What Do Rabbas Mean to Me?
July 16, 2015
By Rachel Putterman
Why am I, a non-Orthodox female rabbinical student, brought to tears at the recent images of Modern Orthodox women being ordained as rabbis in both Israel and the U.S? Why does this historic shift resonate so deeply with me, given that the liberal movements have been ordaining women for decades?
Part of the answer has to do with the fact that I have been advocating on behalf of women for most of my life, first, as a public interest attorney, and now as a rabbinical student. Thus, on a basic level, I am incredibly moved by the fact that real concrete change is happening, and at such a rapid pace that it appears to constitute a paradigm shift. I don't think anyone could have predicted that two cohorts of Orthodox women — one in Israel and one in the U.S. — would be granted semikha in 2015. Indeed, at the JOFA Un-Conference held a mere nine months ago, in response to participants' urgent questions regarding when women would be ordained as rabbis, a prominent male leader of the Modern Orthodox establishment said that the structure of rabbinic leadership would look very different within one to two generations. The ground is literally shifting beneath our feet!
Another part of the answer has to do with me being a decidedly non-Orthodox rabbinical student. Despite my utter freedom to pursue the rabbinate, and the multiple options I had regarding where to receive rabbinic training, I was never able to shake an awareness that the path that I was pursuing was essentially off limits to women within an entire branch of Judaism. And, I experienced that exclusion of women as a type of Jewish glass ceiling. I felt stigmatized by the fact that being a female rabbinical student automatically signaled that I was not Orthodox. [For purposes of this discussion, I am putting aside the issue that all non-Orthodox rabbis are not considered valid rabbis by most Orthodox].
Whereas a male non-Orthodox rabbinical student could "pass" as Orthodox, so long as he dressed appropriately, the minute I said I was a rabbinical student, it was a given that I was not Orthodox. I find it extremely liberating that with the ordination of Orthodox women that is no longer the case. I am elated that my Modern Orthodox sisters have gained the right to become rabbis if that is their hearts' desire, albeit with much more risk attached to their endeavors than to mine. These women and the men who are supporting them are truly heroic, given the extreme censure and backlash that they face from the ultra-Orthodox. They are the trailblazers, while I am the beneficiary of courageous women who preceded me.
I have met or corresponded with two of the newly ordained female Orthodox rabbis and they have been so happy to connect with me that I've realized that we have more in common than I originally thought. I met both of these women in the context of working towards solutions to the plight of agunot (women whose husbands refuse to grant them a Jewish divorce). Perhaps it was our shared journey, combined with our mutual goal of helping agunot that overrode our denominational differences.
And this is yet the last reason why I'm moved to tears. The nascent expansion of the tent of Jewish women clergy has the potential to lessen the painfully entrenched division between the Orthodox and non-Orthodox, which will in turn lead to the further empowerment of all Jewish women.
Rachel Putterman is a Helen Gartner Hammer scholar-in-residence at HBI and a rabbinical student at Hebrew College.