Ray Frank

Rachel “Ray” Frank, a descendant of the Vilna Gaon, was the first female Jewish preacher in the United States. Born in San Francisco and raised in an Orthodox home, she taught school in Nevada and then worked as a correspondent for papers in Oakland and San Francisco, traveling extensively. In 1890, on the eve of Rosh Hashanah, she arrived in Spokane, Washington, but finding no synagogue or organized prayers, and a Jewish community beset by disagreements, she preached to the town’s Jews in the local opera house, calling on them to forget their differences and unite. Thereafter, while continuing to work as a journalist, Frank preached in many other towns, aiming to settle disputes and build communities; her religious leadership moved some in the American Jewish community to liken her to the prophetess Deborah. In 1893 she gave the opening address at the first congress of the National Council of Jewish Women. She later lived in Illinois.