Tamara Kolton
{{Short description|American non-denominational rabbi}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2021}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2021}}
{{Infobox Jewish leader
| honorific-prefix = Rabbi Dr.
| name = Tamara Kolton
| image =
| alt = Rabbi Dr. Tamara Kolton, a smiling middle-aged blonde woman in a striped shirt against a painted background
| image_size = 250px
| birth_name = Tamara Ruth Feldstein
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|mf=yes|1970|3|13}}
| birth_place = Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
| denomination = Non-denominational (formerly Humanistic){{cite web|url=https://thejewishnews.com/2019/11/28/local-women-celebrate-the-feminine-divine/|work=The Detroit Jewish News|title=Local Women Celebrate the Feminine Divine|date=28 November 2019|access-date=16 January 2021}}
| spouse = Isaac Kolton
| website = {{URL|https://rabbikolton.com/}}
}}
Tamara Ruth Kolton ({{née}} Feldstein; {{Langx|he|תמרה קולטון}}; born March 13, 1970) is an American non-denominational rabbi and clinical psychologist. She was the first person ordained as a member of the Humanistic Jewish movement.{{cite news|last1=Tippen|first1=Molly|title=Female rabbi thrives at Farmington Hills temple|url=https://www.theoaklandpress.com/news/female-rabbi-thrives-at-farmington-hills-temple/article_3a49d9ba-19d8-5fce-b2f1-b004d75a24df.html|work=The Oakland Press|date=31 July 2010}} Over time, her religious position evolved from agnosticism to a more spiritual perspective that drove her away from Humanistic Judaism.{{cite news|first=Barbara|last=Lewis|title=A New Door: Rabbi Kolton finds a new home teaching spirituality at Shir Tikvah|url=https://digital.bentley.umich.edu/djnews/djn.2013.06.06.001/22|newspaper=The Detroit Jewish News|date=June 6, 2013|pages=22–23}}{{cite news|last=Casadei|first=Dana|title=Tamara Kolton|url=https://www.downtownpublications.com/single-post/2020/05/19/tamara-kolton|date=May 19, 2020|access-date=January 15, 2021|location=Birmingham, MI|magazine=Downtown Newsmagazine}} Kolton later became known for her controversial feminist reinterpretation of the Biblical Eve, which has received both support and criticism from other religious and spiritual writers.
Personal life
Kolton was born to Anita and Jerome Feldstein in Metro Detroit,{{cite news|newspaper=The Detroit Jewish News|page=39|title=Weddings|url=https://digital.bentley.umich.edu/djnews/djn.1997.05.16.001/39|date=May 16, 1997}} where her family attended the non-theist Congregation for Humanistic Judaism of Metro Detroit led by Rabbi Sherwin Wine, the founder of Humanistic Judaism. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in international relations and English literature at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem,{{cite news|title=Tamara Kolton, 27|url=https://digital.bentley.umich.edu/djnews/djn.1997.09.12.001/11|newspaper=The Detroit Jewish News|page=11|date=September 12, 1997}} followed by a master's degree in clinical psychology from the Michigan School of Psychology. She later obtained a doctorate in rabbinical studies from the Union Institute, where she researched the experience of female rabbis.{{cite thesis|last=Kolton|first=Tamara R.|year=1999|title=The experience of women rabbis: Eight women rabbis describe their work and their lives|publisher=The Union Institute|location=Cincinnati, Ohio|type=PhD|oclc=640529022}} She is married to Isaac Kolton, an Israeli-American born in Petah Tikva. They have two children, Lior and Maya.
Religious leadership
In 1999, Kolton was ordained the first Humanistic rabbi by Wine's International Institute for Secular Humanistic Judaism.{{cite news|last1=Niebuhr|first1=Gustav|title=Religion Journal; Humanist Jewish Group Welcomes a New Rabbi|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/10/09/nyregion/religion-journal-humanist-jewish-group-welcomes-a-new-rabbi.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20210115233505/https://www.nytimes.com/1999/10/09/nyregion/religion-journal-humanist-jewish-group-welcomes-a-new-rabbi.html|archive-date=15 January 2021|work=The New York Times|date=October 9, 1999|page=B8|url-status=live}}{{cite news|title=The Future Is Now: Rabbi Sherwin Wine marks first ordination of secular humanistic rabbi and plans a busy retirement|url=https://digital.bentley.umich.edu/djnews/djn.1999.10.01.001/6|publisher=The Detroit Jewish News|date=October 1, 1999|pages=6–7|first=Harry|last=Kirsbaum}} She succeeded Wine as senior rabbi at the Birmingham Temple in 2004 following his retirement. In 2011, Kolton was interviewed by evolutionary biologist and atheist writer Richard Dawkins about the experience of being a Humanistic rabbi, and expanded upon the positions she and her temple held at the time. Kolton expressed skepticism regarding the historicity of earlier books of the Tanakh, though declared she found it likely later books described actual events. She defined Humanistic Judaism as a movement to preserve Jewish culture and traditions in the absence of explicit belief in God, and described herself and her congregation as "more [religiously observant] than most of the Jews in the world" for their strong preservation of traditions, such as kashrut and Shabbat observance, that are abandoned by many non-Orthodox Jews. She also discussed her strong support for interfaith marriage, something she considers "a sign of a better world in which people marry each other beyond tribal lines and religious differences",{{cite web |url=http://www.birminghamtemple.com/kolton.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110228081407/http://www.birminghamtemple.com/kolton.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 28, 2011 |title=Rabbi Tamara Kolton|website=The Birmingham Temple: A Congregation for Humanistic Judaism|date=May 15, 2009 |access-date=March 12, 2012 }} and the significant role that officiating interfaith marriages played in her practice.{{cite AV media|last1=Dawkins|first1=Richard|last2=Kolton|first2=Tamara|author-link1=Richard Dawkins|title=Richard Dawkins interviews Tamara Kolton|date=15 October 2011|medium=Video interview|publisher=Dawkins, Richard}}
Kolton left her position at the Birmingham Temple in 2012 due to experiencing a strong "spiritual calling" and feeling the need to pursue a more "soul-centered" form of Judaism. She also described significant personal and professional difficulties at the Birmingham Temple, culminating in a "terrible" board meeting during which she reportedly handed in her resignation.{{cite web|url=https://how-to-write-a-book.com/writing-a-memoir-about-spirituality-interview-with-rabbi-tamara-kolton/|last=Edwards|first=Olivia|date=4 April 2020|access-date=16 January 2021|title=Writing a Memoir about Spirituality: Interview with Rabbi Tamara Kolton|work=How to Write a Book}} She later held the position of scholar-in-residence at Congregation Shir Tikvah in Troy, Michigan.{{r|"The Detroit"}}
In 2020, Kolton self-published{{cite report|type=Filing Endorsement|id=801783181|title=Certificate of Assumed Name: Just Fly Publishing|date=25 June 2019|publisher=Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs|url=https://cofs.lara.state.mi.us/CorpWeb/CorpSearch/CorpSearchRedirector.aspx?Action=PDF&Path=CORP_DRIVE1/2019/0621/000000000/6350/201978076350.pdf}} her first book, Oranges for Eve: My Brave, Beautiful, Badass Journey to the Feminine Divine. The book was inspired by her research on the sacred feminine in Judaism and re-interpretation of the Biblical Eve as a "Mother of Spiritual Bravery" figure. Kolton's theology after leaving Humanistic Judaism has oriented around feminist re-interpretation of Eve, contextualizing her story as a myth designed to separate women from their personal and spiritual power.
#MeToo controversy
In 2018, Kolton published the article "The First Story In The Bible Was The First Case Of #MeToo" for The Forward. In the article, she argued that the Biblical Eve story was a misogynistic invention designed to subjugate and control female sexuality, and that it needed to be rejected and Eve re-conceptualized in order for Jewish theology to progress.{{cite web|url=https://forward.com/scribe/393778/the-first-story-in-the-bible-was-the-first-case-of-metoo/|title=The First Story In The Bible Was The First Case Of #MeToo|last=Kolton|first=Tamara|work=The Forward|date=6 February 2018|access-date=15 January 2021}} John A. Cook of the Asbury Theological Seminary, while describing Kolton's support for the #MeToo movement as "laudable", referred to her theological interpretations as an "abysmal failure".{{cite web|url=https://www.christianpost.com/news/eve-sexually-assaulted-by-god-in-first-metoo-case-biblical-expert-slams-rabbis-interpretation.html|title=Eve Sexually Assaulted by God in First #MeToo Case? Biblical Expert Slams Rabbi's Interpretation|date=20 February 2018|access-date=15 January 2021|last=Zaimov|first=Stoyan|work=The Christian Post}}
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Women rabbis}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kolton, Tamara}}
Category:American Humanistic Jews
Category:American spiritual writers
Category:American women non-fiction writers
Category:Jewish American non-fiction writers
Category:Humanistic women rabbis
Category:Feminist spirituality