Can a rabbi be a woman?
50708343#5
According to the Talmud ("Gittin" 45b), a Torah scroll written by a woman for ritual use is invalid. The Arba'ah Turim, however, does not prohibit women from becoming scribes. Several modern-day rabbis have presented arguments supporting the view that a woman can write a scroll for ritual use. A Conservative Israeli Rabbi, Simcha Roth, wrote that since women may learn the Torah, "they should certainly be eligible to write a scroll". Linda Coppleson, who is a Conservative Jew, expresses that while the Talmud forbids women from writing Torah scrolls, it also states that "whoever is qualified should write a Torah;" and when women have "the same opportunities as men, it is fitting to remove them from forbidden categories". Wendy Graff, the project's leader, said that "if my daughter could read and study the Torah and yet not be allowed to create the scroll that is the basis of our faith, then we still have a long way to go".
Women's Torah Project
34829965#0
Chava Koster, the granddaughter of Dutch Holocaust survivors, was the first woman from the Netherlands to be ordained as a rabbi. She was ordained in 1997 at the Academy for Jewish Religion in New York. Koster is now the rabbi of the Village Temple, also known as Congregation B'nai Israel, in New York City, before joining the Village Temple, she was Associate Rabbi at Temple B'nai Abraham in Livingston, New Jersey. In 2010 she was featured in the documentary "Kol Ishah: The Rabbi is a Woman", directed by Hannah Heer. In 2010 she was chosen to be the first female rabbi in Sweden; however she withdrew her name for "personal reasons."
Chava Koster
24369821#6
In perpetuating and expanding the modernizing tradition of the Reform movement, Gottschalk performed the June 1972 ordination of Rabbi Sally Priesand, the first woman to be ordained in the United States and believed to be only the second woman ever to be formally ordained in the millennia-long history of Judaism. Rabbi Gottschalk called the ordination of Priesand "historic", one that breaks stereotypes and allows "Jewish women to consider seeking the rabbinate" and a testament to Reform Judaism's efforts at achieving "equality of women in the congregation of the Lord". Priesand wept when Gottschalk spoke with her as she was handed her ordination certificate.
Alfred Gottschalk (rabbi)
51273#56
On March 22, 2009, the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, an Orthodox Synagogue, held a formal ceremony officially giving Sara Hurwitz the title "Maharat" – "Manhigah Halakhtit Ruchanit Toranit". However, some Orthodox leaders, such as the Rabbinical Council of America and the Agudath Israel of America, opposed this move and said it was not in keeping with Orthodoxy; in any case, Hurwitz was not given the title "rabbi". However, she is considered by some the first Orthodox woman rabbi. In February 2010, Avi Weiss announced that he was changing her title of Maharat to a more familiar-sounding title "Rabba". The goal of this shift was to clarify Hurwitz's position as a full member of the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale rabbinic staff. The change was criticised by both Agudath Yisrael and the Rabbinical Council of America, who called the move "beyond the pale of Orthodox Judaism". Indeed, women's ordination has come to be a focal point of division between YCT and the rest of the spectrum of Orthodoxy, as most of Orthodoxy does not view YCT as normative Orthodoxy. Weiss announced amidst criticism that the term "Rabba" would not be used anymore for his future students. However, in June 2015, Lila Kagedan was ordained by Yeshivat Maharat and in keeping with newer policies, was given the freedom to choose her own title, and she chose to be addressed as "Rabbi". In 2018, Dina Brawer, born in Italy but living in Britain, was ordained by Yeshivat Maharat; she chose the title Rabba.
Rabbi
51273#88
In June 2009, Avi Weiss ordained Sara Hurwitz with the title "maharat" (an acronym of "manhiga hilkhatit rukhanit Toranit") rather than "Rabbi". In February 2010, Weiss announced that he was changing Maharat to a more familiar-sounding title "Rabba". The goal of this shift was to clarify Hurwitz's position as a full member of the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale rabbinic staff. The change was criticised by both Agudath Yisrael and the Rabbinical Council of America, who called the move "beyond the pale of Orthodox Judaism". Weiss announced amidst criticism that the term "Rabba" would not be used anymore for his future students. Also in 2009, Weiss founded Yeshivat Maharat, a school which "is dedicated to giving Orthodox women proficiency in learning and teaching Talmud, understanding Jewish law and its application to everyday life as well as the other tools necessary to be Jewish communal leaders." In 2015 Yaffa Epstein was ordained as Rabba by the Yeshivat Maharat. Also in 2015, Lila Kagedan was ordained as Rabbi by that same organization, making her their first graduate to take the title Rabbi. Hurwitz continues to use the title Rabba and is considered by some to be the first female Orthodox rabbi. However, in the fall of 2015 Rabbinical Council of America passed a resolution which states, "RCA members with positions in Orthodox institutions may not ordain women into the Orthodox rabbinate, regardless of the title used; or hire or ratify the hiring of a woman into a rabbinic position at an Orthodox institution; or allow a title implying rabbinic ordination to be used by a teacher of Limudei Kodesh in an Orthodox institution." Similarly in the fall of 2015 Agudath Israel of America denounced moves to ordain women, and went even further, declaring Yeshivat Maharat, Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, Open Orthodoxy, and other affiliated entities to be similar to other dissident movements throughout Jewish history in having rejected basic tenets of Judaism. in June 2015, Lila Kagedan was ordained by Yeshivat Maharat and in keeping with newer policies, was given the freedom to choose her own title, and she chose to be addressed as "Rabbi". In 2018, Dina Brawer, born in Italy but living in Britain, was ordained by Yeshivat Maharat; she chose the title Rabba.
Rabbi
3299297#3
The rabbi's wife plays an important community role, especially in small communities. In many ways, she is called on to be as knowledgeable as the rabbi in the realm of woman's observances: In this manner, for something that does not require a "psak" (ruling), she can be approached when a woman does not feel comfortable approaching the rabbi, or where the rabbi maybe should not be approached. For instance, the rebbetzin may be consulted in personal questions regarding female sexuality.
Rebbetzin
1816487#2
With the goal of becoming a rabbi, Jonas wrote a thesis that would have been an ordination requirement. Her topic was "Can a Woman Be a Rabbi According to Halachic Sources?" Her conclusion, based on Biblical, Talmudic, and rabbinical sources, was that she should be ordained. However, the Talmud professor responsible for ordinations refused her because she was a woman. Jonas applied to Rabbi Leo Baeck, spiritual leader of German Jewry, who had taught her at the seminary. He also refused because the ordination of a female rabbi would have caused massive intra-Jewish communal problems with the Orthodox rabbinate in Germany.
Regina Jonas
4438164#19
Rabbi Ammi taught in the name of Rabbi Johanan that even though Rabbi Simeon ruled that a dissolved fetus expelled by a woman was not unclean, Rabbi Simeon nonetheless agreed that the woman was ritually unclean as a woman who bore a child. An old man explained to Rabbi Ammi that Rabbi Johanan reasoned from the words of "If a woman conceived seed and bore." Those words imply that even if a woman bore something like "conceived seed" (in a fluid state), she was nonetheless unclean by reason of childbirth.
Tazria
1816487#9
In 1999, Elisa Klapheck published a biography about Regina Jonas and a detailed edition of her thesis, ""Can Women Serve as Rabbis?"". The biography, translated into English in 2004 under the title "Fräulein Rabbiner Jonas - The Story of the First Woman Rabbi", gives voice to witnesses who knew or met Regina Jonas personally as rabbi in Berlin or Theresienstadt. Klapheck also described Jonas' love relationship with Rabbi Josef Norden.
Regina Jonas
4438164#18
Reading “If a woman conceives,” Rabbi Levi said three things: It is only natural that if a person has given into another’s keeping an ounce of silver in private, and the latter returns a pound of gold in public, the former will surely be grateful to the latter; and so is it with God. Human beings entrust to God a drop of fluid in privacy, and God openly returns to them completed and perfected human beings. Rabbi Levi said a second thing: It is natural that, if a person is confined without attention to a chamber, and someone comes and kindles a light for the person there, the former should feel gratitude towards the latter. So too is it with God. When the embryo is in its mother’s womb, God causes a light to shine for it there with which it can see from one end of the world to the other. Rabbi Levi said a third thing: It is natural that, if a person is confined without attention to a chamber, and someone comes and releases the person and takes the person out from there, the former should feel gratitude to the latter. Even so when the embryo is in its mother’s womb, God comes and releases it and brings it forth into the world.
Tazria
4655178#14
Rabbi Sperber agreed with Rabbi Shapiro's argument that the baraita in Megillah 23a indicated that the Sages instituted "we do not call a woman" as a later prohibition, and that calling a woman was originally permitted. He focused on the concept of Kevod HaBriyot ("human dignity"), a Talmudic concept by which rabbinical prohibitions are sometimes waived in order to preserve honor or dignity. Noting that the concept had received modern applications by Orthodox decisors including an opinion by Rabbi Eliezer Waldenberg permitting wearing a hearing aid on Shabbat (based on a Talmudic opinion overriding the rabbinic prohibition against carrying on Shabbat to permit a person needing to defecate to carry wiping material), Rabbi Shapiro argued that the "Kevod HaBriyot" concept could be applied to override the rabbinic prohibition against calling women to the Torah on grounds of human dignity or respect.
Partnership minyan
26204#32
The Hida, wrote (Tuv Ayin, no. 4) woman should study Mishnah only if they do want to.'We cannot force a woman to learn, like we do to boys'. However, if she wants to learn, then not only may she do so on her own, but men may teach her from the start, and she can then teach other women if they so choose. According to Hida, the prohibition of teaching women does not apply to a motivated woman or girl. Other Mizrahi Rabbis disputed this with him.
Women in Judaism