Rabbi Margaret Moers Wenig D.D Wenig's 1975 Siddur Nashim (with Naomi Janowitz) was the first to use feminine imagery for God. Her 1990 sermon, "God is a Woman and She is Growing Older," has been published ten times (three times in German) and preached by rabbis from Australia to California. Her 1985 resolution (written with Rabbi Margaret Holub) was a catalyst for the creation of the CCAR's "Task force on Homosexuality and the Rabbinate" whose report, adopted in 1990, endorsed the ordination of lesbian and gay rabbis. Her "Guidelines for Welcoming Lesbian and Gay Jews into the Synagogue" (developed for a UAHC regional Biennial) has been published and used in the Reform, Reconstructionist and Conservative movements. Her sermons "The Gay Community's Stake in Same Sex Marriage" and "The Jewish Community's Stake in Same Sex Marriage" were preached at a time when much of the lesbian and gay community opposed seeking civil marriage rights and the Jewish community had barely begun to discuss it. The resolution she wrote and, with Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum and Russell Pearce, submitted to the Commission on Social Action (in 1995) was among the factors that led to the Reform movement's earliest endorsement of civil marriage for same sex couples. Her "Tribute to Alexander Schindler" and her contribution to the festschrift in his honor (see Publications, below) are the first published histories of the initially slow move by the Reform movement to embrace gay-rights and gay- Jews. The school-wide seminars she organized at HUC-JIR, NY (in 2002 at the invitation of Dean Panken) and at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College (in 2003) were the first in any rabbinical school to address psychological, legal and religious issues affecting people who are intersex or transsexual. For a day-long workshop at Congregation Beth Simchat Torah in NY, she created (with Reuben Zellman) a"Transgender Museum" with multiple exhibits participants could view at their own pace. Her sermon that day, "How Do You Say 'Transsexual' in Hebrew?" explored the spiritual lessons she has learned from transsexuals. Wenig was among the first rabbis, outside of a gay-outreach congregation, to preach about AIDS (1985) and to provide pastoral care for people with AIDS. She was the first rabbi to teach (with the camp doctor, an epidemiologist) about AIDS and safe-sex in a UAHC camp (1987). Her congregation began raising money for people with AIDS through GMHC's very first AIDS WALK (1987). In 1988 Rabbi Wenig appeared on ABC's daytime soap opera "All My Children" with three Christian colleagues. They played themselves, as members of the Interfaith Pastoral Care Service of the AIDS Resource Center, of which Wenig was then the only Jewish member. Among Wenig’s Publications: "Welcoming Lesbian and Gay Jews Into Our Synagogues," New Menorah, Spring 1991. Reprinted in: Kaafikim Banegev: A Manual for Rabbis to Engage their Communities in Embracing Lesbian and Gay Jews, edited by Sara Paasche, David Rosen and J.B. Sacks (for the 1994 convention of the Rabbinical Assembly of the Conservative Movement). "A Guide for Kehillot Mekablot (Welcoming Congregations)" in Homosexuality and Judaism: A Reconstructionst Workshop Series, edited by Rabbi Robert Gluck, Reconstructionist Press, 1992 "Truly Welcoming Lesbian and Gay Jews," (a history and a challenge) in The Jewish Condition: Essays on Contemporary Judaism Honoring Rabbi Alexander M. Schindler, edited by Aron Hirt- Manheimer, UAHC/NY, 1995 (available online from amazon.com) "The Jewish Community's Stake in the Legalization of Lesbian and Gay Marriage," in Civil Marriage for Lesbians & Gay Men: Organizing in Communities of Faith, Lambda Legal Defense and EducationFund, Inc. New York, 1996 "The Gay Community's Stake in the Legalization of Lesbian and Gay Marriage," in Civil Marriage for Lesbians & Gay Men: Organizing in Communities of Faith, Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc. New York, 1996 "Tribute [to Rabbi Alexander M. Schindler]" in Kulanu (All of Us): A Program for Congregations Implementing Gay and Lesbian Inclusion, A Handbook for UAHC Congregations, UAHC, 1996 "Beyond Acceptance - Meeting the Needs of Your Lesbian and Gay Congregants," in Kulanu (All of Us): A Program for Congregations Implementing Gay and Lesbian Inclusion, A Handbook for UAHC Congregations, UAHC Press, 1996 "There's a Place for Us: Gays and Lesbians in the Jewish Community," with Sharon A. Kleinbaum, in the Life Lights series, ed. Rabbi Nancy Flam, Jewish Lights, Woodstock, VT., 2002 (available online from Jewish Lights) Editor of A Reader and Web/Bibliography on Gender Identity, The Intersexed and Transsexuals:Religious, Legal and Policy Issues, April 2002 (available in the HUC-JIR, NY, Library) "Male and Female God Created Them" in Torah Queeries: Weekly Commentaries on the Hebrew Bible, ed. by Drinkwater, Lesser, and Shneer, NYU Press, 2009. Revised and Reprinted in: Judaism and Gender in Conversation, ed. by Rabbi Elyse Goldstein, CCAR Journal: A Reform Jewish Quarterly, forthcoming, Fall, 2012 "Spiritual Lessons I Have Learned from Transsexuals" in Balancing on the Mechitza: Transgender in Jewish Community, ed. Noach Dzmura, North Atlantic Books, Berkeley, 2010. A Lambda Literary Award Winner. In the News "Long on Vision: In her 10 years there, Rabbi Margaret Moers Wenig has transformed congregation Beth Am in Washington Heights," NY Jewish Week, June 17-23, 1994 "45 for Tomorrow: A new generation of young leaders to take the NYJewish Community into the 21st century," NY Jewish Week, January 20, 1995 "5 Sermons No One Slept Through: Excerpts from Memorable 20th Century High Holiday Sermons," by Marc Saperstein, Reform Judaism, Fall, 2000 "Experience Necessary: A Rabbi Whose God is a Loving and Long- Suffering Mother," by Ralph Blumenthal, The New York Times, August 31, 2009.
In reply to <p>Bio and (not quite current by Anonymous
Rabbi Margaret Moers Wenig D.D
Wenig's 1975 Siddur Nashim (with Naomi Janowitz) was the first to use feminine imagery for God. Her 1990 sermon, "God is a Woman and She is Growing Older," has been published ten times (three times in German) and preached by rabbis from Australia to California.
Her 1985 resolution (written with Rabbi Margaret Holub) was a catalyst for the creation of the CCAR's "Task force on Homosexuality and the Rabbinate" whose report, adopted in 1990, endorsed the ordination of lesbian and gay rabbis.
Her "Guidelines for Welcoming Lesbian and Gay Jews into the Synagogue" (developed for a UAHC regional Biennial) has been published and used in the Reform, Reconstructionist and Conservative movements.
Her sermons "The Gay Community's Stake in Same Sex Marriage" and "The Jewish Community's Stake in Same Sex Marriage" were preached at a time when much of the lesbian and gay community opposed seeking civil marriage rights and the Jewish community had barely begun to discuss it.
The resolution she wrote and, with Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum and Russell Pearce, submitted to the Commission on Social Action (in 1995) was among the factors that led to the Reform movement's earliest endorsement of civil marriage for same sex couples.
Her "Tribute to Alexander Schindler" and her contribution to the festschrift in his honor (see Publications, below) are the first published histories of the initially slow move by the Reform movement to embrace gay-rights and gay- Jews.
The school-wide seminars she organized at HUC-JIR, NY (in 2002 at the invitation of Dean Panken) and at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College (in 2003) were the first in any rabbinical school to address psychological, legal and religious issues affecting people who are intersex or transsexual. For a day-long workshop at Congregation Beth Simchat Torah in NY, she created (with Reuben Zellman) a"Transgender Museum" with multiple exhibits participants could view at their own pace. Her sermon that day, "How Do You Say 'Transsexual' in Hebrew?" explored the spiritual lessons she has learned from transsexuals.
Wenig was among the first rabbis, outside of a gay-outreach congregation, to preach about AIDS (1985) and to provide pastoral care for people with AIDS.
She was the first rabbi to teach (with the camp doctor, an epidemiologist) about AIDS and safe-sex in a UAHC camp (1987).
Her congregation began raising money for people with AIDS through GMHC's very first AIDS WALK (1987).
In 1988 Rabbi Wenig appeared on ABC's daytime soap opera "All My Children" with three Christian colleagues. They played themselves, as members of the Interfaith Pastoral Care Service of the AIDS Resource Center, of which Wenig was then the only Jewish member.
Among Wenig’s Publications:
"Welcoming Lesbian and Gay Jews Into Our Synagogues," New Menorah, Spring 1991.
Reprinted in:
Kaafikim Banegev: A Manual for Rabbis to Engage their Communities in Embracing Lesbian and Gay Jews, edited by Sara Paasche, David Rosen and J.B. Sacks (for the 1994 convention of the Rabbinical Assembly of the Conservative Movement).
"A Guide for Kehillot Mekablot (Welcoming Congregations)" in Homosexuality and Judaism: A Reconstructionst Workshop Series, edited by Rabbi Robert Gluck, Reconstructionist Press, 1992
"Truly Welcoming Lesbian and Gay Jews," (a history and a challenge) in The Jewish Condition: Essays on Contemporary Judaism Honoring Rabbi Alexander M. Schindler, edited by Aron Hirt- Manheimer, UAHC/NY, 1995 (available online from amazon.com)
"The Jewish Community's Stake in the Legalization of Lesbian and Gay Marriage," in Civil Marriage for Lesbians & Gay Men: Organizing in Communities of Faith, Lambda Legal Defense and EducationFund, Inc. New York, 1996
"The Gay Community's Stake in the Legalization of Lesbian and Gay Marriage," in Civil Marriage for Lesbians & Gay Men: Organizing in Communities of Faith, Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc. New York, 1996
"Tribute [to Rabbi Alexander M. Schindler]" in Kulanu (All of Us): A Program for Congregations Implementing Gay and Lesbian Inclusion, A Handbook for UAHC Congregations, UAHC, 1996
"Beyond Acceptance - Meeting the Needs of Your Lesbian and Gay Congregants," in Kulanu (All of Us): A Program for Congregations Implementing Gay and Lesbian Inclusion, A Handbook for UAHC Congregations, UAHC Press, 1996
"There's a Place for Us: Gays and Lesbians in the Jewish Community," with Sharon A. Kleinbaum, in the Life Lights series, ed. Rabbi Nancy Flam, Jewish Lights, Woodstock, VT., 2002 (available online from Jewish Lights)
Editor of A Reader and Web/Bibliography on Gender Identity, The Intersexed and Transsexuals:Religious, Legal and Policy Issues, April 2002 (available in the HUC-JIR, NY, Library)
"Male and Female God Created Them" in Torah Queeries: Weekly Commentaries on the Hebrew Bible, ed. by Drinkwater, Lesser, and Shneer, NYU Press, 2009.
Revised and Reprinted in:
Judaism and Gender in Conversation, ed. by Rabbi Elyse Goldstein, CCAR Journal: A Reform Jewish Quarterly, forthcoming, Fall, 2012
"Spiritual Lessons I Have Learned from Transsexuals" in Balancing on the Mechitza: Transgender in Jewish Community, ed. Noach Dzmura, North Atlantic Books, Berkeley, 2010. A Lambda Literary Award Winner.
In the News
"Long on Vision: In her 10 years there, Rabbi Margaret Moers Wenig has transformed congregation Beth Am in Washington Heights," NY Jewish Week, June 17-23, 1994
"45 for Tomorrow: A new generation of young leaders to take the NYJewish Community into the 21st century," NY Jewish Week, January 20, 1995
"5 Sermons No One Slept Through: Excerpts from Memorable 20th Century High Holiday Sermons," by Marc Saperstein, Reform Judaism, Fall, 2000
"Experience Necessary: A Rabbi Whose God is a Loving and Long- Suffering Mother," by Ralph Blumenthal, The New York Times, August 31, 2009.