Dina Brawer (born Dina Elmaleh) is an Orthodox woman rabbi and the founder of the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance division in the United Kingdom (JOFA UK). [1] [2] Brawer received her rabbinical ordination at Yeshivat Maharat in the United States and is the first Orthodox woman rabbi to serve in the UK. [3] [4] Brawer's work at JOFA UK focuses on women's rights in Orthodox Judaism and the religious education of adult women in Orthodox communities in the UK. [5] [6] [7]
Brawer was born and raised in Milan, Italy to a Chabad Hasidic family. [8] After migrating to the United Kingdom, Brawer's education included a B.A. in Hebrew and Jewish Studies from the University of London, an M.A. in Education and Psychology from the Institute of Education, London. [9] In 2013, Brawer established and led JOFA UK to advocate for expanding the religious roles of women in Britain's Orthodox communities. Subsequently, Brawer joined Yeshivat Maharat and received her ordination in 2018. [8] [5] Brawer is not formally affiliated with the Chabad Hasidic community but has described her education and training in Chabad as fundamental to her approach to Judaism. [10] [11] Brawer is married to Rabbi Dr. Naftali Brawer who was born in Boston but raised in Canada. [12] Brawer and her husband co-founded of the Mishkan community in London which is described as a "transdenominational, pop-up Jewish community". [13] [14] After years of service in Britain's Jewish community, the Brawers relocated to the United States. [12]
Dina Brawer was listed among Britain's 100 most influential Jewish community activists in 2016. [6]
The role of women in Judaism is determined by the Hebrew Bible, the Oral Law, by custom, and by cultural factors. Although the Hebrew Bible and rabbinic literature mention various female role models, religious law treats women differently in various circumstances. According to a 2017 study by the Pew Research Center, women are slightly more numerous among worldwide Jewish population (52%).
Chabad, also known as Lubavitch, Habad and Chabad-Lubavitch, is an Orthodox Jewish Hasidic dynasty. Chabad is one of the world's best-known Hasidic movements, particularly for its outreach activities. It is one of the largest Hasidic groups and Jewish religious organizations in the world. Unlike most Haredi groups, which are self-segregating, Chabad operates mainly in the wider world and caters to secularized Jews.
Jewish feminism is a movement that seeks to make the religious, legal, and social status of Jewish women equal to that of Jewish men in Judaism. Feminist movements, with varying approaches and successes, have opened up within all major branches of the Jewish religion.
The Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance (JOFA) is an Open Orthodox Jewish organization providing educational services on women's issues, with the aim of expanding "the spiritual, ritual, intellectual, and political opportunities for women within the framework of Halakha." It was incorporated on April 14, 1998, with Jewish-American writer Blu Greenberg as its first president. It is active in North America, the United Kingdom, and Australia.
Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School (YCT) is an Open Orthodox yeshiva, founded in 1999 by Rabbi Avi Weiss.
Open Orthodoxy is a Jewish religious movement with increased emphasis on intellectual openness and a more expansive role for women. The term was coined in 1997 by Avi Weiss, who views halakha as permitting more flexibility than the traditional practices of Orthodox Judaism.
Haviva Ner-David is an Israeli feminist activist and rabbi.
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. Although Orthodox women have been ordained as rabbis, many major Orthodox Jewish communities and institutions do not accept the change. In an alternative approach, other Orthodox Jewish institutions train women as Torah scholars for various Jewish religious leadership roles. These roles typically involve training women as religious authorities in Jewish Law but without formal rabbinic ordination, instead, alternate titles are used. Yet, despite this alteration in title, these women are often perceived as equivalent to ordained rabbis. Since the 1970s, over 1,200 Jewish women have been ordained as rabbis.
Orthodox Jewish feminism is a movement in Orthodox Judaism which seeks to further the cause of a more egalitarian approach to Jewish practice within the bounds of Jewish Law. The major organizations of this movement is the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance (JOFA) in North America, and Women of the Wall (WOW) and its affiliates in Israel and internationally, known as The International Committee for Women of the Wall (ICWOW). In Israel, the leading Orthodox feminist organization is Kolech, founded by Dr. Chana Kehat. In Australia, there is one Orthodox partnership minyan, Shira Hadasha, in Melbourne.
Sara Hurwitz is an Orthodox Jewish spiritual leader aligned with the "Open Orthodox" faction of Modern Orthodox Judaism in the United States. She is considered by some to be the first female Orthodox rabbi. She serves as "Rabba" at the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, and the president and co-founder of Yeshivat Maharat, both in Riverdale, New York.
Mimi Feigelson is an Orthodox Jewish rabbi, scholar and spiritual leader.
Sir Ephraim Yitzchak Mirvis is an Orthodox rabbi who serves as the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth. He served as the Chief Rabbi of Ireland between 1985 and 1992.
This is a timeline of women rabbis:
Rachel Kohl Finegold is a Montreal-based Open Orthodox Rabba at Congregation Shaar Haashomayim, and the first Orthodox woman to serve as synagogue clergy in Canada.
Gilah Kletenik is an academic and rabbi.
Malke Bina is the founder and first teacher of Matan Women's Institute for Torah Studies. She has a master's degree in Hebrew Bible from Yeshiva University. She is married to a rabbi and is called by the term Rabbanit, which is less common in Modern Orthodox circles. Bina does not consider herself a rabbi and, at a 2004 conference of Orthodox Jewish Feminists, emphasized her focus on Talmud study. She was interviewed by JOFA in 2006 and serves on its Council of Advisers. She also pioneered women's reading of Megillat Esther on Purim.
Alissa Thomas-Newborn is an American Orthodox Jewish spiritual leader who became the first Orthodox female clergy member to preside in the Los Angeles, California area when she assumed her post as a spiritual leader at B’nai David-Judea Congregation (BDJ) in August 2015. The announcement of her appointment came on May 2, 2015 from the pulpit by the lead clergyman of the synagogue, Rabbi Yosef Kanefsky.
Yeshivat Maharat is a Jewish educational institution in The Bronx, New York, which was the first Open Orthodox yeshiva in North America to ordain women. The word Maharat is a Hebrew acronym for phrase manhiga hilkhatit rukhanit Toranit, denoting a female "leader of Jewish law spirituality and Torah". Semikha and the title of Maharat are awarded to graduates after a 3- or 4-year-long program composed of intensive studies of Jewish law, Talmud, Torah, Jewish thought, leadership training, and pastoral counseling. The ordination functions as a credentialed pathway for women in the Jewish community to serve as clergy members.
Lila Kagedan is a Canadian-born Jewish rabbi who in 2016 became the first woman with the title rabbi to be hired by an Orthodox synagogue. This occurred when Mount Freedom Jewish Center in New Jersey, which is open Modern Orthodox, hired Kagedan to join their "spiritual leadership team." She is currently the rabbi at Walnut Street Synagogue, an Open Orthodox synagogue in Massachusetts.
Dina Najman is the rabbi of the Kehilah of Riverdale, a synagogue in Bronx, New York city, founded in 2014, which describes itself as "an Orthodox Jewish Congregation dedicated to creating a serious and meaningful tefilah for our kehilah, committed to learning Torah and living by its values and seeking to promote individual and communal acts of chesed (kindness)" and as "supporting spiritual and lay leadership irrespective of gender."
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