Editing Hazzan (section)

==Female cantors in non-Orthodox Judaism==
{{Main article|Hazzanit}}
In the 21st century, most streams of non-Orthodox Judaism no longer maintain gender distinctions,<ref>{{cite journal  |title=examining the concept of gender role ideology
|journal=Contemporary Jewry
|volume=19
|issue=1
|pages=95–119
|author=J. S.Legg Jr.  |date=1998|jstor=23455339
|doi=10.1007/BF02963428
|s2cid=144047550
}}</ref> and therefore women often serve as cantors in these communities.<ref name="myjewishlearning.com"/>

The earliest known woman ''ḥazzan'', [[Julie Rosewald]], called "Cantor Soprano" by her congregation, is sometimes called the United States' first female cantor, serving San Francisco's Temple Emanu-El from 1884 until 1893.<ref name=JWA.Julie>[http://jwa.org/blog/Julie-Rosewald Julie Rosewald: America's first woman cantor | Jewish Women's Archive]</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/short_takes/forgotten_woman_cantor_julie_rosewald_now_getting_her_due |title=The Forgotten Woman Cantor: Julie Rosewald Now Getting Her Due {{!}} Jewish Week<!-- Bot generated title --> |access-date=2014-09-14 |archive-date=2016-05-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160514113854/http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/short_takes/forgotten_woman_cantor_julie_rosewald_now_getting_her_due |url-status=dead }}</ref> However, she was not ordained.

Another early and un-ordained woman ''ḥazzan'' was [[Madame Goldye Steiner]], who sang in cantorial concerts as well as in Broadway shows throughout the 1920s. She was one of the first African-American female cantors. <ref>{{cite web |title=Madame Goldye Steiner |url=http://www.wbhsm.org/madame-goldye-steiner/ |website=Wisconsin Black Historical Society |access-date=3 April 2024}}</ref>

In 1955, [[Betty Robbins]] (born Berta Abramson in 1924, in Greece) was appointed as cantor of Temple Avodah, a Reform congregation in Oceanside, New York. Like Rosewald, she was not formally ordained, but "the spokesman for the School of Sacred Music, founded in 1947 as the first training school for cantors in [the United States], said today there was no religious law, merely a tradition, against women becoming cantors", indicating the school's institutional approval.<ref name="Women Cantors">{{cite web |last1=Heskes |first1=Irene |title=Women Cantors |url=https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/women-cantors/ |website=My Jewish Learning |publisher=70/Faces Media |access-date=4 October 2021}}</ref>

In 1975 [[Barbara Ostfeld|Barbara Ostfeld-Horowitz]] became the first ordained female cantor in Jewish history.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/women-cantors/|title=Women Cantors}}</ref>

The Women Cantors' Network was founded in 1982 to support and advocate for women cantors by Deborah Katchko, the second woman ever to serve as a cantor in a Conservative synagogue.<ref>{{cite web |title=About the Women Cantors' Network |url=https://womencantors.net/about-wcn/ |website=Women Cantors Network |access-date=4 October 2021}}</ref> Initially a group of only twelve women, its membership grew to 90 by 1996.<ref name="Women Cantors"/> The organization holds an annual conference.<ref>{{cite web |title=2021 WCN Conference |url=https://womencantors.net/conference-2021/ |website=Women Cantors' Network |access-date=4 October 2021}}</ref>

In 1987 [[Erica Lippitz]] and [[Marla Rosenfeld Barugel]] became the first two female cantors ordained in [[Conservative Judaism]]; they were ordained at the same time by the Cantors Institute of the [[Jewish Theological Seminary of America|Jewish Theological Seminary]] in New York City.<ref name="Jewishgoogle1">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gEj0oLYK10sC&q=%22marla+rosenfeld+barugel%22&pg=PA204 |title=Jewish Women in America: A-L|publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] |year=1997 |isbn=9780415919340|accessdate=2011-12-16}}</ref><ref name="njjewishnews1">{{cite web |url=http://njjewishnews.com/njjn.com/013108/mwAWomanCantor.html |title=A woman cantor celebrates 20 years in a pioneering role |publisher=Njjewishnews.com |date=2008-01-31 |accessdate=2011-12-16 |archive-date=2013-09-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130920220925/http://njjewishnews.com/njjn.com/013108/mwAWomanCantor.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=aril>{{cite news|last=Goldman|first=Ari L.|title=A Sex Barrier for Cantors is Broken|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/02/06/nyregion/a-sex-barrier-for-cantors-is-broken.html|accessdate=2012-08-26|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=1987-02-06}}</ref>

The [[Cantors Assembly]], a professional organization of cantors associated with Conservative Judaism, did not allow women to join until 1990.<ref>{{cite news
|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/09/19/nyregion/a-bar-to-women-as-cantors-is-lifted.html
|title=A Bar to Women as Cantors Is Lifted
|last=Goldman|first=Ari L.|date=September 19, 1990 |work=The New York Times}}</ref>

[[Sharon Hordes]] became the first cantor (female or otherwise) in Reconstructionist Judaism in 2002.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/cantors-american-jewish-women|title=Cantors: American Jewish Women|website=Jewish Women's Archive|date=23 June 2021 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kenesethisrael.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=29&Itemid=43|title=Cantor Sharon Hordes|publisher=Kenesethisrael.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110713142907/http://www.kenesethisrael.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=29&Itemid=43|archive-date=2011-07-13|url-status=dead|access-date=2012-07-09}}</ref>

[[Avitall Gerstetter]], who lived in Germany, became the first female cantor in Jewish Renewal (and the first female cantor in Germany) in 2002.

[[Susan Wehle]] became the first American female cantor in Jewish Renewal in 2006,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://levinejudaica.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=0_33_148_712&products_id=11396|title=Cantorial/Hazzanut/Liturgical - CD Cantor Susan Wehle OB"M Songs of Healing & Hope &#124; J. Levine Books & Judaica &#124;|date=2005-07-26|publisher=Levinejudaica.com|access-date=2012-07-09|archive-date=2012-01-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120118021637/http://levinejudaica.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=0_33_148_712&products_id=11396|url-status=usurped}}</ref> serving until her death in 2009.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/15/nyregion/15grief.html|title='It's Not Even Six Degrees of Separation. It's One.'|last=Haughney|first=Christine|date=February 15, 2009|work=The New York Times}}</ref> The first American women to be ordained as cantors in Jewish Renewal after Susan Wehle's ordination were Michal Rubin and [[Abbe Lyons]], both ordained on January 10, 2010.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tikkunvor.org/Events/index.cfm?id=1392|title=Tikkun v'Or, Ithaca, NY - Celebration in honor of Cantor Abbe Lyons
|date=2010-02-07
|publisher=Tikkunvor.org|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120306064843/http://www.tikkunvor.org/Events/index.cfm?id=1392|archive-date=2012-03-06|url-status=dead|access-date=2012-07-09}}</ref>

In 2001 [[Hazzan Deborah Davis|Deborah Davis]] became the first cantor (female or otherwise) in Humanistic Judaism; however, Humanistic Judaism has since stopped graduating cantors.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.jmwc.org/Women/womend.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040430110608/http://www.jmwc.org/Women/womend.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=2004-04-30|title=Contributions of Jewish Women to Music and Women to Jewish Music
|publisher=JMWC|access-date=2012-07-09}}</ref>

In 2009, Iran-born [[Tannoz Bahremand Foruzanfar]] was ordained as a cantor by the non-denominational<ref>{{cite news 
|newspaper=[[The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles]]  |date=June 7, 2007
|author=Nancy Sokoler Steiner
|url=http://jewishjournal.com/los_angeles/14963
|title=Academy of Jewish Religion offers alternate path to rabbinate for 16 new grads}}</ref> [[Academy for Jewish Religion (California)]], becoming the first female [[Persian people|Persian]] ordained cantor in the United States.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://ajrca.org/alumni/cantor-tannoz-bahremand-forunzanfar/|title=Cantor Tannoz Bahremand Forunzanfar; Academy for Jewish Religion, California
|publisher=Ajrca.org |access-date=December 2, 2018 |url-status=dead
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130320041940/http://ajrca.org/alumni/cantor-tannoz-bahremand-forunzanfar/|archive-date=March 20, 2013}}</ref>
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