Will 2016 be the year of the female Orthodox Rabbi?

[SAVINGRACE]

JEWISH TELEGRAPHIC AGENCY: Since the first ordination of an American woman as Orthodox clergy in 2009, Orthodox women studying to become clergy and the institutions that ordain them have been lightning rods.

Just two months ago, for example, America’s main modern Orthodox rabbinical association, the Rabbinical Council of America, formally voted to ban the hiring of women who carry even a clergy-like title by Orthodox synagogues or schools. The RCA already had condemned the idea of female rabbis twice before. The haredi Orthodox Agudath Israel of America has taken an ever harsher line, declaring that institutions that train women rabbis “reject the basic tenets of our faith.”

But for all the condemnations, Orthodox clergywomen have shied away from direct confrontation with the Orthodox establishment and tread lightly when it came to title.

“We recognize that the path toward female leadership is slow and is an evolution,” Sara Hurwitz, the first American Orthodox female ordainee and the dean of Yeshivat Maharat, a New York City-based yeshiva that ordains Orthodox women clergy, told JTA last year. (Hurwitz goes by the title “rabba,” a feminized version of rabbi.) “We’re not trying to upend halachah [Jewish law]. We’re really trying to work within the halachic system of the Orthodox community.”

But late last month, Lila Kagedan became the first woman ordained by Yeshivat Maharat to announce that she would be calling herself rabbi rather than “rabba” or “maharat.” Kagedan, who said she has been hired by an American Orthodox synagogue but did not identify the institution, is following the model of two women ordained last summer as Orthodox rabbis by the Har’el Beit Midrash in Israel, which describes itself as a “rabbinic studies program for men and women.”

Will this be the year Orthodox clergywomen unabashedly define themselves as rabbis?

The strategy carries potential risks and rewards. The risks? It would galvanize opponents and might make it more difficult for the women to find jobs at mainstream Orthodox institutions. But it could also galvanize supporters, as well as make those who oppose female clergywomen appear out of touch with the realities of a modern Orthodox world increasingly inclined to offer women equal opportunities."

jta.org/2016/01/05/news-opinion/world/will-2016-be-the-year-of-the-female-orthodox-rabbi

 

[meltzerboy]

JEWISH TELEGRAPHIC AGENCY: Since the first ordination of an American woman as Orthodox clergy in 2009, Orthodox women studying to become clergy and the institutions that ordain them have been lightning rods.

Just two months ago, for example, America’s main modern Orthodox rabbinical association, the Rabbinical Council of America, formally voted to ban the hiring of women who carry even a clergy-like title by Orthodox synagogues or schools. The RCA already had condemned the idea of female rabbis twice before. The haredi Orthodox Agudath Israel of America has taken an ever harsher line, declaring that institutions that train women rabbis “reject the basic tenets of our faith.”

But for all the condemnations, Orthodox clergywomen have shied away from direct confrontation with the Orthodox establishment and tread lightly when it came to title.

“We recognize that the path toward female leadership is slow and is an evolution,” Sara Hurwitz, the first American Orthodox female ordainee and the dean of Yeshivat Maharat, a New York City-based yeshiva that ordains Orthodox women clergy, told JTA last year. (Hurwitz goes by the title “rabba,” a feminized version of rabbi.) “We’re not trying to upend halachah [Jewish law]. We’re really trying to work within the halachic system of the Orthodox community.”

But late last month, Lila Kagedan became the first woman ordained by Yeshivat Maharat to announce that she would be calling herself rabbi rather than “rabba” or “maharat.” Kagedan, who said she has been hired by an American Orthodox synagogue but did not identify the institution, is following the model of two women ordained last summer as Orthodox rabbis by the Har’el Beit Midrash in Israel, which describes itself as a “rabbinic studies program for men and women.”

Will this be the year Orthodox clergywomen unabashedly define themselves as rabbis?

The strategy carries potential risks and rewards. The risks? It would galvanize opponents and might make it more difficult for the women to find jobs at mainstream Orthodox institutions. But it could also galvanize supporters, as well as make those who oppose female clergywomen appear out of touch with the realities of a modern Orthodox world increasingly inclined to offer women equal opportunities."

jta.org/2016/01/05/news-opinion/world/will-2016-be-the-year-of-the-female-orthodox-rabbi

There is Orthodox Judaism and then there is ORTHODOX Judaism. The former consists of Modern Orthodox, whereas the latter is composed of Haredi and non-Haredi Traditional Orthodox. I think it is much more likely that the Modern Orthodox will eventually, if not this year then soon, yield to women rabbis. However, the Traditional Orthodox will probably never do so. And I think that for the Traditional Orthodox as well as for all Jews, that is a good thing. What I mean is that certain standards of practice in Judaism should and must be maintained, and I say this as a Reform Jew. All Jews need a certain gold standard from which we can measure and evaluate our changes and development as a people.

 

[Moses613]

There is Orthodox Judaism and then there is ORTHODOX Judaism. The former consists of Modern Orthodox, whereas the latter is composed of Haredi and non-Haredi Traditional Orthodox. I think it is much more likely that the Modern Orthodox will eventually, if not this year then soon, yield to women rabbis. However, the Traditional Orthodox will probably never do so. And I think that for the Traditional Orthodox as well as for all Jews, that is a good thing. What I mean is that certain standards of practice in Judaism should and must be maintained, and I say this as a Reform Jew. All Jews need a certain gold standard from which we can measure and evaluate our changes and development as a people.

Cool comment, meltzerboy. I would just add that although this phenomenon makes a lot of noise in the press, any outsider must keep in mind that this is a small fringe movement, even among what is considered “left-wing modern orthodox” (yes, insiders call it LWMO for short!) Many of them are affiliated with the “Open Orthodox” movement which has moved so far to the left that it’s basically where Conservative Judaism was a few decades ago - and several prominent Modern Orthodox rabbis have stated that they are outside the pale of Orthodoxy completely.

Also keep in mind that Judaism is not a centralized religion and there is no official body to declare whether someone is orthodox or not. The largest communal bodies of orthodox Judaism in America, the Orthodox Union (Modern Orthodox) and the Agudath Israel (Haredi Orthodox) have definitively rejected the female rabbi phenomenon.

 

[SAVINGRACE]

Thank you for your responses. What is the ORTHODOX jewish argument against female rabbis, scriptural, historical, doctrinal or traditional?

 

[Moses613]

Thank you for your responses. What is the ORTHODOX jewish argument against female rabbis, scriptural, historical, doctrinal or traditional?

Deut. 17:15 deals with the appointment of a king. The verse repeats the word “king” twice, from which the Talmudic sages derived that a king may reign, but not a queen (similar to the European monarchies based on Salic law). They also correlate the laws of kingship to all appointments of communal authority. Thus Maimonides (12th century decisor of Jewish law) rules in the Laws of Kings 1:5 that a woman may not assume any role of communal authority. In Orthodox, and especially ORTHODOX communities , the position of Rabbi is much more than simply a preacher. He guides the congregation in all matters of Jewish law, determines certain communal procedures, etc. The argument from Scripture and Jewish law is that this is a position of communal authority which is barred to a woman. The argument from tradition is, well, that it’s never been done and there is no precedent in any of our texts for thousands of years. You can also see that the people pushing through these changes are purposefully causing rifts within the already divided Jewish community, because they know that the right-wing orthodox will never accept them. Politics aside, as long as a congregation is orthodox, even very “modern,” it will be accepted as a proper synagogue by even the most right-wing orthodox sects. But if they have a female rabbi, forget it.

Women can fulfill very important roles within the community. If they are very learned in Jewish law they can even potentially advise others on their topics of expertise. But we don’t call them rabbis.

 

[meltzerboy]

Deut. 17:15 deals with the appointment of a king. The verse repeats the word “king” twice, from which the Talmudic sages derived that a king may reign, but not a queen (similar to the European monarchies based on Salic law). They also correlate the laws of kingship to all appointments of communal authority. Thus Maimonides (12th century decisor of Jewish law) rules in the Laws of Kings 1:5 that a woman may not assume any role of communal authority. In Orthodox, and especially ORTHODOX communities , the position of Rabbi is much more than simply a preacher. He guides the congregation in all matters of Jewish law, determines certain communal procedures, etc. The argument from Scripture and Jewish law is that this is a position of communal authority which is barred to a woman. The argument from tradition is, well, that it’s never been done and there is no precedent in any of our texts for thousands of years. You can also see that the people pushing through these changes are purposefully causing rifts within the already divided Jewish community, because they know that the right-wing orthodox will never accept them. Politics aside, as long as a congregation is orthodox, even very “modern,” it will be accepted as a proper synagogue by even the most right-wing orthodox sects. But if they have a female rabbi, forget it.

Women can fulfill very important roles within the community. If they are very learned in Jewish law they can even potentially advise others on their topics of expertise. But we don’t call them rabbis.

And neither do some (or most?) Orthodox rabbis call Conservative and Reform male leaders of congregations “rabbis,” except in quotes. Is this not true?

One other question, Moses: wasn’t there once, perhaps during the Middle Ages, a female Orthodox rabbi? I vaguely recall reading about this, or am I mistaken?

 

[Moses613]

Well, meltzerboy, your first point is a tricky one. The orthodox struggle with a huge PR conundrum: on the one hand, they don’t want to alienate non-observant Jews; on the other, they don’t want to legitimize what they consider to be deviant movements. We struggle to make clear that a Jew is a Jew regardless of what movement he affiliates with, while simultaneously rejecting those movements as “Judaism.” But when some rabbis, especially in Israel where people don’t care as much about political correctness, say that some movement or another is “not Judaism” - the headlines will usually be that they said the people belonging to those movements are not Jews. Which is false. On to the rabbi issue - you will find some publications that put the word rabbi in scare quotes when referring to a non-orthodox rabbi. That isn’t great PR but that’s what the authors feel they should do. The more effective way to write it, that I have seen ion some media, is to simply affix the label of the rabbi’s movement to his/her title, for example, “Recently it was reported that Conservative rabbi so-and-so said…”

As to your other question, you are most likely referring to the Maiden of Ludmir. She did function as a Hasidic Rebbe but it can be argued that even in that role she did not have the function of a communal Rav, and she did not issue rulings in Jewish law, though she taught Torah. She also encountered a lot of opposition, so she’s not a very good precedent. Another fun fact is that after the death of the Satmar Rebbe Yoel Teitelbaum, many Satmar Hasidim went to his widow for advice the same way they used to go to him, and she effectively controlled some Satmar institutions, making her kind of a behind-the-scenes female Rebbe. Read about it here.

 

[meltzerboy]

Well, meltzerboy, your first point is a tricky one. The orthodox struggle with a huge PR conundrum: on the one hand, they don’t want to alienate non-observant Jews; on the other, they don’t want to legitimize what they consider to be deviant movements. We struggle to make clear that a Jew is a Jew regardless of what movement he affiliates with, while simultaneously rejecting those movements as “Judaism.” But when some rabbis, especially in Israel where people don’t care as much about political correctness, say that some movement or another is “not Judaism” - the headlines will usually be that they said the people belonging to those movements are not Jews. Which is false. On to the rabbi issue - you will find some publications that put the word rabbi in scare quotes when referring to a non-orthodox rabbi. That isn’t great PR but that’s what the authors feel they should do. The more effective way to write it, that I have seen ion some media, is to simply affix the label of the rabbi’s movement to his/her title, for example, “Recently it was reported that Conservative rabbi so-and-so said…”

As to your other question, you are most likely referring to the Maiden of Ludmir. She did function as a Hasidic Rebbe but it can be argued that even in that role she did not have the function of a communal Rav, and she did not issue rulings in Jewish law, though she taught Torah. She also encountered a lot of opposition, so she’s not a very good precedent. Another fun fact is that after the death of the Satmar Rebbe Yoel Teitelbaum, many Satmar Hasidim went to his widow for advice the same way they used to go to him, and she effectively controlled some Satmar institutions, making her kind of a behind-the-scenes female Rebbe. Read about it here.

Thank you for the information, Moses. I was aware that those Orthodox rabbis who do not recognize Conservative, Reform, or Reconstructionist leaders as rabbis are not blaming the people in their congregations. The media has a tendency to exaggerate, partly out of ignorance. The links you provided on the women rabbis are most interesting to me.

Have a good Shabbos!