Orthodox Jewish women in Israel may now take a rabbinic exam, like men

Israel has permitted women to take official Orthodox rabbinic exams after a years-long court battle. Official ordination as rabbis is still not granted to women by Orthodox religious authorities, and many Orthodox communities resist women using the formal title. Allowing women into the exam process can qualify them for other leadership positions, including public service roles overseeing state-funded religious services. In April, three Orthodox women took the first set of rabbinic tests at the Ministry of Religious Affairs in Jerusalem, after nearly six hours of examinations on Jewish laws of mourning. They were welcomed by their teachers, also women, with singing and bouquets. The change is framed as an expansion of women’s scholarly participation in Jewish religious law and Torah learning.

"To be officially ordained as an Orthodox rabbi in Israel, you have to pass a grueling series of exams. And you have to be a man. Now, after a years-long court battle, Israel has finally allowed women to take the official rabbinic exams. Israel's Orthodox religious authorities still refuse to officially ordain women as rabbis, and most Orthodox communities themselves are resistant to women carrying that formal title."

"But opening up the rabbinic tests to women could qualify them for other leadership roles, like public servant jobs in Israel running state-funded religious services. Advocates consider it a milestone in an ongoing revolution for Orthodox Judaism, expanding women's roles as scholarly experts in Jewish religious law. "Women need to be part of the world of Torah," said Dr. Ruth Agiv, a 44-year-old dentist, who was among a pioneering group of three Orthodox women who took the first of a series of rabbinic tests in April."

"The three women emerged from a nearly six-hour rabbinic exam testing their knowledge of the Jewish religious laws of mourning at Israel's Ministry of Religious Affairs in Jerusalem. They were greeted by their religious teachers, also women, with singing and bouquets of flowers. "In Israel, we broke the glass ceiling of learning," said Rabbanit Batya Krauss, one of their teachers. She goes by the term rabbanit, a female variation of the Hebrew word "rabbi.""

"For generations, advanced religious studies were the domain of men. "When a woman wanted to learn in the olden days, she had to hide," Krauss said, referencing Yentl, the 1983 Barbra Streisand film about a young woman who disguises herself as a man to study the Talmud. That has shifted in the last few decades, with the emergence of se"

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