Alysa Stanton

Rabbi
Alysa Stanton
Rabbi Alysa Stanton
	Stanton at the White House
Personal details
Born	August 2, 1963; Cleveland, Ohio
Education	Colorado State University; Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion
Occupation	Rabbi

Alysa Stanton (born August 2, 1963) is an American Reform rabbi, and the first African American female rabbi.^[1]^[2] Ordained on June 6, 2009,^[1]^[2] in August 2009 she began work as a rabbi at Congregation Bayt Shalom, a small majority-white synagogue in Greenville, North Carolina, making her the first African American rabbi to lead a majority-white congregation.^[3] Stanton converted to Judaism at age 24 and first studied and worked as a psychotherapist.

Early life and education

Stanton was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and moved to Denver, Colorado, with her family at the age of 11.^[4]^[5] Although raised in the Church of God in Christ, when she was 24 Stanton converted to Judaism after considering several Eastern religions.^[5]^[6]^[7]^[8] She has said she was "born Jewish—just not to a Jewish womb".^[9] She earned her BA in psychology in 1988, an MA in education in 1992, from Colorado State University.

Career

In her first career, Stanton was a psychotherapist.^[8] She specialized in grief counseling, and was asked to speak to people in Columbine after the 1999 high school massacre.^[10] Before preparing for the rabbinate, she sought to become a cantor, but heard that Jewish leadership positions were not available to women.^[11] When she finally saw a female cantor, she decided to pursue the studies necessary to become a rabbi.^[11]

Stanton graduated from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, a Reform Jewish seminary.^[6] She has said that she is not concerned with being the first Black woman to become a rabbi, "I try not to focus on being the first. I focus on being the best—the best human being, the best rabbi I can be."^[12] "If I were the 50,000th, I'd still be doing what I do.... Me being first was just the luck of the draw."^[13]

In August 2009, Stanton became the rabbi of Congregation Bayt Shalom, a small majority-white synagogue in Greenville, North Carolina,^[5] making her the first African American rabbi to lead a majority-white congregation.^[3] 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."^[14] In 2011, the congregation decided not to renew her contract, which expired July 31, 2011.^[15]