Women rabbis and Torah scholars

Women rabbis are individual Jewish women who have studied Jewish Law and received rabbinical ordination. Women rabbis are prominant in Progressive Jewish denominations, however, the subject of women rabbis in Orthodox Judaism is more complex. Although Orthodox women have been ordained as rabbis,[1][2] many major Orthodox Jewish communities and institutions do not accept the change.[3][4][5] As an alternative, other Orthodox institutions have begun to train women as Torah scholars for related Jewish religious roles that involve training as religious authorities in Jewish Law but does not formally include rabbinic ordination.[6]

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Women rabbis
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 Category: Women rabbis
Women rabbis and Torah scholars. Top row: Regina Jonas, Malke Bina, Ray Frank. Middle: Tamara Kolton, Kinneret Shiryon. Bottom: Alysa Stanton, Floriane Chinsky, Alina Treiger

Historically, the roles of the rabbi (rav) and Torah scholar (talmid chacham) were almost exclusively limited to Jewish men. With few, rare historical exceptions, Jewish women were first offered ordaination beginning in the 1970s. This change coincided with the influence of second-wave feminism on Western society. In 1972, Hebrew Union College, the flagship institution of Reform Judaism, ordained their first woman rabbi. Subsequently, women rabbis were ordained by all other branches of Progressive Judaism.[7] The ordination of a woman rabbi in Orthodox Judaism took place in 2009, however its acceptance within Orthodoxy is still subject of debate.[8]

Historical background
See also: Women in Judaism and Timeline of women rabbis
Rabbi Regina Jonas, the first ordained female rabbi. Ordained in Germany in 1935, she was murdered in Auschwitz in 1944.[9]

Prior to the 1970s, when ordination of women began gaining acceptance, there were few examples of Jewish women who were formally treated as rabbis, rabbinic authorities, or Torah scholars. Rare, exceptional cases of women in rabbinic posts occur throughout Jewish history and tradition. The biblical figure of Deborah the prophetess is described as serving as a judge.[10][11] According to some traditional rabbinic sources, Deborah's judiciary role primarily concerned religious law. Thus, according to this view, Deborah was Judaism's first female religious legal authority, equivilant to the contemporary rabbinical role of posek (decisor of Jewish Law). Other rabbinic sources understand the biblical story of Deborah that her role was only that of a national leader and not of a legal authority.[12] Asenath Barzani of Iraq is considered the first female rabbi of Jewish history by some scholars; additionally, she is the oldest recorded female Kurdish leader in history.[13] In Eastern European Hasidic Judaism, during the 19th-century, Hannah Rachel Verbermacher, also known as the Maiden of Ludmir, became the movement's only female Hasidic rebbe,[14] however, the role of rebbe relates to spiritual and communal leadership as opposed to the legal authority of "rabbi". The first formally ordained female rabbi in modern times was Regina Jonas, ordained in Germany in 1935.[9]

Article from the San Francisco Chronicle on 19 October 1898, announcing Ray Frank as a female rabbi

Beginning in the 1970s, this status quo gradually began to change, with women being ordained as rabbis within each Jewish denomination. The first such ordination of this period took place in 1972 when Sally Priesand became the first female rabbi in Reform Judaism.[15] Since then, Reform Judaism's Hebrew Union College has ordained hundreds of women rabbis.[16] The second denomination to ordain a woman rabbi was Reconstructionist Judaism with the 1974 ordination of Sandy Eisenberg Sasso.[17] Since then, over 100 Reconstructionist women rabbis have been ordained. This trend continued with Lynn Gottlieb becoming the first female rabbi in Jewish Renewal in 1981.[18] In 1985, Amy Eilberg became the first female rabbi in Conservative Judaism.[19] In 1999, Tamara Kolton became the first rabbi of any gender within Humanistic Judaism.[20] In 2009, Sara Hurwitz became the first Orthodox woman rabbi, however, the situation within Orthodoxy is still debated today (see below: Women rabbis § Orthodox Judaism).[8] Another notable event that same year was the 2009 ordination of Alysa Stanton who became the first African-American female rabbi.[21]

Membership by denominational associations and institutions

Over 1,000 women rabbis have been ordained across the major Jewish denominations:

  • Reform Judaism - Over 700 women rabbis are associated with Reform and Progressive Judaism worldwide:
    • Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR) - as of 2016, 699 (32%) of the association's 2,176 member rabbi were women.[22]
    • Progressive Judaism in Europe - as of 2006, the total number of women ordained at the Leo Baeck College was 30 (19%) out of all of the 158 ordinations completed at the institution since 1956.[23]
    • Israeli Council of Reform Rabbis (MARAM) - as of 2016, 18 (58%) of the 31 the association's rabbis officiating in congregations were women. Of the group's total membership at the time, 48 (48%) of 100 rabbis were women.[22]
  • Conservative Judaism - Around 300 women rabbis are associated with Conservative Judaism worldwide:
    • Rabbinical Assembly (USA) - as of 2010, 273 (17%) of the 1,648 members of the Rabbinical Assembly were women.[24]
    • Conservative Judaism in Israel - as of 2016, 22 (14%) of the Israeli Masorati movement's 160 rabbi members were women.[22]
  • Orthodox Judaism - Around 50 women rabbis are associated with Orthodox Judaism worldwide:
    • Yeshivat Maharat (USA) - from 2013 to 2020, the "Open Orthodox" Yeshivat Maharat ordained 42 women rabbis, however, the titles Rabbi, Rabba, Maharat, Rabbanit, and Darshan are used interchangeably by the program's graduates.[25]
    • Beit Midrash Har-El (Israel) - a new institution for Orthodox men and women has ordained 6 women rabbis of their total 13 graduates.[26]

Development by denomination

Reform Judaism

Since its formation in during the 19th Century, the denomination of Reform Judaism allowed men and women to pray together in synagogues. This Jewish ritual decision was based on the egalitarian philosophy of the movement. Subsequently, in 1922, the topic of women as rabbis was discussed formally by the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR). In the end, the CCAR voted against the proposal.[27] The topic was raised again in the subsequent decades and in 1972, Sally Priesand became the first female Reform rabbi.[15]

In 1982, ten years after the movement's first ordination of a woman rabbi, Rabbi Stanley Dreyfus, a prominant Reform rabbi, presented a report to the CCAR, outlining the extent of acceptance of women rabbis. Dreyfus found that initially, many congregant were reluctant to accept a woman officiant at Jewish funerals, or to for her to provide rabbinic counselling, or to lead prayer services. However, notwithstanding these initial qualms, Dreyfus found that a decade after the movement's acceptance of the ordination of women rabbis, the Reform community in general had "fully accepted" the new reality.[28]

Conservative Judaism

In the late 1970s, following the decision within the denomination of Reform Judaism to accept women rabbis, the debate extended to Conservative Judaism. In 1979, the Faculty Senate of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America adopted a motion recognising that the topic had caused severe division among Conservative rabbis, and that the movement would not accept women rabbis. The motion was passed 25 to 19. The resistance to women's ordination was couched in the context of Jewish Law, however, the JTS resolution contains political and social considerations as well.[29] During this same period, the Conservative movement appointed a special commission to study the issue of ordaining women as rabbis, The commission met between 1977 and 1978, and consisted of eleven men and three women.[30] In 1983, the faculty of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, voted, without accompanying opinion, to ordain women as rabbis and as cantors. In 1985, the status quo had formally changed with the movement's ordaination of Amy Eilberg, admitting her as a member in the Rabbinical Assembly. After this step, the Conservative movement proceeded to admit Rabbis Jan Caryl Kaufman and Beverly Magidson who had been ordained at Reform movement's Hebrew Union College.[24]

Orthodox Judaism

Following the changes adopted by the Reform and Conservative denominations in the 1970s and 1980s, the question of women rabbis within Orthodox Judaism also became subject to debate. Calls for Orthodox yeshivas to admit women as rabbinical students were initially met with total opposition. Rabbi Norman Lamm, one of the leaders of Modern Orthodoxy and Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva University's Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, opposed ordaining women, arguing it would negatively distrupt the Orthodox tradition [31]. Other Orthodox rabbis criticized the request as contrary to Jewish Law, viewing Orthodox Judaism as specifically prohibiting women from receiving ordination and serving as rabbis.[32] This status quo was maintained until 2009, when Rabbi Avi Weiss ordained Sara Hurwitz with the title "maharat" (an acronym of manhiga hilkhatit rukhanit Toranit, "authority of Jewish law and spirituality"[33]) as an alternate title to "rabbi".[34][35] Since Hurwitz's ordination, and the Weiss' subsequent founding Yeshivat Maharat as a formal institution to ordain Orthodox women,[1][2] the number of Orthodox women rabbis have grown, however, not all use the title of "rabbi" and instead use other variations such as "rabba", "rabbanit", maharat", and "darshanit".[8] [36][37][38] Notwithstanding these developments, the subject is still a current debate within Orthodox Judaism and many major Orthodox institutions, including the Orthodox Union,[3] the Rabbinical Council of America and Agudath Israel of America do not recognize women rabbis and deem the change as violating Jewish Law,[39][40][4][5][41] thus restricting Orthodox women rabbinical candidates and graduates to a few select modern-Orthodox institutions.

In the 2010s, a few Israeli Orthodox institutions began ordining women. Beit Midrash Har'el, a modern-Orthodox institution based in Jerusalem ordained a cohort Orthodox men and women.[42] Additionally, a pilot program for ordination for both Orthodox men and women was run by the Shalom Hartman Institute in partnership with HaMidrasha at Oranim with the initial cohort ordained in 2016.[43][44][45][46] However, the Hartman Institute program has been described as a non-denominational ordination program.[47]

Alternate Orthodox approaches
See also: Yoetzet Halacha and Toanot Rabniyot

Alongside this debate, a third approach within Orthodoxy has developed. Some Orthodox institutions have accepted women in alternate roles relating to Jewish law such as halakhic advisors (Yoatzot),[48] court advocates (Toanot) and congregational advisors. Examples of this trend gaining acceptance include the efforts of Rabbi Aryeh Strikovski of Machanaim Yeshiva and Pardes Institute who collaborated with Rabbi Avraham Shapira, former Chief Rabbi of Israel, to initiate a program for training Orthodox women as halakhic Toanot ("advocates") in rabbinic courts. Since then, seventy Israeli women were trained as Toanot. In England, in 2012, Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, the country's chief rabbi, appointed Lauren Levin as Britain's first Orthodox female halakhic adviser, at Finchley United Synagogue in London.[6] This distinction of women rabbis are ordained to rule on matters of Jewish law versus women as Torah scholars who may provide instruction in Jewish law is found in Jewish legal works.[49][50]

In Israel a growing number of Orthodox women are being trained as Yoetzet Halacha (halakhic advisers),[51] and the use of Toanot is not restricted to any one segment of Orthodoxy; In Israel they have worked with Haredi and Modern Orthodox Jews. Orthodox women may study the laws of family purity at the same level of detail that Orthodox males do at Nishmat, the Jerusalem Center for Advanced Jewish Study for Women. The purpose is for them to be able to act as halakhic advisors for other women, a role that traditionally was limited to male rabbis. This course of study is overseen by Rabbi Yaakov Varhaftig.[52]

Since the 2010s, the Israeli-based modern Orthodox institution Ohr Torah Stone began training and certifying Orthodox women as "Morat Hora’ah U’Manhigah Ruchanit" (or "Morat Hora’ah") as teachers who are authorized to provide direction in matters of Jewish law. It is a postion that is not formally listed as rabbinical ordination, but may be understood as a role that overlaps with the role of "rabbi".[53][54][55]

Hebrew terminology

Whike the English term rabbi is used for women receiving rabbinical ordination, Hebrew grammatical parallels to the title may include rabba (רבה) - feminine parallel to rav (רב) - or rabbanit (רבנית). The term rabbanit is used by some Orthodox women in this role.[56] For example, Sara Hurwitz, who is considered the first Orthodox woman rabbi, was initially ordained with the title maharat (a Hebrew acronym that includes the title rabbanit)[57][58] but subsequently began using the title rabba. Some use another variant, rabet, for a female rabbi. Other women in Jewish leadership, like Rachel Kohl Finegold and Lynn Kaye function as de facto "assistant rabbis".

See also

References
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Further reading
  • Sperber, Daniel. Rabba, Maharat, Rabbanit, Rebbetzin: Women with Leadership Authority According to Halachah, Urim Publications, 2020. ISBN 9655242463
  • The Sacred Calling: Four Decades of Women in the Rabbinate edited by Rebecca Einstein Schorr and Alysa Mendelson Graf, CCAR Press, 2016. ISBN 0-8812-3280-7
  • Klapheck, Elisa. Fräulein Rabbiner Jonas: The Story of the First Woman Rabbi, Wiley, 2004. ISBN 0787969877
  • Nadell, Pamela. Women Who Would Be Rabbis: A History of Women's Ordination, 1889–1985, Beacon Press, 1998. ISBN 0-8070-3649-8.
  • Zola, Gary Phillip. Women Rabbis: Exploration & Celebration : Papers Delivered at an Academic Conference Honoring Twenty Years of Women in the Rabbinate, 1972-1992 HUC-JIR Rabbinic Alumni Association Press, 1996. ISBN 0878202145
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