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Margaret Moers Wenig (born 1957) is an American rabbi known for advocating LGBT rights within Reform Judaism. [1] [2] Margaret became spiritually aware at an early age. A seminal moment in her development occurred when she was in sixth grade and had a birthday party, to which she invited all her classmates except one boy, who was devastated as a result. She realized the degree to which she had hurt the boy, and this set her on a path of soul searching and religious awareness. [3]
In 1976, she and Naomi Janowitz published Siddur Nashim, which was the first Jewish prayer book to refer to God using female pronouns and imagery. [4]
She graduated from Brown University in 1978, [5] [6] and was ordained in 1984. [7]
In 1990, she wrote the sermon “God is a Woman and She is Growing Older”, which has been widely published. [8] [9]
In 1995, Wenig, Sharon Kleinbaum, and Russell Pearce sent a resolution asking for support for civil marriage for gay couples to the Reform movement's Commission on Social Action; when it was approved by them, Wenig submitted it to the Central Conference of American Rabbis, which approved it in 1996.
Wenig married Sharon Kleinbaum in 2008; they later divorced. [10] [9] [11]
In 2015, Wenig became the first Jewish president of the Academy of Homiletics. [12]
Wenig now teaches liturgy and homiletics at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. [1]