10-08-2018, 05:48 PM
(This post was last modified: 12-06-2019, 12:31 PM by Director Michael.)
Thanks for your question. As I hope that you're aware, just seeing a title in front of a name does not mean very much in and of itself these days. One has to look at the person's actual credentials, how they acquired the title, and how they are actually doing what they do.
You are correct that there is no such thing as an authentically ordained woman rabbi in traditional Orthodox Judaism.
We don't need to discuss the ordination of women "rabbis" by the Reform, Conservative or Reconstructionist movements, because those movements have anyway overtly broken away from G-d's Laws in the Torah tradition from Mount Sinai.
There is a modern movement called "Modern Orthodox" Judaism which has been trying to push this and other liberalizing agendas, but they are another in the sequence of ongoing break-away movements from the Torah Law that was given by G-d through Moses at Mount Sinai and transmitted through the ages by the authentic Prophets and Sages of the Jewish people.
Suffice it to say that this issue has been raised and fully considered and debated by the Torah-law authorities of Orthodox Judaism in our recent generations. As it always has been, *necessary* adjustments in the practice of Torah-law Judaism are still determined by majority opinion of the currently recognized Torah-law authorities, with the necessary acceptance of the Orthodox Jewish population as a whole. An example would be the necessary adjustments to Jewish practice that were made for European Jewry that resulted in the differences between Ashkenazic and Sephardic Orthodox Judaism. Almost always since the time that the current temporary Jewish diaspora began about 2000 years ago, those types of changes have involved adding extra restrictions (making needed "fences" around the Torah-law), instead of removing any restrictions, at least in regard to major issues.
The Torah-law basis for the official ruling - that the traditional proscription against women being ordained as Orthodox Rabbis is valid and should be continued - is beyond the scope of this web site. For an official statement that this is indeed the majority Orthodox-Rabbinical opinion to be followed, please see the 2015 Resolution on the RCA (Rabbinical Council of America) Policy Concerning Women Rabbis:
https://rabbis.org/2015-resolution-rca-p...en-rabbis/
You are correct that there is no such thing as an authentically ordained woman rabbi in traditional Orthodox Judaism.
We don't need to discuss the ordination of women "rabbis" by the Reform, Conservative or Reconstructionist movements, because those movements have anyway overtly broken away from G-d's Laws in the Torah tradition from Mount Sinai.
There is a modern movement called "Modern Orthodox" Judaism which has been trying to push this and other liberalizing agendas, but they are another in the sequence of ongoing break-away movements from the Torah Law that was given by G-d through Moses at Mount Sinai and transmitted through the ages by the authentic Prophets and Sages of the Jewish people.
Suffice it to say that this issue has been raised and fully considered and debated by the Torah-law authorities of Orthodox Judaism in our recent generations. As it always has been, *necessary* adjustments in the practice of Torah-law Judaism are still determined by majority opinion of the currently recognized Torah-law authorities, with the necessary acceptance of the Orthodox Jewish population as a whole. An example would be the necessary adjustments to Jewish practice that were made for European Jewry that resulted in the differences between Ashkenazic and Sephardic Orthodox Judaism. Almost always since the time that the current temporary Jewish diaspora began about 2000 years ago, those types of changes have involved adding extra restrictions (making needed "fences" around the Torah-law), instead of removing any restrictions, at least in regard to major issues.
The Torah-law basis for the official ruling - that the traditional proscription against women being ordained as Orthodox Rabbis is valid and should be continued - is beyond the scope of this web site. For an official statement that this is indeed the majority Orthodox-Rabbinical opinion to be followed, please see the 2015 Resolution on the RCA (Rabbinical Council of America) Policy Concerning Women Rabbis:
https://rabbis.org/2015-resolution-rca-p...en-rabbis/