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Contents. Women rabbis and Torah scholars. Women rabbis are individual Jewish women who have studied Jewish Law and received rabbinical ordination. Women rabbis are prominent in Progressive Jewish denominations, however, the subject of women rabbis in Orthodox Judaism is more complex.
This is a timeline of women rabbis: Early figures and forerunners. 1590–1670: Asenath Barzani is considered the first female rabbi of Jewish history by some scholars, though she was neither ordained or officially recognized as such during her lifetime.
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- Etymology and Pronunciation
- Historical Overview
- Functions
- Ordination
- Interdenominational Recognition
- Women Rabbis
The word comes from the Mishnaic Hebrew construct רְבִּי rǝbbī,[a] meaning "Master [Name]"; the standard Hebrew noun is רב rav "master". רב rav is also used as a title for rabbis, as are rabbeinu ("our master") and ha-rav ("the master"). See also Rav and Rebbe. The Hebrew root in turn derives from the Semitic root ר-ב-ב (R-B-B), which in Biblical ...
Rabbi is not an occupation found in the Hebrew Bible, and ancient generations did not employ related titles such as Rabban, Rabbi, or Rav to describe either the Babylonian sages or the sages in Israel. For example, Hillel I and Shammai (the religious leaders of the early first century) had no rabbinic title prefixed to their names. The titles "Rabb...
Rabbis serve the Jewish community. Hence their functions vary as the needs of the Jewish community vary over time and from place to place. Study and teaching 1. Rabbis have always been the main links in the chain of transmission (masorah) whereby knowledge of the Torah has been passed down through the generations. Learning from their teachers, addi...
Classical ordination
The first recorded examples of ordination are Moses transmitting his authority to Joshua and the 70 elders. Similarly, Elijah transmitted his authority to Elisha. According to Pirkei Avot, ordination was transmitted without interruption from Moses to Joshua, to the elders, to the prophets, to the men of the Great Assembly, to the Zugot, to the Tannaim. The chain of semikhahwas probably lost in the 4th or 5th century, though possibly as late as the 12th century. According to Maimonides (12th c...
Contemporary ordination
Since the end of classical ordination, other forms of ordination have developed which use much of the same terminology, but have a lesser significance in Jewish law. Nowadays, a rabbinical student is awarded semikhah (rabbinic ordination) after the completion of a learning program in a yeshiva or modern rabbinical seminary or under the guidance of an individual rabbi. The exact course of study varies by denomination, but most are in the range of 3–6 years. The programs all include study of Ta...
Orthodox and Modern Orthodox Judaism
An Orthodox semikhah requires the successful completion of a program encompassing Jewish law ("Halakha") and responsa in keeping with longstanding tradition. Orthodox rabbis typically study at yeshivas, "colleges" which provide Torah study generally, and increasingly at dedicated institutions; both are also referred to as "Talmudical/Rabbinical schools or academies"; see List of rabbinical schools § Orthodox. In both cases, the program is effectively post-graduate, comprising two years on ave...
Historically and until the present, recognition of a rabbi relates to a community's perception of the rabbi's competence to interpret Jewish law and act as a teacher on central matters within Judaism. More broadly speaking, it is also an issue of being a worthy successor to a sacred legacy. As a result, there have always been greater or lesser disp...
With few rare exceptions, Jewish women have historically been excluded from serving as rabbis. This changed in the 1970s, coinciding with the shift in American society involving second-wave feminism, the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion began ordaining women as rabbis. Today, Jewish women serve as rabbis within all progressive bran...
The role of women in the rabbinate has been hotly debated within the Jewish community. The first female rabbi ever to be ordained was Regina Jonas of East Berlin. On December 25, 1935, Rabbi Dr. Max Dienemann, head of the Liberal Rabbis Association of Offenbach, ordained Jonas to serve as a rabbi in Jewish communities in Germany.
Women Rabbis: A History of the Struggle for Ordination. While the Reform movement was theoretically in favor of women's ordination as far back as 1922, it was not until 50 years later that the first women was ordained as a rabbi in North America. By Howard Sachar
- Howard Sachar
Jan 28, 2016 · Mimi Feigelson, known as Reb Mimi, was ordained in 1994 by disciples of the charismatic rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, and, since then, has called herself an Israeli Orthodox woman rabbi. Then there is also Rabba Sara Hurwitz.
May 31, 2022 · May 31, 20225:10 AM ET. Heard on Morning Edition. By. Deena Prichep. 3-Minute Listen. Playlist. Next month it will be 50 years since Sally Priesand was ordained as the nation's first female...
