Mimi Feigelson

Last updated
Mimi Feigelson
Born7 March 1963
New York, U.S.
Education
Occupation(s)Rabbi and educator
Website schechter.edu/staff/rabbi-dr-reb-mimi-feigelson/

Mimi Feigelson is an Orthodox Jewish rabbi, scholar, educator and spiritual leader. [1] [2]

Contents

Early life and education

Born in New York on March 7, 1963, [3] she moved to Israel at age eight and began studying with Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach at age sixteen. [1] In 1985 she completed a BA degree in history at Hebrew University of Jerusalem. [3] She says that in 1994, Carlebach granted her religious ordination (smicha), normally reserved for men. [1] [4] [5] [6] Her ordination as well as that of Eveline Goodman-Thau was revealed in 2000 in an article by the New York Jewish Week. [7] [8] Feigelson is also described as being ordained in 1996 by a panel of three rabbis after Carlebach's death. [7] [9] [10] She earned a masters degree in Jewish philosophy at Hebrew University in 2000. [3] Upon completion of her studies she had expertise not only in Torah but also Chasidic literature and thought with a desire to teach all who wanted to learn. [1] In 2016 she earned her doctorate from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. [3] Her doctoral dissertation explores Jewish funeral rituals and how individuals can reclaim their funerals as the final chapter of life, rather than the first chapter of death. [11]

Rabbinic career

In 2001 she left her role as associate director and head of the women’s beit midrash at Yakar in Jerusalem, an Orthodox synagogue she helped found in 1992, [3] and moved to Los Angeles to teach in the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies at University of Judaism where she was the students’ mashpiah ruchanit, or spiritual guide. [4] [8] She taught at the school until 2017, when she moved back to Israel to take a similar position at the Schechter Rabbinical Seminary in Jerusalem. [11] She uses the title "Reb" rather than "Rabbi" [8] and is universally known as "Reb Mimi". [11]

Feigelson was among the few Orthodox women rabbis to have received private ordination in the Orthodox Jewish context before the institutional change that resulted in the founding of Yeshivat Maharat. [9] Other women in her position include Haviva Ner-David and Dina Najman (both ordained in 2006). In 2010 she was recognized as one of the fifty most influential female Rabbis in the U.S by The Forward. [12]

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Wall, Alix (8 March 2002). "Outed as a rabbi, Orthodox woman to speak here". J. The Jewish News of Northern California . Retrieved 29 October 2014.
  2. ↑ Horwitz, D. (2020). American Conservative Judaism and Kabbalah. In Kabbalah in America (pp. 254-265). Brill.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "Mimi Feigelson". The Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women. Jewish Women's Archive . Retrieved 24 May 2024.
  4. 1 2 Fax, Julie G. (29 November 2001). "A Different Standard: Mimi Feigelson faces obstacles as an Orthodox female with smicha". Jewish Journal . Archived from the original on 30 October 2014.
  5. ↑ "Scholar in Residence - Reb Mimi (Miriam Sara) Feigelson" . Retrieved 29 October 2014.
  6. ↑ Sperber, D. (2010). On women in rabbinic leadership positions. Me'orot, 8, 2.
  7. 1 2 Goodstein, Laurie (21 December 2000). "Ordained As Rabbis, Women Tell Secret". The New York Times.
  8. 1 2 3 Cohen, Debra Nussbaum (26 June 2009). "A Woman With the Title 'Reb'". The Forward . Retrieved 24 May 2024.
  9. 1 2 "Meet the world's first female Orthodox rav". The Jewish Chronicle . Retrieved 26 May 2024.
  10. ↑ Israel-Cohen, Y. (2012). Chapter Five: Orthodox Women Rabbis?“It’s Only a Matter of Time”. In Between Feminism and Orthodox Judaism (pp. 69-78). Brill.
  11. 1 2 3 Fax, Julie Gruenbaum (17 September 2017). "In L.A., Reb Mimi found herself, her soul family and a way home". Jewish Journal .
  12. ↑ Birkner, Gabrielle (July 10, 2010). "The Sisterhood 50". The Forward .
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