Ride, Sally Ride!

What an amazing moment it was when Sally Ride flew into outer space. Joining the Challenger crew in 1983, she was the first American female astronaut to break the atmospheric barrier. Her untimely death today is cause for reflection and celebration of a journey well traveled. As a third-year rabbinical student that year, I was acutely aware of the barriers that tumbled down to earth that day… as well as the barriers that still existed. We were thrilled and proud and confident that nothing was beyond our reach. And it seems we were right. One by one, barriers continue to come down. Women are heads of state and secretaries of state and Supreme Court justices. They are the heads of billion-dollar high tech companies. We are rabbis (thanks to “our” Sally!) and cantors and religious leaders of many faith traditions. Women are fighting – and dying – in the service of country. And, for the first time, women are representing their countries on boxing teams at the Olympics. All of these may not be the opportunities I would seek, but they are all important options for women nonetheless. [[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"90231","attributes":{"class":"media-image alignright size-medium wp-image-12513","typeof":"foaf:Image","style":"","width":"228","height":"300","title":"SallyRide","alt":""}}]]All these changes have taken place in my lifetime. When the walls come tumbling down, they tumble quickly. Although plenty of challenges and glass ceilings remain, when my nieces and other young women hear ‘you can do anything’ they own it. Yet, intuitively, I know they will face different barriers, and it will be their turn to knock them down one by one, as our Sally did 40 years ago, and as Sally Ride did some 30 years ago. According to Ride’s obituary in the New York Times, the day after Sally Ride’s lift-off, Gloria Steinem (editor of Ms Magazine at the time) said, “Millions of little girls are going to sit by their television sets and see they can be astronauts, heroes, explorers and scientists.” And, I would add, rabbis and cantors and warriors and masters (mistresses?) of industry. And game changers and world repair agents… and, and, and. Whatever we can dream, we can do. What a Ride!