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Ray Frank Litman died on October 10, 1948. Her
lifelong enthusiasm for Judaism and tireless work
to bring people into the circle of Jewish life left
their mark both on those immediately surrounding
her and on American Jewry at large. Her words had
moved several congregations to overcome differences
and "join hands in one glorious cause"; her
leadership and encouragement had inspired many
students to pursue studies in Jewish history and
involvement with the Jewish community.
Frank's death occurred almost a quarter of a
century before the Reform movement finally admitted
women to the rabbinate. Many observers during
Frank's heyday in the 1890s would have been
surprised to learn that the ordination of women was
so long in coming. When asked in 1896 if she
expected at some point to see a Jewish woman in the
pulpit, Louise Mannheimer, one of the speakers at
the 1893 Jewish Women's Congress, responded simply,
"We have a woman in the pulpit, though she has
not been ordained. Her enthusiasm impels her to
speak. She is Miss Ray Frank."
Although Frank's experiences were but one step
along the long road to the ordination of women,
"the Girl Rabbi of the Golden West" played a
pivotal role by reinvigorating and redirecting an
ongoing conversation about Jewish women's roles.
Jewish women had already demonstrated their
importance to communal life over the course of the
nineteenth century; Frank's unprecedented presence
in the pulpit demonstrated the contribution they
could make to religious leadership as well. While
subsequent pioneers in the field would face their
own challenges and opposition, never again would
they be called "the first woman since Deborah to
preach in a synagogue," for Frank had trod that
path before them.
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