Rabbi Pens Memoir
About Her Journey to
the Rabbinate
R SOPHIE PANZER | JE STAFF
abbi Lynnda Targan didn’t get into rabbinical school on
her fi rst try.

“When I tried to fi nd out why not, I was told the admis-
sions committee didn’t ‘image’ me as a rabbi,” she said.

Targan, 72, was later accepted and ordained at the Academy
for Jewish Religion in Riverdale, New York, in 2003, but
continued to hear versions of this comment throughout her
career. She turned these experiences into the title of her book,
“Funny, You Don’t Look Like a Rabbi: A Memoir of Unorthodox
Transformation,” which came out in April from White River
Press. Th e memoir narrates her path to the rabbinate, which involved
entering rabbinical school at age 50 aft er a career as a communi-
cations professional. As a young girl, she was inspired by Rabbi
Amy Eilberg, the fi rst female rabbi ordained in the Conservative
movement, when she heard her speak at Temple Sinai in Dresher.

“She was a scholar, she was very poised, very charming and
very Jewishly educated, and for a fl eeting moment I thought,
‘Wow, that would be really something,” she said.

She didn’t see it as a possibility for herself at the time. Aft er
20 DECEMBER 17, 2020
Rabbi Lynnda Targan
THE GOOD LIFE
PHOTO COURTESY OF LYNNDA TARGAN
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM