Helga Newmark

Helga Newmark, née Helga Hoflich, (1932–2012) was the first female Holocaust survivor ordained as a rabbi. [1][2][3] She was born in Germany, and was sent to the concentration camps of Westerbork, Bergen-Belsen, and Terezin (known in German as Theresienstadt) in Czechoslovakia. [4][5] She was freed at the age of twelve, and immigrated to America at the age of sixteen.[5] When she had her first child, a daughter, she began to wonder how she would answer her daughter's questions about God.[4] After considering several religions, she joined a [Conservative ] synagogue, Temple Emanuel in [Ridgefield Park, New Jersey][4] There she learned so much from the rabbi and his wife that she eventually became principal of the synagogue.[4]

She was accepted to the Reform movement's Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion on her second attempt, and was ordained in 2000 after eight years of study.[6] She served as a rabbi at Barnert Temple in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, for two years.[6]

She is the author of the book Letters to the Wise One: A Holocaust Survivor's Conversations with God, published in 2007.[3]

References
  1. docs.google.com
  2. Helga Newmark, rabbi late in life, dies - NorthJersey.com
  3. HUC-JIR: Press Room - In Memoriam: Rabbi Helga Newmark, z''l
  4. Holocaust survivor ordained as a Reform rabbi at age 67 | j. the Jewish news weekly of Northern California
  5. Remembering Helga Newmark, the First Female Holocaust Survivor to Become an Ordained Rabbi – Tablet Magazine
  6. Helga Newmark, rabbi late in life, dies : page 2 - NorthJersey.com
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