[Avodah] Maharat

[Ilana Elzufon via Avodah]

>
> RMB: the most able woman would never be covered by lo sasur, and therefore
> can't be a "rav" in the sense of pesaq.
>

All I can say on this is that I, personally, am not sufficiently learned to
offer an opinion on whether you are correct here - and kal v'chomer, not
sufficiently learned to pasken. But there are women who are the former, and
possibly the latter.

>
> RMB: Then I have separate problems with changing the "Men's Club" feel of
> shul, believing that it was (1) intentional and that (2) still of use
> to today's man. IOW, I have problems with women as synagogue rabbi
> in a role that changes who is running or speaking during services.
>

On the one hand, I completely agree with you. One of the things I love
about Orthodox Judaism is the all-women spaces - women's shiurim and batei
midrash and tehillim groups and ladies' auxiliaries and all-girls schools.
I wouldn't want men to change the feel of (ruin?) those spaces. On the
other hand, the shul might need a men's club feel but it should have
comfortable space for women as well. I understand that the "men's club"
gets to run the tefillot and be the gabbaim and the ba'alei tefillah and
ba'alei korei and rabbi - and that losing that space would not be good for
men. But I hope that having an ezrat nashim open for all tefillot (during
the week, Shabbat mincha) would not ruin the mens' club atmosphere. Does
having a woman give the drasha go too far in this regard? I think it
depends on the community.

>
>
> RMB: It runs counter to much of halakhah to say that we should try for
> egalitarianism in religious roles. First, such an attempt would be
> frustrated, as we can't reach full egalitarianism within halakhah....
> Second,
> the fact that we can't reach full egalitarianism implies something about
> the
> nature of gener roles, and whether egalitarianism as a value is entirely
> consistent with our religion....
>

Yes! But on the other hand, most of us also live in an "outside world" that
is highly egalitarian. I think many of us, perhaps without conscious
thought, have an egalitarian relationship with our spouse that would have
been very rare a few generations ago. We aren't going to give up voting, or
having our own bank accounts, or attending top universities, or entering
just about whatever profession we like (as long as it isn't rabbi, sofer,
chazan, etc...). And I don't think it is wrong for those changes in the
experiences of women and couples and families and communities to affect
religious practice, to move us in a somewhat more egalitarian direction
WITHIN what is halachically permitted.

I think you have presented some compelling reasons for declining to endorse
or promote the institution of maharats. I see no reason for maharats to be
universally accepted. However, I believe that the maharats personally, and
the communities they serve, remain clearly within the Orthodox community.
We can disagree strongly with another Orthodox sector's practices (Hallel
on Yom Ha'Atzma'ut comes to mind) without declaring them out-of-bounds.

Finally, a perspective from Israel. Women rabbis/maharats are a
particularly contentious issue in the US, because (a) it is similar to
changes made by the Conservative and Reform movements, (b) a very common
career path for American male rabbis is the shul rabbinate, which is
particularly problematic for women, and (c) it seems to have perhaps been
instituted in a manner designed to provoke controversy. In Israel,
Conservative and Reform are a small minority with little influence. Most
male rabbis work in education, writing/translating/publishing, or computer
programming - all perfectly acceptable careers for learned women. Full-time
shul rabbis are almost unheard of. And I can think of three or four
respected, mainstream, dati leumi institutions that are essentially giving
women the equivalent of smicha, without a lot of fanfare. Some people think
this is great, some people think this is awful, and many people have not
really noticed - but there isn't a big brouhaha and questioning of Orthodox
credentials.

Twenty years ago, I used to say that I wasn't sure if Orthodox women rabbis
would end up being a "mechitza issue" or a "sermon in the vernacular
issue." Today, at least from my position in Israel, it seems to be shaping
up as the latter.

Chag sameach,
Ilana
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