France gets second woman rabbi

PARIS, Aug 2, 2007 (AFP) – France’s second woman rabbi, a 29-year-old who was ordained in London last month, took up her duties Thursday at a Progressive synagogue in eastern Paris, according to a French Jewish group.

Celia Surger was trained and ordained at the Leo Baeck rabbinical college in London, according to a spokesman for the Progressive Jewish Movement of France (MJLF), which represents some 1,400 families.

France’s only other woman rabbi, Pauline Bebe, also officiates in Paris.

Unlike Orthodox Judaism, which considers women unable to become rabbis, Progressive Judaism — which represents a small minority of France’s estimated half a million Jews — holds men and women equal in all respects.

AFP

Subject: French news