Last week, amid the daily barrage of significant news headlines – the possible fall of the government coalition, the battle over the haredi draft exemption, ballistic missiles from Yemen, and the daily war reports from Gaza – another news item appeared with less notice and bombast but which ultimately may have an enduring and significant effect on Jewish life in Israel in the coming years.
On July 15, Israel’s High Court of Justice ruled that women are no longer prohibited from taking the rabbinical exams administered by Israel’s Chief Rabbinate. In 2018, several women had submitted their names to take the exams but were turned down. In response, in 2019 a group of several organizations, such as ITIM – The Jewish Life Advocacy Center, the Rackman Center at the Faculty of Law at Bar-Ilan University, and Kolech, the Religious Women’s Forum – petitioned the court to permit women to take the exams.
Over the past six years, the issue was bandied about, and various solutions were suggested, none of which led to anything substantial, until the court’s ruling this past week.
The Magazine spoke with Rabbi Seth Farber, founder and director of ITIM, as well as with two women who were named on the original petition, to get their background and understanding of the issue. “This story is something that fits into ITIM’s general thinking – that is, making the religious establishment more respectful and responsive to the Jewish needs of the Jewish people,” Farber explained.
He stated that the significance of taking the rabbinic tests extends beyond symbolic meaning to include substantial financial implications. In 2016, Arye Deri, then-interior minister, ruled that individuals who passed the rabbinic exams would be granted the equivalent status of an academic degree – entitling them to higher salaries as lecturers and educators.
Farber noted that while various women’s institutions of Torah learning in Israel have their own internal halachic training and testing programs, the notion of having an official accreditation process, universal for halachic scholars – both men and women – is a good way to get more people to study Jewish law.
Beginning in 2017, ITIM met with a group of women Torah scholars to discuss the possibility of applying to take the rabbinic examinations. Farber stated that the Rabbinate initially did not respond, and despite their offers and negotiations, they were unable to reach an agreement.
“They don’t meet these women, so they don’t believe such a thing [women scholars] exists, and they’re always afraid of the slippery slope. But we offered. We were even willing to consider it if it was the same exam but offered by a different office.
Farber said that he was reluctant to petition the court. “Even though I have a reputation to go to court a lot,” he said, “I think it’s a last resort for me.” Farber pointed out that the lawsuit that was brought did not refer to granting women rabbinic ordination, known in Hebrew as smicha.
“One of the great achievements of the brief and the decision is that it differentiates between the jurisdiction of the rabbinate to offer exams and the jurisdiction of the rabbinate to provide smicha.” That issue is something that may or may not be addressed at a later date, he said.
RABBANIT SHLOMIT PIAMENTA, a resident of Mitzpe Netofa in northern Israel and executive director of the Beit Hillel rabbinic organization, the only Orthodox Israeli rabbinic body to be run equally by men and women, was one of the women who applied to take the exam through the Chief Rabbinate in 2018.
She studied at numerous institutions, such as Migdal Oz, Midreshet Lindenbaum, Matan, and Midreshet Ein Hanatziv, where she graduated from the Morot L’Halacha (Halachic leadership) program.
“Even in the initial discussions,” Piamenta said, “the court stated that there was no justification for this discrimination, and it was clear that there was a very simple solution: open a class for women and allow them to take the exams as well. The Rabbanut [Rabbinate] refused to accept this solution and tried to propose various alternative solutions, which did not hold up – they also failed to implement them in practice. Each time, they asked a different government ministry to take responsibility for testing women and to create parallel exams specifically for women.”
Piamenta added that the Rabbinate’s proposed parallel exams for women provided fewer benefits, and that passing them lacked the public recognition associated with the standard tests.
Recounting the numerous visits to the courts and their expectation that winning the case would take a very long time, Piamenta said, “We would come to court with our children and joke that one day we’d come with our grandchildren.” She expected that the court would not issue a verdict until after the war ended and was surprised last week when the court issued its decision.
Why did Piamenta want to take the rabbinic exams? “I wanted to take the exams out of principle. First and foremost, because I believe the world of Torah must not be a world of injustice. I’ve studied enough Torah to know that it is open to everyone and that the crown of Torah lies in the corner, waiting for anyone who wishes to come and take it.
“And I also know that women have something to offer – and that they are needed. The Torah world needs women in Halacha, and their voices are valued. The feeling that, without any justified reason, we would be left out really bothered me.”
Rabbanit Sarah Segal-Katz, a Jerusalem resident who was recently ordained by Yeshivat Maharat in New York, is currently in the US, managing projects based in Israel, and focusing on halachic and academic writing. Segal, who was also certified as a rabbanit by Beit Morasha and the Rabbanut Yisraelit at the Hartman Institute, was one of the original women who applied to take the exams.
“If I could have had the official certification from the state, perhaps I might not have gone to three different programs,” she said.
Segal-Katz recounted that she cried together with her husband when she learned of the court’s decision. “This was the day that we longed for,” she said “It’s not just my story. We did it for the honor of the Torah and the public, and it is a historic step for the Jewish people.”
She added that the decision to allow women in Israel to take the rabbinic exams will put Israel more on a par with feminism in America. “Sometimes, women studying here in America consider whether they want to live in Israel. The prevailing sentiment is that America is 20 years ahead in the options available to women scholars in Halacha and the feminist field.
“Now there is a way for that.”
FARBER expects that women will register to take the series of tests that will be offered before Rosh Hashanah. He says that it is possible that the Rabbinate may appeal the court’s decision; and if it does, ITIM will return to court.
The ultimate goal, Farber concluded, is not only to increase the number of women studying Halacha but also to change the way the State of Israel works so that it enforces equality, practices what it preaches, and enables women to have equal access to everything. “We’re interested in the Torah world and enhancing the Torah world. And we’re also interested in making the State of Israel better.”
Piamenta put it even more personally: “I want my daughters and granddaughters, God willing, to study in batei midrash [houses of Torah study] that are on a high level, that have high aspirations – and that must go hand in hand with recognition.”