Mimi Feigelson

Last updated

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

Born in the United States, she moved to Israel at age eight and began studying with Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach at age fifteen. [3] She says that in 1994, he granted her religious ordination (smicha), normally reserved for men. [1] [4] [5] [6] This was revealed in 2000 in an article by the New York Jewish Week. [7] Feigelson is also described as being ordained in 1994 by a panel of three rabbis after Carlebach's death. [8] [9] She is currently a lecturer in the rabbinic school at American Jewish University in Los Angeles, and the students’ mashpiah ruchanit, or spiritual guide. [7] She uses the title "Reb" rather than "Rabbi." [7]

Mimi Feigelsohn 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. Other women in her position include Haviva Ner-David and Dina Najman (both ordained in 2006).

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women in Judaism</span> Role of women in Judaism

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%).

A rabbi is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as semikha – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of the rabbi developed in the Pharisaic and Talmudic eras, when learned teachers assembled to codify Judaism's written and oral laws. The title "rabbi" was first used in the first century CE. In more recent centuries, the duties of a rabbi became increasingly influenced by the duties of the Protestant Christian minister, hence the title "pulpit rabbis", and in 19th-century Germany and the United States rabbinic activities including sermons, pastoral counseling, and representing the community to the outside, all increased in importance.

Semikhah is the traditional Jewish name for rabbinic ordination.

Jewish religious movements, sometimes called "denominations", include different groups within Judaism which have developed among Jews from ancient times. Today, the most prominent divisions are between traditionalist Orthodox movements ; modernist movements such as Conservative, Masorti and Reform Judaism; and secular or Hiloni Jews.

Judith Rebecca Hauptman is an American feminist Talmudic scholar.

Amy Eilberg is the first female rabbi ordained in Conservative Judaism. She was ordained in 1985 by the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, one of the academic centers and spiritual centers of Conservative Judaism.

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.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women rabbis and Torah scholars</span>

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.

The first openly lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender clergy in Judaism were ordained as rabbis and/or cantors in the second half of the 20th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sara Hurwitz</span>

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timeline of women rabbis in the United States</span>

This is a timeline of women rabbis in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timeline of women rabbis</span>

This is a timeline of women rabbis.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dina Najman</span> American rabbi

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."

References

  1. 1 2 "Outed as a rabbi, Orthodox woman to speak here". 8 March 2002. Retrieved 29 October 2014.
  2. ↑ Horwitz, D. (2020). American Conservative Judaism and Kabbalah. In Kabbalah in America (pp. 254-265). Brill.
  3. ↑ "Orthodox Women Rabbis" . Retrieved 29 October 2014.
  4. ↑ "A Different Standard: Mimi Feigelson faces obstacles as an Orthodox female with smicha". Jewish Journal. Retrieved 29 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 3 "A Woman With the Title 'Reb'". The Jewish Daily Forward. 26 June 2009. Retrieved 29 October 2014.
  8. ↑ 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.
  9. ↑ Goodstein, Laurie (21 Dec 2000). "Ordained As Rabbis, Women Tell Secret". New York Times.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.