Nina Perlmutter’s ordination as a rabbi May 25 in Los Angeles culminated four years of three-days-a-week studies at the Academy for Jewish Religion in Los Angeles, and 288 flights to and from Los Angeles.
Women will serve as two of the three rabbis in Northern Arizona by the end of this month.
Nina Perlmutter, a 26-year resident of Groom Creek, becomes Flagstaff's Temple Heichal Baoranim rabbi May 25. That is the day of her ordination at the Temple Stephen F. Wise in Los Angeles.
Her ordination is the culmination of four years of studies at the Academy for Jewish Religion in Los Angeles.
A native of New York City, Perlmutter holds a bachelor of arts degree in philosophy from the City College of New York and a master of arts degree in philosophy from Arizona State University.
In 1978, she and her husband, Tom Brodersen, bought land in Groom Creek. There, they built a solar house and moved into it in 1983.
From 1984-2005, she was Yavapai College's Philosophy and Religion Program's division assistant dean.
In the 1999-2000 school year, Perlmutter worked on her master's degree in Jewish studies at the Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies in Chicago.
In the spring of 2006, when she left Yavapai College, the college bestowed on her the emeritus faculty status.
That status will enable Perlmutter to teach one to two classes a semester - Jewish Studies and Environmental Ethics - starting this fall.
She participated in her Bat Mitzvah ceremony, which marks when a girl comes of age or is responsible, usually at 13 years of age, when she was 48.
Perlmutter said, "I was raised in a culturally Jewish family, but didn't know much about my faith. I wanted to make up for it."
While teaching at Yavapai College, she was also active in her synagogue and worked her way up to a Jewish lay spiritual leader. "I felt people were coming to me as a rabbi, so it felt right to study to become one," she said.
Perlmutter said she chose the Academy for Jewish Religion because it is a trans-denominational facility. "People come to it from all the Jewish movements - Reform, Conservative, Orthodox and Reconstructionism, but are pledged to Judaism," she said. "As a result, I feel nurtured by all the movements."
With her husband supporting her decision, Perlmutter took the plunge even though the college was in Los Angeles and they live here. That meant 288 airplane flights to and from Los Angeles during the past four years as she split her time between the two areas.
"My program at the Academy (for Jewish Religion) is three days a week," she said.
Perlmutter is currently a member of Temple B'rith Shalom in Prescott, where she is head of the Religious Practices Committee and Adult Education Committee.
She also is the founder and president of the Jewish Burial Society of Northern Arizona. Through that society, Perlmutter says they serve non-affiliated Jews who don't belong to a specific synagogue.
She has also served as the student rabbi for Flagstaff's Temple Heichal Baoranim since September 2008.
What does becoming a rabbi mean to her? "It is a great honor to serve the Jewish people and continue the ancient tradition, which yet are very relevant. And I want a bridge for others to come home," she said.
Reader Comments
Posted: Monday, May 18, 2009
Article comment by:
James Mardley
Hey "no name" if you are so proud of this rabbi why not use your real name if you believe in your own hype?
Posted: Saturday, May 09, 2009
Article comment by:
No name provided
Temple Heichal Baoranim is blessed to have Rabbi Perlmutter as its spiritual guide and inspiration. Mazel Tov to the community on such making a very wise choice.
