Frank, Ray (1861–1948)

Rachel “Ray” Frank was known as the “Girl Rabbi of the Golden West,” although she was not a rabbi at all. She was, however, the first Jewish woman to give a formal sermon in the United States. In doing so, she became an American Jewish icon during the 1890s and early 1900s. Through her actions, she helped foster thought on the roles of women among American Jews, and she provided an impetus for change in the traditional function of women in the synagogue.

Ray Frank was born on April 10, 1861, in San Francisco to Polish immigrant parents. Her parents were Orthodox Jews, but they had liberal spirits that would later influence Ray. The western frontier was not a place teaming with a Jewish presence, and Ray was quick to notice the differences between the Gentile majority culture as opposed to the Jewish home in which she was raised. After graduating from high school in 1879, Ray moved to Ruby Hill, Nevada, which was a silver mining town. There, she taught school for six years. The lack of a Jewish presence in Ruby Hill gave Ray further insight into and curiosity about the mainstream population and its prejudice against Jews.

In 1885, Ray moved to Oakland, California, where she took courses in philosophy at the University of California at Berkeley and began teaching at a Sabbath school in the Oakland area. Her skills as an orator became apparent, and she developed a following within the Jewish community in California. She also worked as a correspondent for various newspapers in the San Francisco metropolitan area, which further boosted her reputation as a spokesperson on Jewish issues.

It was her newspaper work that took her to Spokane, Washington, in late 1890. She was upset at the hostility among the Reform and Orthodox Jews of the area. Knowing her reputation, a member of the community arranged for her to give a sermon for Rosh Hashanah. Jews and Gentiles alike flocked to the Opera House to listen to Ray speak. Ray's speech discussed “The Obligations of a Jew as a Jew and Citizen,” and it was so well received that a Christian man donated land for the building of a synagogue in the Spokane area.

When Ray enrolled at Hebrew Union College, a leading Reform seminary, word began to spread that she was to become the first woman rabbi. It was said that she was offered several pulpits; however, Ray's views about women as rabbis were somewhat ambiguous. She definitely wanted an increased presence of women in the synagogues, yet she made it clear that she had no interest in becoming a rabbi herself. Whether she wanted to be a rabbi or not, Jews in America at that time were unwilling to take such a progressive step. Not until 1972 did a Jewish woman become a rabbi.

Regardless of Ray's feelings about women rabbis, she continued to advocate increased roles for Jewish women in America. Ray was a prominent drawing point for the Jewish Women's Congress, held in conjunction with the Chicago World's Fair in 1893. This was the first mass gathering of Jewish women in America, and Ray delivered the opening and closing prayers. She also gave a speech entitled “Women in the Synagogue,” in which she argued in favor of freeing [Page 242]Jewish women to be more active in society while still appreciating their important traditional roles as wives and mothers.

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