Paula Ackerman

Paula Ackerman (Hebrew: פאולה אקרמן; December 7, 1893 – January 12, 1989) is thought to be the first woman to perform rabbinical functions in the United States, leading the Beth Israel congregation in Meridian, Mississippi from 1951 to 1953 (making her the first woman to assume spiritual leadership of a U.S. mainstream Jewish congregation) and the Beth-El congregation in Pensacola, Florida briefly in the 1960s.^[1] She led the National Committee on Religious Schools for the National Federation of Temple Sisterhoods.