The New York Times runs an article this morning about a travelling female rabbi. She serves 28 temples in 12 states throughout the south. Why? Because there's a rabbi shortage, silly:
Though there is a national shortage of rabbis, that dearth is perhaps felt most acutely in this 12-state region. According to a 2002 study by the Institute for Southern Jewish Life, a nonprofit organization that provides education and rabbinic services to small Jewish communities, 34 percent of the 336 congregations in the Deep South, which excludes Florida, lack a full-time rabbi. In Arkansas, just 3 of 11 temples have full services, and in Mississippi, only 2 out of 14 congregations have been able to hire a full-time leader.
Quite odd, that rabbi shortage. There's no celibacy requirement and they admit women. They're quite progressive, at least in reformed Judaism, so there should be no rabbi shortage. Yet there is. Hmmmm. I wonder if there's a lesson in there for progressive Catholics.
