Howard W. Morningstar MD
herbalist & board certified family physician

Rabbi Sue M. Morningstar CNM
women’s health nurse practitioner

Morningstar Healing Arts
"combining the best of both worlds:
traditional medicine & natural healing"
534 Washington Street
Ashland, Oregon 97520
(541) 482-2032

Reb Sue

Sue was ordained as a rabbi by Rabbi David Zaslow and Rabbi Zalman Schacter-Shalomi in
Boulder, Colorado January 2009 at the Ohala conference of Jewish Renewal rabbis

Ashland Daily Tidings Newspaper, February 28, 2009

HAVURAH CELEBRATES NEW RABBI

On Sunday, March 1 at 4 p.m. the Havurah Synagogue will host an ordination celebration, called a Hag HaSmikha in Hebrew, for Rabbi Sue Morningstar, who was ordained on Jan. 11, 2009 in Boulder Colo. in a ceremony led by Rabbi Zalman Schacter Shalomi, founder of the Jewish Renewal movement that the Havurah is affiliated with.

Morningstar is a long-time Ashland resident and a women's health nurse in partnership with her husband, Dr. Howard Morningstar at the Morningstar Healing Arts Center in Ashland.

Although her formal training was done over a five-year period, growing up in an Orthodox Jewish home meant that Morningstar entered her rabbinical studies with a lifetime of learning. Her ancestors came out of Eastern Europe, where her great-grandmother would sneak into the school and hide under a table to study Torah, which was not customary for girls at the time. Her grandmother graduated high school in the United States but was not allowed to attend college since her salary was needed to support her brothers' education. Her mother earned a doctorate, but as an Orthodox Jewish woman, she was not allowed to read from Torah, a privilege that continues to be reserved for men today in the Orthodox world.

"I am awed by the evolution of Judaism in the past 50 years and so thrilled and grateful to be playing a small part in the process," Morningstar said. "We live in such exciting times! I look forward to my role as rabbi, which literally means 'teacher,' to illuminate the Torah and the ancient Hebrew teachings in order to help bring about paradigm shift; to live a life of gratitude, awe and wonder; and to inspire that in others."

Morningstar's ordination celebration, which is free and open to the public, will contain joyous songs, personal testimonies and special prayers. The ceremony will be led by Rabbi Zaslow who ordained Morningstar at the Jan. 11 ceremony. A special testimony will be offered by Rabbi Marc Sirinsky of Temple Emek Shalom.

"As a rabbi, Sue Morningstar will continue to be a midwife, but now she will midwife souls into a deep connection to God, Torah, and Israel," said Zaslow, who served as Morningstar's mentor while she was learning to become a rabbi.

Morningstar said she was grateful for Zaslow's guidance.

"Reb. David gave me the direct transmission from the lineage of the Ba'al Shem Tov, the founder of the Hasidic movement," she said. "It was one the most awesome moments of my life."