30 Facts About Barbara Ostfeld

Barbara Jean Ostfeld, formerly known as Barbara Ostfeld-Horowitz, is an American cantor, feminist, mental health advocate, and author.

Barbara Ostfeld is recognized as the first woman to be ordained as a cantor in Jewish history.

Barbara Jean Ostfeld was born in 1952 in St Louis, Missouri, and grew up in Elmhurst, Illinois.

Barbara Ostfeld's mother, Ruth Vogel Ostfeld, was an occupational therapist, cellist, and political activist.

Barbara Ostfeld's father, Adrian M Ostfeld, was a professor of public health at Yale University.

Barbara Ostfeld's grandparents immigrated to the United States from Austria-Hungary and Bucharest.

At the age of eight, Barbara Ostfeld decided to pursue a career as a cantor.

Barbara Ostfeld began piano lessons as a child and started voice lessons at age 11.

Barbara Ostfeld was admitted to the cantorial program in 1970, despite not knowing the Hebrew alphabet at the time.

Barbara Ostfeld was ordained as a cantor on June 6,1975, at Temple Emanu-El in New York City.

From 1986 to 1988, while still serving at Temple Beth-El, Barbara Ostfeld was an adjunct faculty member at the School of Sacred Music, where she taught Reform cantorial repertoire.

Barbara Ostfeld was later offered the position of director of the School of Sacred Music but declined in order to continue her work in the pulpit.

In 1994, Barbara Ostfeld appeared in The Cantor: A Calling for Today, a PBS documentary produced by Cantor Michael Shochet.

Barbara Ostfeld taught courses, frequently with a focus on feminist themes, at Buffalo's High School for Jewish Studies under the auspices of the Board of Jewish Education.

In 2002, Barbara Ostfeld became Director of Placement for the American Conference of Cantors.

Barbara Ostfeld provided guidance on resumes, audition materials, applications, and interview preparation.

Barbara Ostfeld was involved in youth choir leadership, organizing participation in interfaith initiatives, Holocaust education, famine relief, and other projects associated with tikkun olam.

Barbara Ostfeld continues to serve on its board of trustees and contributes to its Task Force on Women in the Cantorate.

Barbara Ostfeld served a term as chair of the Union for Reform Judaism's Joint Cantorial Placement Commission.

Barbara Ostfeld became a mental health advocate by publicly sharing her personal experiences with psychological challenges, which began in childhood and continued into adulthood.

At age fifteen, after a crisis involving her father's substance use brought significant strain to her family, Barbara Ostfeld began engaging in self-harm.

At age twenty-two, after she began her first congregational role in New Jersey, Barbara Ostfeld found herself unsettled by the degree of public scrutiny directed at her physical appearance and developed an eating disorder, which therapy did not fully resolve.

Barbara Ostfeld again sought therapy and was diagnosed with depression and anxiety.

Barbara Ostfeld began taking antidepressants and engaged in regular psychotherapy.

Barbara Ostfeld subsequently began cognitive behavioral therapy as part of her ongoing mental health care.

Barbara Ostfeld had told no one at the time, and only a few people in subsequent years.

The MeToo movement had begun by then, and Barbara Ostfeld felt strongly that although the book was nearing publication, it was necessary to tell this part of her story, which had secretly affected much of her writing and thinking.

Today, Barbara Ostfeld speaks openly about her experiences with mental illness and advocates for recognizing mental health care as an essential component of overall medical care.

Barbara Ostfeld is the mother of two adult daughters and resides in the Buffalo-Niagara Falls metropolitan area with her husband, Todd.

Barbara Ostfeld has contributed essays to 10 Minutes of Torah, a daily email publication of the Reform Jewish community, and to the Lilith Magazine blog.