Celebrating a woman of faith

Controversial Figure number two is Regina Jonas, a German rabbi who died in Auschwitz. The first woman rabbi, Regina Jonas is surprisingly little known, in part because her documents were left in Berlin for safekeeping and remained hidden in a vault in East Germany until the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Regina Jonas died because of racism and her story remained untold because of the political situation in her native land. As a woman she suffered discrimination within her religious tradition yet she  served her community faithfully in Berlin and in the Ghetto-camp at Theresienstadt.

The discrimination against this remarkable woman continues. Orthodox Judiasm still does not accept her as a rabbi while feminist reformers are uncomfortable with her acceptance of traditions they seek to reform.

Although Regina Jonas' story is in many ways tragic it is one of a woman of faith successfully fulfilling what she believed to be a calling from God. Despite resistance and discrimination on every level this woman found a way to serve her community at a time of desperate need.

For this, rather than for the distinction of being the first ever woman rabbi, she should be remembered and honoured.