June 5, 2026 – Beha’alotecha
‘Remember the Ladies’: Voice and Representation
on Sisterhood Shabbat
As we reflect on the upcoming 250th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, let us consider these words from Abigail Adams to her husband John in the spring of 1776:
“Remember the ladies and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of husbands. Remember, all men would be tyrants if they could. If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice or representation.”
As John Adams prepares for a long, hot and frustrating summer, Abigail, a thinker and revolutionary in her own right, reminds him that he and his colleagues cannot truly be champions of equality while conveniently leaving women out of their agenda for a new method of governing society. While Jefferson asserts that “all men are created equal,” Adams reminds her husband that “all men” are capable of tyranny. In no uncertain terms she tells her husband what future generations of justice advocates will say to the powerful leaders of their day: “No decisions about us without us.” Without “voice or representation” for women, you don’t have an inclusive revolution. Do not take our cooperation for granted.
From the beginning, Sisterhood has been about making sure all people have voice and representation in congregational life. We Reform Jews, dedicated to justice and equality, can be as oblivious as everyone else when it comes to those we are leaving out of decision-making. We are all of us human, and as Abigail Adams warned, we humans can misuse authority if no one challenges us. Embracing a progressive ideology does not make us infallible. America was not done with racism when it ended slavery and Jim Crow. We are not done with sexism because we stopped preventing women from voting, running for office or entering careers previously reserved for men. Sisterhood reminds us that we are never done with the work of justice and equality. We are unlikely to ever be done asking whether those who have historically been marginalized have sufficient voice and representation.
As we approach the 55th anniversary of women in the Reform rabbinate next spring, we are painfully aware that we have yet to appoint a woman as president of our rabbinical/cantorial school, president of the Union for Reform Judaism, or director of the Religious Action Center. Representation is not everything, but the absence of women in these top jobs indicates there is still much to do.
May Sisterhood continue to be a place where leaders are developed, where voices are heard and where representation brings results.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi David Wirtschafter