This blog post, written by Rachel Sabath Beit-Halachmi, appeared in The Times of Israel on Nov. 24, 2012.
Rabbi Rachel Sabath Beit-Halachmi is a Senior Fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute and teaches at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Jerusalem. For nearly two decades she has directed national and international leadership study programs for rabbis and lay leaders of all denominations at the Hartman Institute and previously at CLAL: The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership. Ordained at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York, Sabath Beit-Halachmi also earned a doctorate at the Jewish Theological Seminary and served (non-denominational) Congregation Shirat HaYam on Nantucket Island for thirteen years. She is the co-author of Preparing Your Heart for the High Holidays, Striving Toward Virtue, and has published numerous articles on theology, Zionism, and gender.