Regina's Aria
December 27, 2023
On this day in 1935 – Regina Jonas is ordained as the first female rabbi in the history of Judaism.
"If I confess what motivated me, a woman, to become a rabbi, two things come to mind. My belief in God’s calling and my love of humans. God planted in our heart skills and a vocation without asking about gender. Therefore, it is the duty of men and women alike to work and create according to the skills given by God."
In 1942, the Gestapo arrested her.
She was deported to Theresienstadt. She continued her work as a rabbi, and Viktor Frankl, the well-known psychologist, asked her for help in building a crisis intervention service to improve the possibility of surviving by helping to prevent suicide attempts.
She was deported to Auschwitz in 1944, where she was murdered.
On 5 April 2014, an original chamber opera, titled "Regina" by composer Elisha Denburg and librettist Maya Rabinovitch, premiered in Toronto.