Regina Jonas was born in Berlin in 1902. Her father, a merchant, was probably her first teacher. Her passion for Jewish history, the Bible, and Hebrew was evident from high school, where her classmates remember her talking about becoming a rabbi. She was particularly supported in this by Orthodox Rabbi Max Weil, with whom she met once a week to study rabbinic literature. In 1923, she passed her baccalaureate exam and entered a teachers’ seminary, which allowed her to teach Jewish religion in girls’ schools in Berlin.

In 1924, she enrolled in the Higher School of the Science of Judaism. Jonas was the only student aspiring to be ordained as a rabbi. Her classmates only aspired to become teachers. Eduardo Baneth, a Talmud professor at the Higher School, was her thesis supervisor. The topic was: «Can a woman hold the position of rabbi?» Her work (1930) was the first attempt to find a halachic basis for ordaining women as rabbis.

In her thesis, Jonas combined halachic argumentation with a modern attitude. She did not follow the reformist position that had abandoned halacha. She preferred to seek gender equality in traditional Jewish sources. The female rabbinate should be understood as a continuation of tradition. With this, Jonas broke away from both the Orthodox position, which did not accept gender equality on this issue, and the reformist position, which claimed to be the sole defender of women’s rights. On the last page, she wrote: «Nothing halachic, only prejudice and lack of familiarity, prevents a woman from serving as a rabbi.»

Her thesis received a grade of «Good.» Her teacher, Eduardo Baneth, died shortly afterward, and his successor, Hanokh Albeck, was unwilling to ordain her, so Regina graduated as a religion teacher. She worked in several girls’ schools. Nevertheless, she did not give up her efforts to be ordained as a rabbi. Finally, in 1935, Rabbi Max Dienemann, executive director of the Conference of Liberal Rabbis, agreed to ordain her. Her diploma read: «In view of the fact that I have seen that your heart is with God and Israel, that you dedicate your soul to that end, that you respect God, and that you have passed the examination in matters of religious law, I therefore certify that you are qualified to answer questions on religious law and are entitled to hold the title of rabbi, and may God protect and guide you in all your path.»

Few Regina was able to practice as a rabbi for years. She was employed as a rabbinical pastoral counselor in 1937 by the Jewish community of Berlin. She began preaching in liberal synagogues until 1942, when she and her mother were deported to the Theresienstadt concentration camp. On October 12, 1944, they were deported to Auschwitz, where they were murdered that same day. A handwritten document entitled «Sermons by the only female rabbi Regina Jonas» is preserved in the Terezin archives. It was signed: «Rabbi Regina Jonas, originally from Berlin.»

By Marcos Gojman

Bibliography: Fräulein Rabbiner Jonas, by Elisa Klapheck and other sources.