Is Now the Time for Orthodox Women Rabbis?
Greenberg, Blu
Is Now the Time for ORTHODOX WOMEN RABBIS? BLU GREENBERG The growing reality of ivotnen rabbis in liberal denominations will transform the expectations of Orthodox women into a powerful agent for...
...One hundred years ago, and for 1,500 years prior to that, it was considered forbidden to teach women Talmud...
...Growing up, I had a very special rabbi" or "I was close to my rabbi" is often the response...
...Through a slight opening in the mechitzah, I see a young boy, 14 or 15...
...Yet in 1993 diere are women who hold high office, up to and including presidency of Orthodox synagogues...
...Delicately, she compares its meaning to the life and spirit of her beloved Chanah...
...His lips are parted and every few seconds he faindy shapes them to complete a familiar Hebrew phrase the rabbi has begun...
...That is why I do not foresee that Orthodox women will serve initially—or perhaps not for a long while—as pulpit rabbis of traditional congregations...
...Iam at a memorial service in Jerusalem for a woman who died of cancer at age 44...
...Ma'ayan (Boston...
...During the past several years, pressure has mounted on rabbis to alleviate the plight of agunol, women caught in the vise of recalcitrant husbands who refuse to grant a get, a writ of divorce...
...On the other hand, we do have role models...
...That she was friend and neighbor was her entree...
...Though I had never met Chanah Beilinson, over the years I had heard of her great intellect, her radiant holiness, her ability to impart to her students not only deep knowledge but also a sense of wonderment...
...Orthodox women should be ordained because it would constitute a recognition of their new intellectual accomplishments and spiritual attainments...
...Moreover, Orthodox women themselves are largely inhospitable to the idea...
...One response of the Israeli rabbinate has been to train toanol, women who are permitted to function in quasi-judicial capacity in the rabbinic courts of law to help agunol through adversarial gel proceedings...
...Nor does the process uniquely empower a rabbi to perform special sacramental functions that a knowledgeable layperson cannot...
...But all of this is sociological conjecture...
...Orthodox women are not nourished by intergroup dialogue, nor do they contribute to others the unique insights of Orthodoxy...
...Over the years, I've asked many a young rabbi how he chose his calling...
...Having opened to them the learning enterprise—interpretive keys to the tradition—ordination will come as a natural halachic consequence of this powerful revolution...
...To be sure, halachic issues of mechitzah, of minyan and aliyol, of female witnesses in Jewish courts oflaw, of kol isha—will have to be looked at again...
...Thus, Nechama Leibowitz, Naomi Cohen, Chanah Beilinson, Oshra Enker, Aviva Zornberg, Menucha Chwat, Tamar Ross, Chanah Henkin, Devora Steinmetz, Dena Weiner, Malka Bina, Esther Krauss, Rivka Haut, Beruriah David, Maidy Katz and several dozen others may not carry the title "rabbi," but they serve in similar ways...
...Oshra Enker, tall and willowy, in her late twenties, white beret tilted distractingly way over to the side, begins to weave her way with ease through the rabbinic sources...
...In fact, the lines have hardened...
...The smicha process assumes but does not even test for personal piety, good character or a spiritual bent...
...it is and always has been responsive to special-interest groups (if women can be called such) and cases of special pleading...
...Conferring the title "rabbi" is a guarantee to the community that this person has been judged fit by a collective of rabbis or by a single great scholar to give guidance on matters of issur v'heler, the forbidden and the permitted, primarily as it concerns the laws of kashrut, Shabbat and family purity...
...The cumulative impact—of a critical mass of students of Talmud and halachah, a plethora of rising-star teachers, the support of educational institutions and the presence of respected women rabbis in the liberal denominations —will be to transform the expectations of Orthodox women...
...Nevertheless, many problems remain, not only connected to halachah but to communal unity and mainstream attitudes...
...Many Orthodox women are on...
...If they so will it, contemporary rabbinic authorities can find halachic means to open the system more widely to learned women...
...And then I think: well, that's exacdy what she is, what Chanah was...
...Rabbis function as witnesses in the belt din, a Jewish court of law where women's testimony is inadmissible...
...The first step is the ordination of women...
...From there, we shall see where to go next...
...and ability to reason analogically and apply precedents to contemporary questions...
...Other contemporary Torah scholars raise the standard of "honor of the community," which can broadly be interpreted as that which offends the faithful...
...As I observe him, I realize that something more than listening is taking place here: the boy relates to the rabbi, not only as scholar and leader but as role model and future mentor...
...These answers do not preclude more weighty ones, such as "I wanted to teach Torah," "spend my life in yiddishkeit" "build Jewish lives and community...
...Rather, a role model is the first line of introduction to all the rest...
...I believe the ordination of Orthodox women is close at hand...
...And contrary to the stereotypes some hold of Orthodoxy, there has been communal appreciation of women in these roles not in every instance, but in enough to make it apparent that the love of Torah prevails, no matter the gender source...
...Another example: the Women's Cabinet of the UJA ought to—and probably soon will—have a woman rabbi in its service...
...In Sifre, the Rabbis* comment, "a king but not a queen," thereby legitimating for die ages men, but not women, in positions of authority...
...all of which explains why haUichah has served the Jewish people so well, for so long...
...Nor are there community expectations...
...This, despite the growth of a curious new form of discrimination against them: Because the tide "rabbi" is required for certain non-congregational positions, such as hospital chaplaincy (in which Reform, Conservative and Reconstructionist women rabbis figure prominendy), Orthodox women who might otherwise qualify are simply out of the loop...
...Today, some poskim (rabbinic decisors) pin their judgments on rabbinic interpretation of the verse, "And you shall surely place upon yourselves a King" (Deuteronomy 17:15...
...And then: I wonder if Oshra ever thinks of herself that way...
...Today there are no Orthodox women rabbis to serve as role models...
...Whereas a generation ago, only a handful of women were taught Talmud— among them the two daughters of the great Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, of blessed memory—today thousands of Orthodox women study Talmud, some making it their life's work...
...It contains internal mechanisms of repair: it holds sparks of dynamism and creativity...
...He conjectures that the tipping of the balance results from the presence of Orthodox women who might otherwise be in rabbinic seminaries...
...teach Scriptures, commentary, halachah, midrash, codes, and even Talmud...
...Given die weight of authority vested in contemporary rabbinic decisions, it seems almost pointless to press the issue forward...
...and many in Israel (see directory, page 53...
...A look at women's issues in this last decade cbnfirms the dynamism of halachah: • The scriptural peg in Deuteronomy 17:15 was also used to rule out leadership of women as officers of Orthodox synagogues, a question that arose in the 1920s with the growth of American-style synagogues...
...And the response from centers of Orthodox authority tends to be: Not Permissible...
...tlie way to mastering rabbinic texts that would qualify them for ordination...
...BER t 993 • MOMENT S3 Witness, minyan, mechitzah, kol-isha—these objections cannot be lightly dismissed...
...All of this should not be joined to the issue at hand...
...Her vast knowledge of rabbinic commentary on the Torah inspired many thousands of students...
...Another scene: The rabbi begins his Yom Kippur drasha...
...When the word "Rabbis" is capitalized, it refers to the Rabbis of tatmudic times: lowei case "rabbis" generally refers to rabbis of modem times Other rabbis say that while there may be no halachic objections to ordination, its linkage to other issues creates obstacles...
...She so loved teaching that even during these latter months she continued, with but one concession to her weakened state: classes were held in her home...
...No one asks a woman's opinion on halachic matters...
...In Riverdale not long ago, a Reform rabbi, Shira Milgrom, taught a class in Mishnayot to a group of Orthodox women...
...Ordination is the confirmation of an individual's mastery of texts (largely from the Talmud and codes...
...These minority views carry great significance, as this is a community where religious authority is decentralized...
...For a brief instant, I find myself thinking Oshra would make a splendid rabbi...
...Institutions of higher learning of religious texts have been created for women, among them Drisha, the first and most established (Manhattan...
...More than 300 people have gathered to mourn the passing of this extraordinary teacher of Torah...
...But a respect for community sensibilities, an appreciation of incremental steps, a desire for internal unity and a realism about shut politics propel me along this path...
...In an open society, role models can come from outside one's community...
...These women have different areas of specialization and different depths of knowledge, but all are totally dedicated to Torah learning within the tradition...
...But in the encounter itself, in the acceptance of her as teacher, new ideas about women rabbis were surely replacing old diffidences...
...I can think of several Orthodox women who would be excellent religious mentors for the cabinet, but lacking the title^ "rabbi," their names would never be considered...
...Today...
...Nor do I believe it must necessarily be part of the agenda, though I know that some feminists would fault me for taking that stance...
...Selective choice of precedents is a powerful shaper of the outcome...
...Add to this list longstanding institutions that have reshaped their curricula to accommodate women's new learning, such as the yeshivah day- and high-school system and the Stern College Kollel program...
...And because of die justice of it all...
...familiarity with precedents...
...There has been an explosion of women's learning within Orthodoxy, intensive learning of sacred texts and— particularly new—study of Talmud...
...Similarly, Orthodox women are left out of the networking that goes on between religious women leaders...
...I forget the beret as she magically unfolds before us the halachah and theology of kiddush levanah, the ritual sanctification of the sliver of a new moon...
...The existence of women rabbis and the honorable ways they serve speaks more powerfully than a thousand debates on the subject...
...Why, then, have some Orthodox rabbis asserted that smicha for women is not permitted...
...Shalhevet (Queens...
...To a large extent, the process will be driven by Orthodox women wanting it to happen...
...Thus, sociology and halachah are interdependent...
...because it offers wider female models of religious life...
...Oddly, it is not discussed anywhere in rabbinic sources and no formal ban exists...
...Why was this role not proscribed when roles seemingly less intrusive in a male society, such as women counted in a prayer quorum or women as witnesses in a religious court of law, were...
...Probably the matter was so farfetched no one thought to raise the issue...
...The formal criteria are almost wholly intellectual...
...A generation ago, there was but one—the incomparable Nechama Leibowitz...
...because it will speed the process of reevaluating traditional definitions that support hierarchy...
...Once not an issue within Orthodoxy—so remote was it from communal consciousness—the matter has now comes closer to home with the ordination of traditional Conservative women...
...because women's input into p'sak (interpretation of Jewish texts), absent for 2,000 years, is sorely needed...
...No equivalent status of leadership is conferred upon Orthodox women...
...Some highly respected Yeshiva University-ordained, modern Orthodox rabbis see no halachic barriers to women's ordination...
...Four of her colleagues will speak, "two rabbis and two women...
...Machon N'shei Torah (Brooklyn...
...Reuvcn Kimehnan, women significantly outnumber men in these programs...
...His eyes fix on the rabbi...
...Htdadmh is not static...
...What does Jewish law say regarding ordination of women...
...Shordy we shall have a critical mass of learned women who have mastered the qualifying texts for rabbinic ordination...
...because some Jews might find it easier to bring halachic questions concerning family and sexuality to a woman rabbi...
...A close look at the convention of ordination (smicha) reveals that it is not a conferral of holy status nor a magical laying on of hands to transmit authority...
...As the discussion proceeds, some rabbis will surely raise the issue oikolisha, the prohibition against men hearing the voice of a woman under certain circumstances...
...This will be a powerful agent for change...
...Halachic decision making, particularly when a new issue is at hand, is a creative process, part the word of God at Sinai, part rabbinic tradition, part human interpretation...
...Add again the university doctoral programs in Talmud in which substantial numbers of Orthodox women are enrolled,* and you have a virtual transformation of the intellectual potential of the community...
...Today, there are Orthodox women who ?According to Dr...
...BLU GREENBERG The growing reality of ivotnen rabbis in liberal denominations will transform the expectations of Orthodox women into a powerful agent for change...
...Other complex linkages are to mechitzah, the separation of men and women and to minyan, the quorum of 10 men required for communal prayer that excludes women because they have a lesser halachic obligation...
...Moreover, the numbers of noteworthy female teachers of religious texts has risen...
...And yet, Orthodox views are not monolithic...
...My eye wanders...
...because it would encourage greater Torah study...
...But meanwhile, an ordained Orthodox woman need not serve as witness in family status matters and need not breach the mechitzah...
Vol. 18 • December 1993 • No. 6
