by R. Gil Student
A lot has been written recently on the subject of women’s leadership in the Orthodox community, particularly about women’s ordination on rabbis. The overwhelming conclusion has been that there are many areas of potential growth for women in communal leadership but not in the rabbinate. Traditionally, the rabbinate has been male; we are bound to proudly uphold that tradition.
A good deal has been written on the subject. Here is a list of some of those resources.
Resolutions by rabbinical organizations:
- Rabbinical Council of America, 2015 Resolution: RCA Policy Concerning Women Rabbis
- Rabbinical Council of America, 2010 Convention Resolution: Women’s Communal Roles in Orthodox Jewish Life
- Traditional Orthodox Rabbis of America, Statement on Ordination of Women as Rabbis
- Traditional Orthodox Rabbis of America, Statement on Women Clergy
- Agudath Israel of America, Statement of the Council of Torah Sages
- Orthodox Union, Statement on Women’s Communal and Spiritual Leadership
Essays on the subject:
- OU Rabbinic Panel, On the Matter of Professional Synagogue Positions for Women
- Rav Aharon Lichtenstein, Women in Leadership
- Rav Hershel Schachter, Women Rabbis?
- Rav Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron, Responsum to RCA (Hebrew)
- Rav Yaakov Ariel, Rabbinic Ordination and Halakhic Authority
- Rav Shlomo Aviner, Giving a Woman the Title Rabbi is a Reform Approach (Hebrew)
- Rav Mayer Twersky, Masorah and the Role of the Jewish Woman
- Rav Jonathan Sacks, Women as Leaders
- Rav Yitzchok Adlerstein, Entitled or Untitled?
- Rav Kenneth Auman, Feminism, Egalitarianism, Judaism
- Rav Aryeh Frimer, The View of Rav Joseph B. Soloveitchik zt”l on the Ordination of Women
- Rav David Mescheloff, Appointing a Woman to a Rabbinic Position (Hebrew)
- Rav Yuval Cherlow, Online Responsum (Hebrew)
Two giants from Conservative Judaism wrote about the subject a few decades ago:
- Rabbi Saul Lieberman, Responsum on Women’s Ordination
- Rabbi David M. Feldman, Some Problems Ahead
