shards in my own skin for those who would come after me. And come they did. If you had told me back in 1983 that there would be an Orthodox Maharat, several Conservative female rabbis and more than a dozen Reform female rabbis in this country, including the senior rabbis of large congrega- tions, I never would have believed it. I would have rejoiced at the thought, though, that the “someday” has manifested into today. Toronto became this New Yorker’s home as I taught thousands of adults and brought them closer to Judaism for twenty years though Kolel: The Adult Centre for Liberal Jewish Learning, and then founded City Shul and saw it become the spiritual home and important liberal voice for hundreds of downtowners. As I prepare to retire this June, I am filled with awe and gratitude for this community and our years together. With those doors finally open for women, other gates also unlocked for LGBTQ+ Jews, Jews of Colour, and so many other marginalized groups I fought to include. I am keenly aware of the history I have been privileged to watch, and to change, over these 40 years. What is next for the young rabbis who come to serve this community? What chal- lenges will they face and what triumphs will they achieve? Every generation tries to make its mark. In my generation it was feminism and the voice of women which we elevated. We bucked against the restrictions of the older Reform rabbis who ruled that wed- dings could only take place in synagogues or Jewish private homes and we battled to allow weddings in hotels and venues, which we achieved in 1985. We explored rabbinic officiation at Jewish same-sex weddings in 2005 once it became legal in Canada, and then allowed for indi- vidual rabbinic decisions on that. I officiated at my first Jewish same-sex wedding in 2006. Those were the goalposts of change back then. With those doors finally open for women, other gates also unlocked: for LGBTQ+ Jews, Jews of Colour, and so many other marginalized groups I fought forty years ago to include.
Rabbi Elyse Goldstein at her home in Toronto, October 2023
to form an interfaith women’s clergy group, even though I will be the only rabbi on it. I end the day having tea with Henrietta Chesnie, first female president of Holy Blos- som, and the only woman on my interview committee. She tells me how glad she is that I am here, and how much she believes in me. I am ready to start day two. Although I am often credited with being the first female rabbi in Canada, that title actual- ly goes to Rabbi Joan Friedman who came to Holy Blossom for one year, 1980-1981. She broke the stained-glass ceiling so I could stand under it, after which I took many of the
But then my senior rabbi, Dow Marmur, tells me “full speed ahead” for that feminist women’s group I want to start alongside the sisterhood. And he’d be proud if I would speak at the Sunday pro-choice rally at Queen’s Park. He reminds me I have full freedom of the pulpit for that sermon I’ll be giving on domes- tic violence. I ask the senior scholar, Rabbi Gunther Plaut, for help with a complicated translation on some difficult midrashic text I will be teaching that week. I receive a warm phone call from the fe- male United Church minister and we decide
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