Karen Soria

Karen Soria is an American-born rabbi. She became the first female rabbi to serve in Australia when she joined the rabbinical team at Temple Beth Israel, a progressive Reform Jewish synagogue in Melbourne, in the 1980s. She later served as a chaplain for the U.S. Marines and the U.S. Navy; she was the first woman rabbi to serve in this capacity for the Marines, and the second in the Navy. After moving to Canada, she became the first woman rabbi to serve as a chaplain with the Canadian Forces.

Early life and education

Karen Soria was born and raised near Chicago, Illinois.[1][2] Deciding to pursue rabbinical training, she attended the HUC-JIR Reform Jewish seminary, in Cincinnati, Ohio. After receiving her Master of Arts in Hebrew Letters in 1981,[1] she became ordained as a rabbi. At the time, there were very few women rabbis in the United States.

Career

After her ordination, Soria moved to Australia, where she served as an assistant rabbi at Temple Beth Israel in Melbourne.[3] In taking this post, she became the first woman rabbi in Australia. Soria remained in Australia from 1981 to 1989.[1][4][5] During this time she was the Chair of the Progressive Council of Rabbi's of Australia and New Zealand.[6] Soria's work as a rabbi in Australia helped open doors for other women to follow. One of her first activities was to launch a reading group for women interested in studying Jewish texts;[7] she would create several such groups over the course of her career. The first Australian-born woman rabbi, Aviva Kipen, was ordained ten years after Soria, in 1991.[8]

When Soria left Australia, she moved to Florida in the United States, where she served two congregations: Congregation Beth Shalom and Bat Yam/Temple of the Islands.[1] She then decided to enlist as a chaplain in the United States Navy. Only the second woman rabbi ever to serve in the Navy Chaplain Corps, she held this post from 1992 to 2003. She also became the first female rabbi to serve with the United States Marine Corps, which she did from 1992 until 1996.[1][9]

Soria moved to Canada in 2003.[10] In 2008, she began serving part-time as a rabbi at Temple Shalom in Winnipeg, Manitoba; she combined this with part-time work as a chaplain at the Health Sciences Center.[11] The following year, in 2009, Soria became the first female rabbi in the Canadian Forces; she was assigned to 3 Canadian Forces Flying Training School in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba.[12]

Soria has also served as rabbi of Beth Israel Congregation in Kingston, Ontario.[9]

Awards and honors

Soria is a two-time recipient of the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, a military decoration, which was awarded to her in 1997 and 2001.[11]

In 2011 HUC-JIR awarded her an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree.[11]

See also

References
  1. "The Canadian Jewish News - Winnipeg rabbi served in the marines, navy". Cjnews.com. 30 October 2008. Retrieved 21 July 2011.
  2. Rutland, Suzanne D. (23 January 2006). The Jews in Australia. ISBN 9781139447164. Retrieved 29 October 2014.
  3. "Australia: 1788 to the Present". Jewish Women's Archive. Retrieved 12 August 2021.
  4. "Jay's dates". Australian Jewish News (Melbourne, Victoria : 1935 - 1999). 19 July 1985. p. 37. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  5. "Y CLUB". Australian Jewish News (Melbourne, Vic. : 1935 - 1999). 28 August 1981. p. 28. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  6. "Karen Soria". Australian Jewish News (Melbourne, Vicoria. : 1935 - 1999). 9 September 1988. p. 13. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  7. Granek, Caryn. "Listening to Hidden Voices" (PDF). National Council of Jewish Women in Australia. 92: 5–6.
  8. Melbourne, The University of. "Kipen, Aviva - Woman - The Encyclopedia of Women and Leadership in Twentieth-Century Australia". www.womenaustralia.info. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
  9. "Staff Biographies". www.omjs.ca. Archived from the original on 4 October 2011. Retrieved 21 July 2011.
  10. Soria, Karen (1 April 2015). "A Jewish view of Shabbat: An enviable practice for our time". Vision: A Journal for Church and Theology. 16 (1): 44–49. ISSN 1492-7799.
  11. "HUC-JIR: Press Room - HUC-JIR Presents Doctor of Divinity, honoris causa, to Karen A. Soria". Huc.edu. 5 May 2011. Retrieved 21 July 2011.
  12. "Female rabbi joins the team | the Maple Leaf - Vol. 12, No. 9". Archived from the original on 23 May 2013. Retrieved 14 July 2012.
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