Controversy of Women’s Ordination Challenges Orthodox Jewish Community

March 17, 2005

Source: The Jerusalem Post

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1111030174035&p=1006953079845

On March 17, 2005 The Jerusalem Post reported, "The blessings had to be a secret. In 2000, just before becoming one of the first Orthodox women to be privately ordained by an Orthodox rabbi, Jewish academic Eveline Goodman-Thau took an unofficial survey of her colleagues and mentors, including rabbis, who confided that they were behind her, she says... Nearly five years later, as she commutes back and forth from her Jerusalem home to teach Jewish philosophy and culture at the University of Vienna, a very small and underground yet growing circle of Modern Orthodox Israelis is considering the possibility that Jewish law supports ordination for women. In public, the air remains distinctly silent - or hostile... For the time being, as the majority remains firmly opposed, most of the few Orthodox Jewish scholars and leaders who are open to the idea of female rabbis will only whisper their assent anonymously or behind closed doors. But while women rarely seek private Orthodox ordination, many have gone on to become Jewish scholars in their own right, and some say de-facto rabbis."