Mt. Zion Congregation in Sioux Falls brings in South Dakota's first ordained woman rabbi

Mt. Zion Congregation, the Reform Jewish Community of Sioux Falls, is bringing in a new rabbi to lead religious services and provide counseling to families and individuals on a monthly basis.

Rabbi Cathy Nemiroff is the first ordained woman rabbi to serve a congregation in the state of South Dakota and the first rabbi the Mt. Zion Congregation has hired in nearly 40 years, according to Jennifer Dreiske, Mt. Zion Board President.

She will come once a month and for major holidays to lead Shabbat services, teach religious education classes and provide counseling to Mt. Zion's Jewish community of 40 families.

"It feels great," Nemiroff said. "I think it's important that the Jewish people in the area know that this congregation is here as an egalitarian and inclusive synagogue."

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Nemiroff, 69, currently works as a part-time chaplain at an assisted living and nursing home in St. Paul, Minnesota. She said was itching to get back to congregational life and saw the congregation's call for a part-time rabbi as the perfect opportunity.

As community gets older and kids get younger, Mt. Zion looks to Nemiroff instead of student rabbis to meet needs of congregation

Mt. Zion Congregation was first established in 1919 and is located in central Sioux Falls.

The Jewish congregation had previously relied on a program at Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, Ohio to get student rabbis to fulfill the needs of their community. The young rabbis would travel from Cincinnati twice a month to Sioux Falls, but would change every year and weren't able to do services for funerals, weddings and conversions, said Dreiske.

"Our congregation was getting older, the kids were getting younger and the student rabbis were getting younger too," said Dreiske. "It was a matter of we were seeing as a community that we needed something different than the student rabbi program to fulfill the needs of our community."

Dreiske mentioned the Hebrew Union College is in the process of shutting down their Rabbinical School and cutting back on their student rabbi program, which was when the congregation put out a call for a part-time rabbi.

Nemiroff is the 'light' we need in our community, says Mt. Zion Board President

Nemiroff, ordained as a rabbi in 2002, will bring over 20 years of expertise in pastoral counseling, teaching and leading religious services. She plans to teach adult education classes, offer wedding and funeral services when she can and be a more consistent resource to the Mt. Zion Congregation for older members of the community who prefer going to an older rabbi than a student rabbi for major life issues.

Dreiske said they recently had a woman who lost her husband of over 40 years and didn't want to go to a 23-year-old student rabbi to get counseling on grief.

"I bring in expertise and maturity that the student rabbis didn't have," said Nemiroff.

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She will also focus on offering more conversion services and counseling to Mt. Zion Congregation's small community.

Nemiroff, who helped start a congregation in the Twin Cities, said most synagogues have problems with aging out of leaders of the congregation and developing new leaders.

"I see that starting to happen here," said Nemiroff. "If I can be any influence in that, I'm happy."

Dreiske said the congregation is excited to welcome Nemiroff. The Jewish community has been isolated in Sioux Falls, limited with Kosher options and availability of ritual items and services like conversions that some have had to out-source to Minneapolis, she said.

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"To have a female rabbi come in and be able to provide that light we need with her expertise and lived experiences is so important," said Dreiske.

Nemiroff hopes having her as a more consistent rabbi will help meet the needs of Mt. Zion's community and wants the congregation to be a welcoming place for all people, including those who have hesitated to come through their doors.

More information about Mt. Zion Congregation and their services can be found at their website www.mtzionsf.com or their Facebook page.

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Mt. Zion Congregation hires first Rabbi in almost 40 years