[Avodah] Gender Inequality in Jewish Weddings

Micha Berger micha at aishdas.org
Tue Jul 16 07:56:47 PDT 2019


On Tue, Jul 16, 2019 at 02:19:39PM +0300, Eli Turkel via Avodah wrote:
:> Rabbanit Batya Friedman is the senior rebbetzin of Hamsptead Suburb Garden
:> Synagogue in London, UK...

: Anyone know what the title "senior rebbetzin" means in this shul in London?

Going to the shul's web site <https://hgss.org.uk/about-hgss/the-hgss-team>,
the picture of the first of the couples on the shul's team is labeled
"RABBI DANIEL & RABBANIT BATYA FRIEDMAN SENIOR RABBINIC COUPLE".
Click on the picture and you get their bios.

She is also the first rebbetzin (as you or I would call them) interviewed
in the Jewish Action article at
<https://jewishaction.com/religion/women/contemporary-rebbetzin-whats-like-rebbetzin-2017>.

So, she prefers "rabbanit" to rebbetzin (see the JA article), and the
couple are billed as teammates. But to answer the question I assume you
are asking, we're not talking about a woman in one of the new clergy
definitions (Maharat or Yoetzet).

In any case, the original article sounded to me more like kiruv fare
about white tablecloths, the kind RYBS was bothered by, than about the
later trend of accomodating feminist sensibilities in particular.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger                 What we do for ourselves dies with us.
http://www.aishdas.org/asp   What we do for others and the world,
Author: Widen Your Tent      remains and is immortal.
- https://amzn.to/2JRxnDF                      - Albert Pine


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