Many female rabbis and cantors in the Reform, Reconstructionist and Conservative movements of Judaism face an interesting quandary.  On one hand, “Be fruitful & multiply” is the Torah’s first commandment followed later by “For you shall be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”  Imagine the dilemma if you wish to be fruitful and holy, but you’re female, a rabbi or cantor…who is single.

All of the Above: Single, Clergy, Mother, a one-hour documentary highlights the stories of four single, female rabbis/cantors who attempt to adopt children or undergo procedures in the hope of creating a family of their own.  A revealing new film, it explores the choices demanded of Jewish women and the often competing desires of motherhood and faith.

More than simply a niche film about the confluence of circumstances for four specific Jewish women, All of the Above is a larger rumination on both what it means to be a Jewish-American woman today who wants to “have it all,” (spiritually, professionally and emotionally), and an object lesson for Jewish girls on the rightness and humanity of such a desire.

     Rabbi Lisa Gelber, Associate Dean, The Rabbinical School, Jewish Theological Seminary
     Rabbi Felicia Sol, B’nai Jeshurun, New York
     Cantorial Student Basya Schechter, Musician/Composer, Pharaoh’s Daughter
     Rabbi Julie Greenberg, Congregation Leyv Ha-Ir, Philadelphia

All of the Above: Single, Clergy, Mother reveals the complicated, intriguing, sometimes frustrating, and ultimately fulfilling journey that is both unique and common to all Jewish- American women: a journey worthy of exultation and one that will define the future of  Jewish women for years to come.