Regina Persisted - Hardcover

Sasso, Sandy Eisenberg

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1681155400 ISBN 13: 9781681155401

Publisher: Apples & Honey Press, 2018

Synopsis

From a young age, Regina Jonas loved to read stories from the Bible. She loved to read Hebrew. She wanted to be a rabbi.

There had never been a woman rabbi before, and some people said, 'You should learn to cook and sew like the other girls.' But Regina persisted.

They said, 'Don't make trouble.' But Regina persisted.

They said, 'Women are not smart enough.' Regina heard, but still she persisted.

Finally, in 1935, Regina Jonas became the first woman ever ordained as a rabbi. Her story inspires us to pursue our dreams and to persist even in the face of great challenges.

'Evocative, inspiring, and uplifting' --Kirkus Starred Review

'Rabbi Sandy Eisenberg Sasso s beautiful and motivating book shows, why it is so necessary to tell young Jewish girls and boys the amazing story of the first female rabbi.'
--Rabbi Elisa Klapheck, author of Fräulein Rabbiner Jonas. The Story of the First Woman Rabbi (2004)

Regina Jonas had a dream, to become a rabbi. Hard work and persistence made that that dream come true. Regina Persisted: The Untold Story will inspire children everywhere who also dream 'I will be what I will be.'
--Pamela S. Nadell, author of Women Who Would Be Rabbis: A History of Women s Ordination, 1889-1985

'This is a touching story about persistence and overcoming challenges to fulfill a lifelong dream, something that Rabbi Sandy Eisenberg Sasso has in common with Rabbi Regina Jonas. Both followed their heart, did not give up, despite being told they couldn't, and set the stage for thousands of women to inspire and impact the Jewish community. Thank you Rabbi Eisenberg Sasso for telling the courageous story of Regina Jonas, and by doing so, bringing to light the story of those of us who have persisted.'
--Rabba Sara Hurwitz, co-founder and President of Yeshivat Maharat, Ordained by Rabbi Avi Weiss and Rabbi Daniel Sperber

About this title

About the Author

Rabbi Sandy Eisenberg Sasso was the first woman ordained as a rabbi by the Reconstructionist movement in the United States. She is the author of the best-selling book God's Paintbrush and many other children's books. She is rabbi emerita at Congregation Beth-El Zedeck in Indianapolis; director of Religion, Spirituality, and the Arts at the IUPUI Arts and Humanities Instititute; and cofounder of Women4Change Indiana. She lives in Indianapolis.

Review

STARRED REVIEW! Regina Jonas was determined to become a rabbi, but she faced nearly insurmountable opposition. While other girls played house, she played rabbi, pretending to read Torah to her toy animals. She took every opportunity to learn, studying first with her father and then with the rabbi of her synagogue. She kept on studying, but at the last moment she was prevented from taking the examination that would allow her to achieve her goal. At every step she was cautioned to concentrate on domestic skills or told to stop causing trouble.

As a schoolteacher, she taught Jewish girls about Miriam, Esther, and Deborah, strong Jewish women in the Bible, and never gave up on her dream, although she continued to be denied the opportunity to take the needed tests. But her impact on the Jewish community was recognized, and in 1935 she finally succeeded in becoming a rabbi, the first woman rabbi in the world.

All of this took place in Berlin, where life for Jews was becoming more and more restricted and then impossible.

Sasso, a rabbi herself, tells Regina's story with great admiration and compassion. In an afterword readers are told of Regina's deportation to Theresienstadt and then her death at Auschwitz.

Lucas' sepia and soft earth tones beautifully capture Regina's strength in her facial expressions and body language as well as the time period and setting.

Evocative, inspiring, and uplifting. (author's note, note to readers, photograph) (Picture book/biography. 7-12) --Kirkus Reviews

Regina Jonas, the daughter of a rabbi, had a dream to become one herself but there were no women rabbis. Born in Berlin at the turn of the last century, Jonas was an excellent student, devoted to her Jewish faith, and, as an adult, was functioning as a rabbi, though without the ordination. Every year she applied to take the test, and finally, in 1935, a group of rabbis granted her request, and Jonas became the world s first female rabbi. Author Sasso, the first female Reconstructionist rabbi, frames the narrative in the modern-day parlance she persisted, giving the book a bold, modern twist, even as it references both biblical heroines and life under the Nazi regime. (An afterword describes Jonas' relocation to concentration camps; she died in Auschwitz.) Lucas' illustrations give Jonas plenty of personality, despite a rather sombre palette of grays and browns, occasionally interrupted with pops of blues and greens. An inspiring story that will make a welcome addition to shelves introducing smart, strong women. --Ilene Cooper, Booklist

Charmingly written by Sandy Eisenberg Sasso and appealingly illustrated by Margeaux Lucas, Regina Persisted is the story of Regina Jonas who was the first woman ever ordained as a rabbi in Germany in 1935.

This is a thoroughly entertaining picture book that will inspire children ages 6 to 8 to pursue their dreams and to persist in the face of challenges.

It is interesting to note that the author, Rabbi Sandy Eisenberg Sasso, was also the first Reconstructionist woman rabbi in the United States.

Regina Persisted is an especially and unreservedly recommended addition to family, synagogue, elementary school, and community library picture book collections. --The Midwest Book Review

About this edition

• Publisher: Apples & Honey Press
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 1681155400
• ISBN 13: 9781681155401
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Lucas Margaux