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Yeshivat Maharat
Illustrative: Jewish Orthodox women study Talmud at Kibbutz of Migdal Oz religious study seminary on May 23, 2013. (FLASH90 / Gershon Elinson)
Talmud study is mostly a boys’ club. This Orthodox woman wants to change that
By Ben Sales
Michelle Farber has taught her all-female class a page a day for the last 7 1/2 years as part of the Daf Yomi cycle, and on Jan. 5 will host first major women’s completion ceremony
Illustrative: Jewish Orthodox women study Talmud at Kibbutz of Migdal Oz religious study seminary on May 23, 2013. (FLASH90 / Gershon Elinson)
December 12, 2019, 12:47 pm
Talmud study is mostly a boys’ club. This Orthodox woman wants to change that
Michelle Farber has taught her all-female class a page a day for the last 7 1/2 years as part of the Daf Yomi cycle, and on Jan. 5 will host first major women’s completion ceremony
By Ben Sales
Yeshivat Maharat students attend a graduation ceremony in New York, June 17, 2019. (Shulamit Seidler-Feller/Yeshivat Maharat via JTA)
November 8, 2019, 12:52 pm
New program pays Orthodox synagogues to hire female spiritual leaders
Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance offering grants of up to $10,000 a year to synagogues that hire women for newly created positions
By JTA
Rabbi Nathaniel Helfgot and Marianne Novak. (Courtesy of the Jewish Standard/via JTA)
February 12, 2019, 2:52 pm
In NJ, Orthodox rabbis vote to bar a colleague for training female clergy
New RCBC bylaws do not allow as members leaders of congregations that let women hold rabbinic positions or internships that are part of ordination programs
By Larry Yudelson
Britain's first Orthodox female rabbi, Dina Brawer (Screen capture: YouTube)
May 10, 2018, 6:14 pm
Britain’s first Orthodox female rabbi is ordained
Dina Brawer, who founded UK’s Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance, receives semicha in London from Rabbi Daniel Sperber
By JTA
Maharat Ruth Friedman with the manager of Khepra’s Raw Food Juice Bar, a vegan restaurant she and Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld recently certified kosher. (Courtesy of Friedman/via JTA)
April 25, 2018, 4:40 am
How Washington, DC got a bunch of new kosher restaurants
Maharat Ruth Friedman and Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld are providing supervision at five local vegan joints — but one rabbi threatens to boycott them unless Friedman steps down
By Ben Sales
Ohev Sholom synagogue's Ruth Friedman (YouTube screenshot)
February 1, 2018, 5:54 am
Orthodox Union won’t penalize synagogues that already have women clergy
But the organization reaffirms its decision prohibiting other shuls from hiring women in rabbinic positions
By Ben Sales
November 16, 2017, 11:38 pm
Spiritual leader at NY Orthodox community says she’s no ‘bra-burning feminist’
Through sharing her love affair with Yiddishkeit, Israeli-born Michal Kohane is driving Modern Orthodoxy to new levels of equality
By Cathryn J. Prince
Michal Kohane. (Courtesy)
September 6, 2017, 3:23 am
Brooklyn Orthodox synagogue hires woman as spiritual leader
Michal Kohane will serve as Rosh Kehila, or ‘head of the community,’ for the Prospect Heights Shul
By JTA
Rabbi Adam Scheier, the senior rabbi at Canada's oldest traditional Ashkenazi synagogue, Congregation Shaar Hashomayim, and a member of the Israeli rabbinate's 'blacklist.' (courtesy)
July 11, 2017, 12:54 pm
A blacklisted Diaspora rabbi is pleased to find himself in good company
Adam Scheier, rabbi of Leonard Cohen’s Orthodox Montreal synagogue, says the issue is not getting himself off the Israeli Chief Rabbinate’s list, but that there is a list at all
By Amanda Borschel-Dan
Yeshivat Maharat graduates at their ordination ceremony at Ramaz High School in New York City, June 16, 2013 (photo credit: Joe Winkler/JTA)
May 20, 2017, 2:45 am
Orthodox Union asks women clergy to change their titles
Move follows February ruling by umbrella group that bars females from serving in positions of spiritual authority
By Ben Sales
Rabba Ramie Smith was ordained in 2016 and is now a clergy member at the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, an Orthodox synagogue in New York. (Courtesy of Rabba Smith)
February 4, 2017, 5:07 pm
Facing OU synagogue ban, Orthodox women clergy vow to keep working
‘The way I’m reacting is showing up to work and continuing to do my job,’ says Rabba Ramie Smith of the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale
By Ben Sales
Illustrative: A woman leads a partnership minyan at a conference in New York of the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance, December 2013. (Mike Kelly/JTA)
February 3, 2017, 2:11 am
OU bars women from serving as clergy in its synagogues
A response to handful of women with ritual or prayer leadership roles, ruling forbids formal religious guidance positions or delivering sermons during services
By JTA
Rabbi Denise Eger, a contributor to 'The Sacred Calling,' center, reading Torah during her installation as CCAR president, March 16, 2015. (David A.M. Wilensky)
August 3, 2016, 2:18 am
The big book of women rabbis tells a grand story
Growing more comprehensive every day, the 40-year-old story of female clergy requires a hefty tome
By Joanne Palmer
Sara Hurwitz
June 24, 2016, 1:56 pm
Sara Hurwitz
A clear, credentialed path for women
As recently as 7 years ago, the landscape for female Jewish leaders was lonely; no more, thanks to Yeshivat Maharat
Participants in the San Francisco Pride Parade showing their Jewish and Israeli pride, June 30, 2014. (Wikimedia Commons/via JTA)
April 8, 2016, 5:59 am
Orthodox rabbis wrestle with Jewish law and transgender issues
While America grapples with how — and how much — to accommodate trans preferences, Jews are doing some unique grappling of their own
By Uriel Heilman
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