Egalitarianism

Full egalitarian participation is the norm in all aspects of ritual, religious, and educational programming at The Jewish Center. Both women and men read from the Torah, have aliyot to the Torah, read the Megillah on Purim, sound the shofar and lead our services on an equal basis. Adult education programs strive to bring male and female scholars and teachers to the community, and children are encouraged to see adults of both sexes in a variety of nurturing and guiding roles.

All men in the sanctuary are expected to wear kippot and, if Jewish, tallitot. Women are welcome to cover their heads and/or wear tallitot and many of our women do. All men who come onto the bimah for an aliyah or any other honor are required to wear tallitot, and women who receive honors are strongly encouraged to wear tallitot as well. English-language prayers and readings that use masculine pronouns to refer to God are almost always modified to be gender-neutral. In Hebrew, the amidah prayer has also been altered to include the matriarchs as well as the patriarchs.