This is a timeline of women rabbis :
The subject of homosexuality and Judaism dates back to the Torah. The book of Vayikra (Leviticus) is traditionally regarded as classifying sexual intercourse between males as a to'eivah that can be subject to capital punishment by the current Sanhedrin under halakha.
Reconstructionist Judaism is a Jewish movement based on the concepts developed by Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan (1881–1983) that views Judaism as a progressively evolving civilization rather than just a religion. The movement originated as a semi-organized stream within Conservative Judaism, developed between the late 1920s and the 1940s before seceding in 1955, and established a rabbinical college in 1967. Reconstructionist Judaism is recognized by many scholars as one of the five major streams of Judaism in America alongside Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, and Humanistic.
Women in Judaism have affected the course of Judaism over millenia. Their role is reflected in the Hebrew Bible, the Oral Law, by custom, and by cultural factors. Although the Hebrew Bible and rabbinic literature present various female role models, religious law treats women in specific ways. According to a 2017 study by the Pew Research Center, women account for 52% of the worldwide Jewish population.
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.
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 yeshiva self-identified as Modern Orthodox, previously self-described as Open Orthodox, founded in 1999 by Rabbi Avi Weiss.
Avraham Haim Yosef (Avi) haCohen Weiss is an American Open Orthodox ordained rabbi, author, teacher, lecturer, and activist who led the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale in The Bronx, New York until 2015. He is the founder of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah for men and Yeshivat Maharat for women, rabbinical seminaries that are tied to Open Orthodoxy, a breakaway movement that Weiss originated, which is to the left of Modern Orthodox Judaism and to the right of Conservative Judaism. He is co-founder of the International Rabbinic Fellowship, a rabbinical association that is a liberal alternative to the Orthodox Rabbinical Council of America, and founder of the grassroots organization Coalition for Jewish Concerns – Amcha.
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.
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.
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.
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, and is one of the first female Orthodox rabbis to be appointed by a synagogue. 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 Open Orthodox rabbi, scholar, educator and spiritual leader.
Linda Joy Holtzman is an American rabbi and author. In 1979, she became one of the first women in the United States to serve as the presiding rabbi of a synagogue, and the first woman to serve as a rabbi for a solely Conservative congregation, when she was hired by Beth Israel Congregation of Chester County, which was then located in Coatesville, Pennsylvania.
Rachel Kohl Finegold is an Open Orthodox Rabba at the Moriah Congregation in Deerfield, Illinois. She was the first Orthodox woman to serve as synagogue clergy in Canada, serving as Associate Rabba at Congregation Shaar Haashomayim in Montreal until 2023.
Yeshivat Maharat is a fringe and controversial Jewish educational institution in The Bronx, New York, which is the first 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 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 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 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.
This is a timeline of women in religion. See also: Timeline of women in religion in the United States, and Timeline of women's ordination.
This is a timeline of LGBT Jewish history, which consists of events at the intersection of Judaism and queer people.
On being called Rabbi…