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.
Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School (YCT) is a Modern Orthodox yeshiva, previously self-described as Open Orthodox, founded in 1999 by Rabbi Avi Weiss.
Open Orthodox Judaism is a Jewish religious movement with a commitment to following halacha, increased emphasis on intellectual openness, and a more expansive role for women. The term was coined in 1997 by Avi Weiss, who views halacha as permitting more flexibility than the normal practices of Orthodox Judaism.
Allan L. Nadler is Wallerstein Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies and Former Director of the Jewish Studies Program at Drew University in Madison, New Jersey.
Women rabbis and Torah scholars are individual Jewish women who are recognized for their studies of the Jewish religious tradition and often combine their study with rabbinical ordination. Ordination of women has grown since the 1970s with over 1,200 Jewish women receiving formal ordination. The majority of these women are associated with Progressive Jewish denominations. In Orthodox Judaism, the matter of ordination is more complex. Although a significant number of 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 for various Jewish religious leadership roles and may entail training in Jewish Law although no formal rabbinic ordination is granted. Instead, alternate titles are used. Yet, despite this alteration in title, these women are often perceived as equivalent to ordained 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.
Temple Emanu-El-Beth Sholom, Westmount is a Reform synagogue in Westmount, Quebec. The syngagoue is the oldest Liberal or Reform synagogue in Canada, incorporated on March 30, 1883, and is the only Reform congregation in Quebec.
Synagogues may be considered "oldest" based on different criteria, and can be oldest in the sense of oldest surviving building, or oldest in the sense of oldest congregation. Some old synagogue buildings have been in continuous use as synagogues, while others have been converted to other purposes, and others, such as the Touro Synagogue, were shuttered for many decades. Some early established congregations have been in continuous existence, while other early congregations have ceased to exist.
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 at the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale as Rabba and she is the president and co-founder of Yeshivat Maharat, both in Riverdale, New York.
Beth Sholom Congregation and Talmud Torah is a Modern Orthodox synagogue on Seven Locks Road in Potomac, Maryland, in the United States. The largest Orthodox synagogue in the Washington metropolitan area, it is led by Rabbi Nissan Antine.
Congregation Shaar Hashomayim is an Ashkenazi synagogue in Westmount, Quebec. Incorporated in 1846, it is the oldest Ashkenazi synagogue in Canada and the largest traditional synagogue in Canada.
This is a timeline of women rabbis:
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 is the first Orthodox-affiliated 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 is 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, albeit controversial, pathway for women in the Orthodox 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 Open 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.
Avi Finegold is a Canadian rabbi in Montreal. In 2015, he founded the Jewish Learning Lab for adult Jewish education, and from July 2017 to 2018 served as interim rabbi of the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue of Montreal. Finegold previously served as executive director of the Montreal Board of Rabbis.
Aaron David Meldola de Sola was the first native-born Canadian rabbi. He succeeded his father Abraham de Sola as leader of the Shearith Israel synagogue in Montreal upon the latter's death in 1882.
