Sandy Eisenberg Sasso  Sandy Eisenberg Sasso is the first woman to have been ordained a rabbi in Reconstructionist Judaism. She was ordained by the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Philadelphia, on May 19, 1974. She is also the author of many children's books on religious topics. Her son David was born on June 22, 1976, and her daughter Debora was born in 1979. Sasso was born in 1947 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In her youth, she was very involved in her Philadelphia Reform congregation and began to consider entering the rabbinate at 16 years old, though she knew that such a role had never been open to women. During this period she studied at Gratz College. In the fall of 1969, Sasso joined the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College's second class of rabbinical students. While in school, Sandy Eisenberg married her classmate, Dennis Sasso, making them the first rabbinical couple in Jewish history. As one of the few women rabbinical students, Sasso naturally became a leader in defining women's changing roles within Judaism. Sasso holds title to many firsts as a female rabbi. Sasso served as rabbi of the Manhattan Reconstructionist Congregation and, from 1977 until 2013, as rabbi along with her husband at the congregation Beth-El Zedeck in Indianapolis, making the Sassos the world's first couple to serve jointly as rabbis. Sasso appeared in a 2005 documentary, titled "And the Gates Opened: Women in the Rabbinate," which features stories of and interviews with her, rabbi Sally Priesand, and rabbi Amy Eilberg. On December 6, 2010, at Temple Reyim in Newton, Massachusetts, Sandy Eisenberg Sasso met for the first time with Sally Priesand, the first Reform female rabbi, Amy Eilberg, the first Conservative female rabbi, and Sara Hurwitz, considered by some to be the first Orthodox female rabbi. They and approximately 30 other women rabbis lit Chanukah candles and then spoke about their experiences in an open forum. On June 3, 2012, Priesand, Sasso, Eilberg, and Hurwitz met again, this time at Monmouth Reform Temple at a celebration honoring the four first women rabbis to be ordained in their respective movements, and the 40th anniversary of Priesand's ordination. In May 2013, Sasso retired as senior rabbi of Beth-El Zedeck. Sasso has been honored throughout her career:   Videos produced by Sonia Sarah Lipsyc director of Aleph CSUQ, and Abigail Hirsch a Film Producer with Rabbi Sandy Eisenberg Sasso at Dorshei Emet Synagogue, Montreal,Canada: