I believe in cosmic influences: I believe that we influence the cosmos, that we influence the world. I believe that what we do matters. Our lives, our actions, our words, even our thoughts can make a difference. Together we can change the world.

I did not become a rabbi to sell Judaism. I became a rabbi because I believe in the meaning and power of prayer and the presence of God in our lives. I did not become a rabbi to be a politician or social worker. I became a rabbi because I believe in the power of religious community to overcome the culture in which we find ourselves, the culture of despair.

I certainly did not become a rabbi as the result of positive childhood experiences. After eight years of three-days-a-week Hebrew school, I was still ignorant of Jewish history and experience, illiterate in Torah, and distant from God. With bat mitzvah I was given no sense that Judaism had anything meaningful to do with the adult world, that Judaism might inform my decisions or provide comfort or inspiration. In later years, brilliant teachers revealed to me the profound depth of Jewish tradition. I became a rabbi because I believe in the power of teaching to change a life and to change the world.

Feminism had a huge impact on my choice to become a rabbi. When I became bat mitzvah in 1972, no women had yet been ordained as rabbis. Thirteen years later, when I entered rabbinical school, a generation of women had broken those barriers. I stand on their shoulders and on the shoulders of many others who demanded that Judaism listen to women’s voices. I believe that Judaism was diminished without the religious leadership of women. I believe in the power of women to change an often-stubborn religious tradition. I believe in the power of women to change the world. But women must do more than repeat what men have been doing all along. Feminism requires me to ask the harder questions about the very nature of Judaism. I never wanted to be simply a female rabbi. I want to be a part of a Judaism that is transformed by feminism.