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| Women who want to take the rabbinical exam (TOI) |
Boy… does that ever sound sexist! Except that it isn’t. At least not
when applied to Judaism.
That’s because Judaism is not based on equality between the
sexes. It is based on different roles for different people. God has given us a
guide by which those roles are determined. A guide whose blueprint is the Torah
and whose interpretation has been entrusted to the most devout and
knowledgeable Torah scholars of every generation since the Revelation at Sinai.
This is why, no matter how much I would love to serve God in
the heightened state that a Kohen does, I may not do so—on pain of death
if I try. Only a Kohen occupies that role, as determined by God.
The same is true for women. A woman may not be counted
toward a minyan, no matter how devout or knowledgeable she may be. In
fact, if she enters a synagogue sanctuary where ten or more men are gathered
for a minyan, she does not count toward it. And voids it unless she is
separated by a mechitza.
The traditional role of a Jewish woman for centuries has
been that of a wife and mother. Someone whose primary mission was to raise
children and manage the home, while her husband earned a living or studied
Torah outside the home. She was always seen as the power behind the throne. Enabling
her husband to do what he was required to do by Torah law. But clearly,
motherhood was the chief role of the Jewish woman for generations. And so it
should be today—though often, sadly, it no longer is.
There are a variety of reasons for this shift. Among them is
the role reversal in the Charedi world, where women have become the
primary breadwinners while men often assume some of the responsibilities that
mothers traditionally had.
But the biggest challenge to the traditional role of women
in Judaism has come from the rise of feminism. Particularly the form of
feminism that now dominates Western culture. It is a feminism that has moved
well beyond advocating for equal pay for equal work and equal legal status with
men. It now demands total equity in every conceivable sphere—even in
areas where it doesn’t belong.
One of those areas is religion. And in Judaism, full gender
equality is simply not a value.
That hasn’t stopped some women from seeking semicha
(rabbinic ordination). And once that slippery slope was stepped onto, other
socially progressive values began to be embraced as well. Such as the recent ordination
by a far left women’s rabbinical seminary of an openly gay woman ‘married’ to
another gay woman.
My views about ordaining women are well known: I am opposed
to it for a variety of reasons which I will not go into here.
However, I am not opposed to the relatively recent
phenomenon of women studying Torah in depth. For those with the desire and the
aptitude - God bless them. Surely women are just as intellectually capable as
men, as proven by the many who have earned PhDs in a variety of academic
fields, including the sciences. The difference is that men are obligated
by Jewish law to study Torah, while for women it is optional.
Still, doing Mitzvos that women are not obligated to perform
has long been accepted in Jewish tradition. A prominent example is the taking
of the Daled Minim (lulav, esrog, etc.) on Sukkos, or sitting in the sukkah—both
of which are required only of men, yet almost universally observed by women as
well.
I therefore fully support women who choose to study Torah in
depth. And again, I do not support ordaining them.
But what about some other form of recognition?
That subject has recently come up in Israel, as the Timesof Israel reports:
The Chief Rabbinate must open its rabbinical tests to women, the High Court of Justice stated in a groundbreaking ruling on Monday.
The ruling does not imply that women are entitled to be ordained as rabbis, nor was that requested by the petitioners. Still, its consequences are unprecedented in terms of advancing the status of female Torah scholars in Israel, as noted by Rabbi Seth Farber, head of the ITIM religious rights NGO.
ITIM presented the petition to the court in 2019 along with two other women’s organizations—the Rackman Center for the Advancement of Women’s Status, and the Kolech Religious Women Forum—as well as five women with advanced halachic education, including Farber’s wife, Michelle Cohen Farber, a renowned Talmud scholar.
I actually agree that women who have achieved great success
in their Torah studies deserve to be recognized. In fact, I’ve suggested a
formal degree in advanced Torah study that could be awarded to both men and
women who pass rigorous exams proving their scholarship.
But I oppose using the same exams designed for rabbinical
ordination to serve that purpose. If I understand correctly, that’s exactly
what the High Court of Justice has mandated.
Even though passing the exams will not result in semicha,
it borders on the absurd to deny it to them. Besides it amounts to the same
thing. For all practical purposes, a certificate confirming that they passed
those exams would be tantamount to ordination. Even without the title or formal
degree, some of these women may very well function in rabbinic roles. After
all, they passed the same tests as their male counterparts.
It would be like completing a doctoral dissertation and
fulfilling all requirements for a PhD—only to be denied the title because
you’re female.
Using these exams as the basis for recognition is a very
slippery slope toward granting actual semicha. And that is a feminist objective
that cannot be reconciled with traditional Judaism. It undermines the very
foundation of the Torah's assignment of roles. Roles interpreted and upheld by
the sages throughout Jewish history - and seeks to replace them with the
progressive values of our time.
I’m sure the Israeli Rabbinate will fight this ruling. I
think they must. But at the same time I also think it would be fair for them to
design a test that would grant both men and women some sort of official recognition
for their achievement in Torah study.
