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



“I didn’t really have much
of a background until I
got to rabbinical school,
so I felt kind of insecure
about going and studying
with people who were
much more informed
than I was.”
RABBI LYNNDA TARGAN
her parents’ divorce, her family didn’t
have the money to send her to Hebrew
school or Jewish summer camps.

She pursued Jewish education in her
adulthood, taking Hebrew lessons at
Gratz College and traveling to Israel. She
began to seriously consider becoming
a rabbi during a talk with her husband,
Larry Targan, about what would happen
if he died.

She maintained she would never
remarry, but he said she would either find
a rabbi to be with or become one herself.

The idea stuck with her, and she decided
to pursue her dream.

Even though her kids were grown
and out of the house, embarking on this
career path wasn’t easy. Since she had
no formal Jewish education growing up,
Targan earned master’s degrees in Jewish
liberal studies and Jewish communal
studies from Gratz College to set the
foundation for rabbinical school. Even
when she was accepted, she worried about
how she would measure up.

“I didn’t really have much of a back-
ground until I got to rabbinical school,
so I felt kind of insecure about going and
studying with people who were much
more informed than I was,” she said.

She started rabbinical school sick after
her doctor found a tumor in her salivary
gland, but it didn’t slow her down; she
took five to seven classes a semester and
commuted to school in New York from
Philadelphia. Even during intensive study and
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DECEMBER 17, 2020
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