On June 9, 1972, Sally Priesand was ordained as a rabbi by Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati — the first woman ever to be ordained as a rabbi in the United States, and one of the first in the world.

She had begun her studies at Hebrew Union College in 1964 fully intending to become a rabbi, at a time when no woman had held that role in American Jewish life. The faculty was divided. Some were supportive. Others told her directly that congregations would never accept a female rabbi.

She was ordained anyway. Then she had to get a job.

For two years, she served as assistant rabbi at Stephen Wise Free Synagogue in New York. When she sought her own congregation, she faced repeated rejection — not from official policy but from search committees who simply did not want to hire her. She later said that ordination had been easier than employment.

In 1981, she became rabbi of Monmouth Reform Temple in Tinton Falls, New Jersey, where she served for 25 years until her retirement in 2006.

Her ordination opened a door. By 2022, women made up the majority of students at Reform, Conservative, and Reconstructionist rabbinical seminaries in North America.