Alysa Stanton
Alysa Stanton (born c. 1964) is an African-American Jew. On June 6, 2009, she was ordained the first African-American 
female rabbi.
Education
Stanton was raised a Pentecostal Christian. She grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, and Denver, Colorado.
In her first career, Stanton was a psychotherapist She specialized in grief counseling, and was asked to speak to people in Columbine after the 1999 high school massacre.
Conversion to Judaism
Stanton says she was propelled early on by a search for spiritual nourishment. She was attracted initially to Eastern religions and Evangelicalism, until her family moved to a predominantly Jewish suburb of Cleveland. Curious about the mezuzahs in the doorways of neighboring homes — along with other unfamiliar Jewish customs — Stanton turned for guidance to a Catholic uncle who occasionally worshipped at a local temple.By her 20s, Stanton had found a permanent home in Judaism, and formally converted to the religion after a year of study with a rabbi in Denver.
Before preparing for the rabbinate, she sought to become a cantor, but heard that Jewish leadership positions were not available to women. When she finally saw a female cantor, she decided to pursue the studies necessary to become a rabbi.
Stanton completed seven years of rabbinical training at Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati.
When ordained, Stanton will become the rabbi of Congregation Bayt Shalom, a small majority-white synagogue in Greenville, North Carolina. The congregation’s president said that the fact that Stanton is African-American and a woman had nothing to do with the decision to hire her: “I’m very proud of my community. [Stanton’s being a woman or being Black] never came up in conversation. Obviously, we all know that’s unusual but when she got on the pulpit during her visit, it was totally comfortable.”
References
- The Guardian (2009), “Black female rabbi ‘is new face of Judaism'”
- TIME (2009), “Introducing America’s First Black, Female Rabbi”
- Wikipedia, “Alysa Stanton”