The Rabbinical Council of America formally adopted a policy prohibiting the ordination or hiring of women rabbis. The policy announced on Friday came after a direct vote of the RCA membership, according to the organization. The resolution states that: “RCA members with positions in Orthodox institutions may not ordain women into the Orthodox rabbinate, regardless…
Courtesy of Dasi Fruchter Jewish ritual adds a holy dimension to everyday life. Dasi Fruchter, who is studying for the Orthodox clergy at Yeshivat Maharat, creates sacred space through new practices that draw on traditional elements. Over Presidents’ Day weekend she will speak about her approaches to ritual, community-building and leadership at Limmud NY 2015….
This past year saw the inaugural graduation in June of Yeshivat Maharat, the Bronx yeshiva that has been controversially training women to lead Orthodox congregations. Three new maharats emerged from the school this year. Then in the fall came the high profile installation of Rabbi Asher Lopatin as the new president of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah,…
The dust has settled after the June 16 graduation of the first class of female maharats from a groundbreaking Orthodox rabbinical school. But controversy over the role that the newly minted religious leaders from Yeshivat Maharat will play in Orthodoxy — along with 14 more students in future classes — appears to be just getting…
The first class of maharats may be controversial among the Orthodox. But the graduates enjoy overwhelming support from Jewish women from other denominations, who see the battle for recognition as part and parcel of the struggles they faced — and won. “It’s an affirmation of everything that has led to this moment, as well as…
Sunday’s inaugural graduation at Yeshivat Maharat was no ordinary cap and gown ceremony. Rather, it was history in the making for Orthodox women. As Ruth Balinsky Friedman, Rachel Kohl Finegold and Abby Brown Scheier prepared to become the first women to hold the title maharat in the Jewish community, faculty members of the school and…
A telling sign that the first-ever graduation ceremony for Yeshivat Maharat was going to be different from other rabbinical ordinations came in an email message sent several weeks before the June 16 event. “We will be offering child care during the ceremony!” it read. This was clearly a ceremony created by women for women, reflecting…
An Orthodox umbrella organization has rejected the ordination of three female clergy by a groundbreaking Bronx Orthodox rabbinical school as “contradicting the norms of our community.” The Rabbinical Council of America, a prominent group that serves more than 1,000 Orthodox rabbis, reacted strongly to the recent graduation of three women from Riverdale’s Yeshivat Maharat, which…
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