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As a Burning Flame: The Dream of Regina Jonas
A beautifully illustrated graphic novel―part introduction to the first ordained Ashkenazi woman rabbi, and part lyric memoir on the author’s experience as a religious feminist Jew.
As a Burning The Dream of Regina Jonas is a graphic novel exploring the life and impact of the first female ordained rabbi in Ashkenazi Jewish history. Regina Jonas (1902–1944) was active in prewar Berlin and later in the Theresienstadt ghetto as a community leader, lecturer, and organizer, until her murder at Auschwitz. As a Burning Flame recounts Regina’s story through creatively woven fragments of her own writing and Noa Mishkin’s meditative and imaginative illustrations. The novel then turns to explore where Regina’s story intersects with Noa’s own, as a young religious feminist searching for her own path. Ideal for readers of any religious background, As a Burning Flame aims to introduce its audience to this long-forgotten chapter of Jewish feminist history, and to inspire conversation about evolving female religious identities in our own time.
As a Burning The Dream of Regina Jonas is a graphic novel exploring the life and impact of the first female ordained rabbi in Ashkenazi Jewish history. Regina Jonas (1902–1944) was active in prewar Berlin and later in the Theresienstadt ghetto as a community leader, lecturer, and organizer, until her murder at Auschwitz. As a Burning Flame recounts Regina’s story through creatively woven fragments of her own writing and Noa Mishkin’s meditative and imaginative illustrations. The novel then turns to explore where Regina’s story intersects with Noa’s own, as a young religious feminist searching for her own path. Ideal for readers of any religious background, As a Burning Flame aims to introduce its audience to this long-forgotten chapter of Jewish feminist history, and to inspire conversation about evolving female religious identities in our own time.
60 pages, Paperback
Published December 26, 2023
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
January 6, 2024
Simple graphic presentation with beautifully drawn art motivates me to learn more about Rabbi Regina Jonas. A bibliography opens that door. Jonas's journey to the rabbinate takes from Berlin to the camps. A very compelling story.
November 25, 2024
A moving account of the life of Regina Jonas, the first recorded woman rabbi. It reminded me a lot of the Life of Lydia Poet, a show on Netflix. Being first is a triumph, but it takes a lot of effort. And much of that effort is in vain. I liked the art style and the many birds as well.
March 25, 2026
I was grateful to find this book and I am glad it exists.
I read it on Hoopla, which is a good source for graphic novels but consistently has issues with formatting: as full pages, it is too hard to read the small text and when you zoom in to see the panels, you lose a sense of the rhythm of the story as a whole. In order to mitigate this, I read the ebook once through as full pages and again for the individual panels. In short, all graphic novels read better when you can hold them in your hands, but I'd rather give it a go in a compromised format than not have access to important books like these.
Author and artist Noa Mishkin created the original version of this book for her degree at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design (Jerusalem, Israel) in June 2022. It was published in 2023. The story is an educational one, taking us through the life of "the first Ashkenazi woman to be ordained as a rabbi," through her detainment [excuse me, there has to be a better word] in the Nazi's Thereisnstadt concentration camp in 1935, and subsequent murder at Auschwitz in 1944.
We learn from Ms. Mishkin that Rabbi Jonas worked with two famed scholars and teachers, Leo Baeck and Viktor Frankl, while at Thereisnstadt, but neither mentioned her existence in their extensive writings. Rabbi Jonas was nearly forgotten by history for 60 years, until in 1991, Dr. Katharina von Kellenbach discovered an archive of documentation in East Germany-- thus, Rabbi Jonas was reintroduced to the Jewish world (p. 51).
I was slightly confused by Ms. Mishkin's phrasing of 'first Ashkenazi woman rabbi,' and also perturbed that the history of women in the Rabbinut isn't more mainstream Jewish educational knowledge-- and more specifically, that I don't know more. For those interested, here is Rabbi Amy Eilberg's 2014 tribute to Rabbi Jonas in the "Times of Israel" on the occasion of a trip sponsored by the American Jewish Archives and Jewish Women's Archive in her honor.
- Link: https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/honor....
Ms. Mishkin's citation of the first Ashkenazi woman rabbi-- where others cite her as the first woman rabbi-- might be with an eye toward this historical figure, whose story has also been downplayed:
- Asnat Barazani in Kurdistan, late 1500s to early 1600s. The Jewish Women's Archive cites her as an esteemed Torah scholar; today, we would likely see her as a rabbi and a scholar: https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/.... (Her name is also written as Asenath, Osnat, and Asnat bat Shmuel, with the last name spelling variation of Barzani)
- Likewise deserving of mention is Hannah Rachel Verbermacher (1806-1888), known as the Maid or Maiden of Ludmir (present day Ukraine), whose story can be read here: https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/... (again, various spellings from the transliterations)
Back to the book itself, I enjoyed the arc between Rabbi Jonas' life story and the author's. My favorite illustration was of Ms. Mishkin laying tefillin (phylacteries) in a beautiful rendering with her hair down and surrounded by nature. I would love to read more from Ms. Mishkin as an artist and author, particularly of her own Jewish journey-- and hopefully, with a physical copy of her book in my hands.
With gratitude for its publication and that my local library network has a copy available for sharing.
Update: Goodreads seems to be hiding this review-- it doesn't show up on my profile/activities page-- perhaps because of the links. Adding an addendum in case that helps with visibility.
I read it on Hoopla, which is a good source for graphic novels but consistently has issues with formatting: as full pages, it is too hard to read the small text and when you zoom in to see the panels, you lose a sense of the rhythm of the story as a whole. In order to mitigate this, I read the ebook once through as full pages and again for the individual panels. In short, all graphic novels read better when you can hold them in your hands, but I'd rather give it a go in a compromised format than not have access to important books like these.
Author and artist Noa Mishkin created the original version of this book for her degree at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design (Jerusalem, Israel) in June 2022. It was published in 2023. The story is an educational one, taking us through the life of "the first Ashkenazi woman to be ordained as a rabbi," through her detainment [excuse me, there has to be a better word] in the Nazi's Thereisnstadt concentration camp in 1935, and subsequent murder at Auschwitz in 1944.
We learn from Ms. Mishkin that Rabbi Jonas worked with two famed scholars and teachers, Leo Baeck and Viktor Frankl, while at Thereisnstadt, but neither mentioned her existence in their extensive writings. Rabbi Jonas was nearly forgotten by history for 60 years, until in 1991, Dr. Katharina von Kellenbach discovered an archive of documentation in East Germany-- thus, Rabbi Jonas was reintroduced to the Jewish world (p. 51).
I was slightly confused by Ms. Mishkin's phrasing of 'first Ashkenazi woman rabbi,' and also perturbed that the history of women in the Rabbinut isn't more mainstream Jewish educational knowledge-- and more specifically, that I don't know more. For those interested, here is Rabbi Amy Eilberg's 2014 tribute to Rabbi Jonas in the "Times of Israel" on the occasion of a trip sponsored by the American Jewish Archives and Jewish Women's Archive in her honor.
- Link: https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/honor....
Ms. Mishkin's citation of the first Ashkenazi woman rabbi-- where others cite her as the first woman rabbi-- might be with an eye toward this historical figure, whose story has also been downplayed:
- Asnat Barazani in Kurdistan, late 1500s to early 1600s. The Jewish Women's Archive cites her as an esteemed Torah scholar; today, we would likely see her as a rabbi and a scholar: https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/.... (Her name is also written as Asenath, Osnat, and Asnat bat Shmuel, with the last name spelling variation of Barzani)
- Likewise deserving of mention is Hannah Rachel Verbermacher (1806-1888), known as the Maid or Maiden of Ludmir (present day Ukraine), whose story can be read here: https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/... (again, various spellings from the transliterations)
Back to the book itself, I enjoyed the arc between Rabbi Jonas' life story and the author's. My favorite illustration was of Ms. Mishkin laying tefillin (phylacteries) in a beautiful rendering with her hair down and surrounded by nature. I would love to read more from Ms. Mishkin as an artist and author, particularly of her own Jewish journey-- and hopefully, with a physical copy of her book in my hands.
With gratitude for its publication and that my local library network has a copy available for sharing.
Update: Goodreads seems to be hiding this review-- it doesn't show up on my profile/activities page-- perhaps because of the links. Adding an addendum in case that helps with visibility.
November 8, 2025
Short but exceptional - and based on the bibliography this seems to be the first book written about Regina Jonas, the first Ashkenazi woman rabbi. It seems that even the shadow of her story we read here is only known because she had the foresight to slip her thesis, some letters from congregants, her ordination certificate and two photographs of herself into an envelope and stow them away for safekeeping before she was deported to Thereseinstadt and eventually to her death in Auschwitz. A remarkable woman, who must have given strength and solace to hundreds of people who did not live to tell it.
While the Orthodox establishment did not support her ordination (which was eventually given by a Liberal rabbi) it's interesting to me that in the 1930's she apparently studied the same curriculum as male fellow students who were then awarded Orthodox ordination. Her thesis, arguing in favour of women's ordination, apparently did not convince but did pass as coursework. I wonder if the world of "Samson Raphael Hirsch Jews," as my grandmother called this milieu in Germany, would have arrived at the achievements of today's religious feminism earlier if it had been allowed to continue to thrive.
Noa Mishkin's beautiful illustrations and sparse text - mostly quotes from Jonas herself, framed by the artist's reflections and personal journey - are a lovely tribute to a forgotten hero who clearly wanted her legacy to continue. This would make a perfect bat mitzva present.
While the Orthodox establishment did not support her ordination (which was eventually given by a Liberal rabbi) it's interesting to me that in the 1930's she apparently studied the same curriculum as male fellow students who were then awarded Orthodox ordination. Her thesis, arguing in favour of women's ordination, apparently did not convince but did pass as coursework. I wonder if the world of "Samson Raphael Hirsch Jews," as my grandmother called this milieu in Germany, would have arrived at the achievements of today's religious feminism earlier if it had been allowed to continue to thrive.
Noa Mishkin's beautiful illustrations and sparse text - mostly quotes from Jonas herself, framed by the artist's reflections and personal journey - are a lovely tribute to a forgotten hero who clearly wanted her legacy to continue. This would make a perfect bat mitzva present.
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March 5, 2026Having borrowed the eBook, I didn't immediately grasp that Ms. Jonas' story was ultimately going to end in her murder in a Nazi death camp. I'm devastated. From this book, I learned that she was a beautiful soul who truly understood the love of God, in caring for those in need and want, while also facing enormous archaic and ridiculous barriers. As a Christian woman who has seen the rot of misogyny both in US culture and the white Christian church, it's encouraging to learn about a woman who lived up to a true human ideal in a time of immense suffering for herself as well as her community and didn't let religious societal barriers stand in the way.
December 27, 2023
A well told and important story about Rabbi Regina Jonas. I know about Regina from my first visit to Berlin in 2016. This graphic novel added much to what i knew and makes excellent use of primary sources to teach about this wise and brave woman.
October 18, 2023
I received a digital ARC from Edelweiss.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews