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April 11, 2003
Vancouver lacks female rabbis
It's time for women to regain their visibility as Jewish religious
leaders.
RABBI NOMI OREN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH BULLETIN
A group of Vancouver women has been studying Kohelet, Ecclesiastes.
We have found ourselves repeatedly wrestling with the repetition
of the cynical phrase "Ein chadash tachat hashamesh":
"There is nothing new under the sun." Of course there
has to be newness, we insist, noting the first sproutings of spring
growth, the excitement of an expectant mother, the challenge of
new ideas.
In fact, while Kohelet is understood as a text pertaining to the
fall cycle of natural – and human – life, we are now coming
into the Pesach season, which is all about new beginnings. Pesach
is understood as the birth of the Jewish nation, replete with birth
imagery. In the story of the Exodus, women – in both Torah
and Midrash – play critical parts. This leads to the claim,
by our sages, that because of the women was Israel brought out of
Egypt.
On the other hand, it does seem that there remains a mitzrayim,
a "narrow place," for women seeking positions of Jewish
religious leadership in the Vancouver Jewish community.
I am a woman who, at midlife, found myself responding, with some
trepidation, to a dream and "calling" I could no longer
ignore. I applied to a serious program of rabbinic studies, took
leave from my work as a psychotherapist and social services supervisor,
and returned to Israel. Six years later, in July 2001, I was ordained
as a rabbi.
Since that time, I have been engaged in an intense process of determination:
ascertaining what the role and title of "rabbi" can come
to mean for me as an individual and as a woman. How will I fit the
role, how can I "look the part"? How will the classical
male definition of rabbi-ing shift to incorporate the feminine?
Unlike many male colleagues, I have chosen to explore rabbinic work
other than that of congregational rabbi, although for several years
I did facilitate a chavurah of lively progressive Jews in Jerusalem.
Returning to Vancouver to spend time with family, friends and community,
what struck me when I browsed through a copy of the Jewish Western
Bulletin (dated Jan. 24, 2003) was the nature of inclusions
and exclusions referencing those entitled "rabbi."
For example, of 16 rabbis listed as speakers on behalf of a new
Vancouver Jewish high school, none were women. Among rabbis selected
to participate in panel discussions after screenings of a socially
and Jewishly significant film, Trembling Before G-d, not
one was female.
I surveyed the names of rabbis, cantors, Torah readers and sh'lichei
tzibur (prayer leaders) on the Synagogue Life page. No surprise.
That assemblage is 100 per cent male.
Maybe the wisest of the wise, Kohelet, son of David, king in Jerusalem,
was anticipating this aspect of Jewish life, under Vancouver skies,
when he could find nothing new or transcendant.
It was at this low point that I needed to remind myself that what
appears to be the case in Vancouver is not reflective of Jewish
life in other parts of North America or even in our Jewish homeland,
Israel. I have visited many Jewish communities across this continent
and recently returned from Ohalah, an Aleph (Jewish Renewal)
rabbinic conclave in Denver, Colo. Of the more than 100 participants
at this gathering, a significant percentage were powerful, deeply
learned women rabbis, chaplains and cantors who, in various capacities,
serve Jewish communties around the world.
In Israel, rabbinic colleagues of any but the "unquestioned"
Orthodox denominations remain unrecognized by the state rabbinic
establishment. The rabbinate retains tight control over religious
institutional funding, as well as the celebration and formal registration
of lifecycle events. Notwithstanding, a few years ago I was a guest
at the ordination of my chavruta, my Jewish study partner,
who has since become Conservative rabbi for the town of Tsfat in
the Galilee. Shira is one of an increasing number of female rabbis
who have graduated from Machon Shachter, the Conservative Rabbinic
Institute in Jerusalem, and have found employment in the country.
The same holds true of the Reform Movement, while Rabbi Amy has
provided the impetus for an ongoing Reconstructionist minyan in
the heart of Jerusalem. There has even been some movement in the
Orthodox world to extend the title of "rabbi" to specific,
"special" women.
As a rabbinic student in Jerusalem, I was blessed to meet, study
and interact with female and male rabbis and students from all the
non-Orthodox denominations. I pursued a significant portion of my
rabbinic studies within the auspices of the Israeli Conservative
movement. Yet I chose, also, to become immersed in the Orthodox
world and spent several years in intense studies at Yakar, a co-educational
yeshivah, and at Matan, a yeshivah for Orthodox women pursuing programs
of advanced Jewish learning including Talmud, once the exclusive
territory of men. I experienced talmudic studies as both exciting
and extremely challenging. The Mishnah (Pirkei Avot 5:23) designates
15 as the age when a young man should begin these studies. I was
a woman of 50!
Why are women rabbis currently resident in Vancouver not being listed
alongside their male colleages? I have also to question why women
rabbis are not being hired by local congregations? There are several
congregations in this area whose services are fully participatory
for both genders. What a loss for the young women who will be attending
the proposed new Jewish high school – an idea I support without
reservation – if, in the 21st-first century in Vancouver, they
are still denied female rabbinic role models.
The prophet Isaiah, Chapter 40, did a remarkable thing. In verse
9, he made a grammatical shift into the female gender and declared:
"Go up onto a high mountain, you [female] messenger of Zion.
Raise your voice in strength, you [female] messenger of Jerusalem;
raise it and do not be afraid."
Most traditional, male commentators have not responded to this,
but I find here a potent affirmation of the need for the female
voice in our tradition – and in our communities. On Shabbat
Beshalach, the Torah portion refers to the song of the prophetess
Miriam while the Haftorah focuses on Devorah, a prophetess, warrior
and judge. It is high time that women gain – regain –
their visibility as Jewish religious leaders.
I have not returned to this community to be on the attack, but to
make a plea to my brothers, the male rabbis of Vancouver, to heed
the words of Isaiah. It is a plea for consciousness and for realistic
support. During my studies, a well-intended male colleague made
the suggestion that I might benefit from spending time in some of
the Chassidic stiblach (tiny study and prayer spaces) in
Jerusalem. I had to remind him that this would be impossible. I
would be refused entry.
On the other hand, it feels like high time for the exclusively male
gatherings of rabbis to open their ranks to those women rabbis who
may choose to live, work and practice in this community. Our male
rabbis should remind organizers of the existence of female colleagues
so that there can be women's voices commenting on events of import
to community life; so that we, too, can join in promoting the development
of Jewish education, so that the frequently invisible feminine becomes
as visible as it was during that first Passover, enriching all our
lives.
Rabbi Nomi Oren is a Jewish teacher, spiritual guide and
writer presently staying on Bowen Island and planning to return
to Tsfat, Israel, in the summer.
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