[ad_1]
DENVER (KDVR) — On Friday, two women made history in both the Denver and the national Jewish communities. They were installed as the senior rabbis at Temple Emanuel, marking multiple firsts for the congregation.
Rabbis Elizabeth Sacks and Emily Hyatt are now the first women to be senior rabbis of the congregation, and it also marks the first time in the temple’s history they’ve had a collaborative rabbinic partnership and the second in U.S. history that a senior rabbi partnership has been two women.
Both of them feel grateful for the opportunity to lead the congregation into the future.
“We are only the eighth senior rabbis to take over the congregation in 151 years,” Hyatt said.
The congregation is two years older than Colorado has been a state. While women have been installed as rabbis for decades now, the two are the first to become senior rabbis at Temple Emanuel.
“We feel really grateful for all the women who have come before us that have helped to make this moment possible; we know that we stand on their shoulders,” Hyatt said.
Hyatt was also born and raised in the same neighborhood where Temple Emanuel is located, even going to preschool there. Sacks feels representation in leadership is necessary in a difficult time for the Jewish community.
“We believe that at this moment it is important that every member of the congregation find a way to see themselves in their clergy and see themselves in their rabbis and be inspired by that,” Sacks said.
Despite all of those firsts, the two say being able to become rabbis at all is what means the most.
“Regardless of who we are, that feels powerful and empowering and we’re really honored,” Hyatt said.
They say the congregation has responded well to the change.
“The congregation has just showed up with their warmth, with their love, with their support,” Sacks said.
As they prepare to step into their new roles, they hope both the congregation in the temple and the community outside of it know that they have their back.
“We want to be here with you, we want to be here for you, whether you are part of our congregation or part of the entirety of Colorado,” Sacks said.
[ad_2]
Nate Belt
Source link