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Knesset Members Met With American Jewish (Men) Leaders

On his “Martini Judaism” blog at Religion News Service, Rabbi Jeffrey K. Salkin discusses “a private meeting between American Jewish religious leaders and members of the Knesset, held under the auspices of the Ruderman Family Foundation.” In the piece, Salkin names attendees, remarking, between parentheses, “Yes, there were more women Knesset members than women American Jewish religious leaders — which tells you something about American Judaism and/or how these invitation lists get constructed.”

Indeed, while the American participants came from several Jewish religious movements (Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox were all represented), all were men, a key detail I confirmed with Salkin via email. In that email, Salkin offered some further commentary: “There is only one way to change this dreary picture — and that is when major Jewish organizations call women to be their leaders.”

Phoebe Maltz Bovy edits the Sisterhood, and can be reached at [email protected]. She is the author of “The Perils Of ‘Privilege’”, from St. Martin’s Press. Follow her on Twitter, @tweetertation

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