New program to train Orthodox women as non-rabbis (UPDATED) http://blogs.jta.org/ENTRY_PERMALINK_HERE/new-program-to-train-orthodox-women-as-non-rabbis/ Rabbi Avi Weiss announced last week he was creating Yeshivat Maharat, “an Orthodox Yeshiva of Higher Learning ... [to] train women to become Orthodox Spiritual Leaders – full members of the Rabbinic Clergy—in Synagogues, Schools, and on University Campuses.” The products of said yeshiva won’t be rabbis, though, they’ll be Maharats. en-us bharris@jta.org Copyright 2009 2009-05-19T;00:47:00-05:00 Comment by Jonathan Baker jjbaker@panix.com >will find a welcoming home in the Conservative movement. If the Conservative movement were composed of shuls full of personally observant Jews, that is.  But it’s not, to the extent that many Jews who hold by C ideology, but are personally observant, feel all but forced out of their C-nagogues and attend O synagogues, where they find a community supportive of personal observance. Just read Jack Wertheimer’s surveys - maybe 3% of C Jews are both shomer shabbat and shomer kashrut.  I guarantee that R’ Weiss’ Maharats wiill be personally observant, and not interested in being the “virtual Jew” that was the old role of the rabbi in C-nagoguges. >will find a welcoming home in the Conservative movement.

If the Conservative movement were composed of shuls full of personally observant Jews, that is.  But it’s not, to the extent that many Jews who hold by C ideology, but are personally observant, feel all but forced out of their C-nagogues and attend O synagogues, where they find a community supportive of personal observance.

Just read Jack Wertheimer’s surveys - maybe 3% of C Jews are both shomer shabbat and shomer kashrut.  I guarantee that R’ Weiss’ Maharats wiill be personally observant, and not interested in being the “virtual Jew” that was the old role of the rabbi in C-nagoguges.

]]> 2012-02-09T;19:12:00-05:00 Comment by David Cooper dfc32@columbia.edu Calling a woman rabbi a maharat is like calling a same sex marriage a civil union: separate is implicitly unequal. When Weiss and his congregation are ready to embrace full gender equality they will find a welcoming home in the Conservative movement. Calling a woman rabbi a maharat is like calling a same sex marriage a civil union: separate is implicitly unequal. When Weiss and his congregation are ready to embrace full gender equality they will find a welcoming home in the Conservative movement.

]]> 2012-02-09T;19:12:00-05:00 Comment by Nelson Magedman nelsonsamuel@yahoo.com What is the big deal about female rabbis?  There were female judges in biblical times. What is the big deal about female rabbis?  There were female judges in biblical times.

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