The Woman in Reform Judaism
Co 143
adherents. The tempo of change and the agenda in each of the matters previously discussed were set by the male rabbis with no participation by women.
Surprisingly enough, the Reformers were not among the leaders in the next steps of women's rights. By the turn of the century the major discussion of women’s issues dealt with women on the labor market and women’s right to vote. The labor movement, especially in New York , had an enormous membership among women in the garment industry. Some of them became radical spokespersons, but they did so outside the synagogue and did not attempt to influence the synagogue. As most came from the new immigrants, they probably did not think along those lines, but neither did the“Uptown” rabbis volunteer to play a major role. They supported“Settlement Houses” and educational ventures, but not feminist issues. Resolutions by the CCAR and the UAHC dealt with these issues in a positive fashion, but they reflect the tenor of the times and were not pioneering efforts.
The major battle in the first decades of this century dealt with the right of women to vote. This struggle involved numerous Jewish women, but it did not penetrate synagogue or religious life. Various rabbis spoke in support from the pulpit, but few took an active role in the political struggle. Nor was there a dramatic change in the composition of synagogue boards or the right of women to vote in congregational life. Token women begin to appear on synagogue boards, but the leadership seems to have felt that a Temple Sisterhood was sufficient to represent women.® No study of this exists, but looking at the minutes of Rodef Shalom in Pittsburgh and at the statements of the UAHC in the early twentieth century, one finds very little that supported this major effort.