When Patricia Karlin-Neumann climbs the steps to the pulpit in Memorial Church each month to take her turn conducting the University’s public worship service, she is surrounded by finely crafted Christian iconography, including several stained-glass windows depicting scenes from the New Testament.
But she wants it to be very clear that she is preaching as a Jew, and so she has created a new, symbolic outfit to wear on Sundays—a combination robe and tallit, or traditional prayer shawl. “We’re still inventing something that has never existed before,” says the first rabbi to be named an associate dean for religious life at Stanford. “We don’t see our office as serving the religious needs of a particular tradition, but as advocates for religious life. And I’m as likely to do a memorial service for a Catholic as Scotty or Maurice” (fellow deans Scotty McLennan and Maurice Charles).
Karlin-Neumann knows of only one other rabbi in the United States who is responsible for serving an entire university community, rather than just Jewish students. She does sit on the advisory board of Hillel, where she conducts High Holy Day services, and she is a visible presence on campus for Jewish students, who make up about 9 percent of the Stanford student body. She also teaches courses cross-listed in feminist studies and Jewish studies. Other duties? “Whenever there are multifaith occasions, I’m the point person.
