First female rabbi in Los Angeles area dies at 50

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Rabbi Carole Meyers, who became the first female rabbi to lead a congregation in the Los Angeles area, has died. She was 50. Meyers died of bone cancer Thursday at her home, 10 weeks after being diagnosed with the disease, said her husband, US Magistrate Judge Ralph Zarefsky. Meyers took over the Temple Sinai of Glendale in 1986. The appointment of a 29-year-old single woman as solo rabbi was uncommon at the time. "What was unusual, to my mind, was what an unusual person Carole was," said Rabbi Richard Levy, director of the School of Rabbinic Studies at Hebrew Union College. "Just a very thoughtful, wise person who listened unbelievably well, was just very intelligent."