Even as we mark these heartbreaking anniversaries, from one year ago, and from eighty years ago, the Torah reminds us that creation is ongoing. It is our story to write.

Back in the seventh-floor apartment high above the Yarra River, the conversation continues to flow. I’m on the edge of my seat, I’m so eager to learn what my new friend remembers about his Sunday school teacher in Berlin in the 1930s.

“She was the most wonderful teacher,” he says, in his soft German accent. “I still remember her very clearly. If I saw her walking down the street today, I would recognise her.” I smile. He smiles and takes a sip of tea. I wait. I gently prod. I try asking in German.

But this is the only thing he tells me about her: “She was the most wonderful teacher.” No matter what I ask, I receive this response. I am amazed and grateful to be sitting across from a man who personally knew Rabbi Jonas z”l. But if I’m completely honest, I’m also slightly disappointed that he can’t tell me more about her. I feel a deep yearning for his impressions of her to somehow magically be transmitted to me.

Later, I realise that a small boy’s memory of her as a wonderful teacher actually creates an incredible impression. It suggests that she was patient, and kind, and loving. It shows that she cared about her work, and cared deeply for her young students. It demonstrates that she was knowledgeable, studious and diligent. It also shows that she took her work and her position as a Rabbi seriously. And I think, that she loved it.

זיכרונה לברכה Zichrona livracha

[1]Regina Jonas (1902-1944) is often referred to as Rabbinerin Regina Jonas. ‘Rabbinerin’ is German for ‘female rabbi.’ This essay uses Rabbi, to be consistent with contemporary English usage in the Reform and Progressive rabbinate.
[2] See Ibn Ezra on Genesis 1:1.
[3] Rashi on Genesis 1:1.
[4] Thesis title: ‚Kann die Frau das rabbinische Amt bekleiden?‘ Translation: ‘May a woman hold the position of rabbi?’ Submitted, June 1930, Hochschule für die Wissenschaft des Judentums, Berlin.
[5] Translation taken from: https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/jonas-regina#pid-14947 The original text reads: ‘Ausser Vorurteil und Ungewohnstein steht hal. [sic] fast nichts dem Bekleiden des rabbinischen Amtes seitens der Frau entgegen.‘
[6] Regina Jonas, C.-V.-Zeitung, June 23, 1938.