PASSED/FAILED: Julia Neuberger
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Your support makes all the difference.Julia Neuberger, 47, was Britain's first woman rabbi with a congregation. She is chair of Camden and Islington Community Health Trust and chancellor of the University of Ulster. Her latest book, On Being Jewish, was recently published in paperback and she lectures to trainee rabbis.
The wages of synagogue? I wasn't religious and had no intention of becoming a rabbi. At university I planned to be an archaeologist and wanted to dig in Iraq, but in 1969 they were hanging Jews in Baghdad. In my third year, one of the people teaching me Hebrew suggested that I ought to think of becoming a rabbi. I thought he was off his head: women weren't rabbis.
Genesis? From two-and-a-half to five, I went to a nursery school in Hampstead. From five to 18, I was at South Hampstead High School, then direct grant and now independent. There was an entrance exam to get from the junior to senior school; I also passed the 11-plus, so had a free place. I won something called a trust scholarship, which brought money - but not much.
O-levels? Five As, a B and two Cs. I think one of the As was in Classical Hebrew, which I did in nine months. Other subjects were Latin, Greek, Religious Studies, French, Maths and English Language and Literature.
A-Levels? Latin, English and Greek: two As and a B. I took Cambridge Entrance in my seventh term in the sixth form.
Top of the cuneiform? I read Assyriology with Hebrew for Part 1 and Hebrew with Assyriology for Part 2. I still think back to the Assyriology exams with horror; I have no visual memory and there are 595 signs in cuneiform script - all of them wedge-shaped symbols.
College? I was Newnham JCR Secretary. Our main claim to fame was getting washing machines installed, which unfortunately meant that people did their boyfriends' laundry.
Secular awards? I was Professional Columnist of the Year when I wrote a column for Nursing Times.
Other skills? If I were to take any further lessons, it would be on a wine course. My grandfather was a small-time grower in Germany and I'm quite interested in tasting. My driving test took five goes; I was just hopeless and unco-ordinated. I'm fine now, though. It was only at Cambridge that I learnt to ride a bike; I had a very protective Jewish mother
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