Jerusalem – Carmit Feintuch, the newly appointed spiritual leader for the Ramban synagogue in south Jerusalem, has said she sees a sense of mission in her new position to help enrich the religious lives of community members.
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As first reported by The Jerusalem Post, Feintuch was appointed to the position two weeks ago and will fill a variety of pastoral and spiritual roles alongside Rabbi Benny Lau who heads the Ramban community.
In a statement released through the Beit Hill liberal Orthodox rabbinical association she is a member of, Feintuch said that it was “a privilege to be in a generation in which women can contribute with all their energy to spiritual leadership.”
“In leading the community I see a precious opportunity to accompany women and people on the journey of their lives through a vision of faith and Torah, to help people in finding meaning through the Torah I have learned and the educational tools I have,” said Feintuch, who will bear the title of “rabbanit.”
She also thanked the Ramban community and Lau for the faith they had shown in her by appointing her to the new position.
Beit Hillel welcomed the appointment and called on other communities to integrate women into their spiritual leadership.
“As an organization that has strongly emphasized the need to empower female Torah scholars in leadership and dissemination of the Torah, and as the first and only Orthodox rabbinical association in which women take equal part in its leadership, we are excited about this significant step,” Beit Hillel said in a statement to the press.
Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, the chief rabbi of Efrat who made the first ever appointment of an Orthodox female spiritual in a communal role in Israel last year, also praised Feintuch’s appointment.
“In every community there is a structural need for a woman to serve in a position of spiritual leadership,” said Riskin, who is also the head of the Ohr Torah Stone network of institutions.
In January last year, Riskin appointed Dr. Jennie Rosenfeld, a graduate of the Susi Bradfield Women’s Institute of Halakhic Leadership at Midreshet Lindenbaum, to take up such a role in Efrat.
The WIHL runs a five year course through which graduates are certified to serve as arbiters of Jewish law and spiritual leaders.
Riskin said that Rosenfeld’s work since being appointed had been “a vibrant addition for religious services available in the community,” and that she had become someone to turn to “for direction and support… whether for spiritual challenges which occur in every day life or during periods of change in peoples lives which have halachic and existential significance.”
The rabbi said that the establishment of a program to train women in giving halachic instruction, was “not taken out of a sense that such a step was a revolution but rather that it was a step too late in coming.”
He added that following the appointment of Rosenfeld, he had hoped that it would pave the way to the appointment of more women in such roles and that he was extremely pleased that this process was now underway.
“I call on other communities to allow the many other qualified women to strengthen Judaism and their congregations,” said Riskin, while also calling on municipal authorities and the government in general to publicly fund positions for female municipal spiritual leaders as they do for municipal and regional rabbis.
עולם הפוך
Nebech.
She is not Orthodox The least she could be classified is “Open Orthodox” which means it’s open to the teachings of Reform and Conservative.
That’s it. Open Orthodoxy has now arrived in Israel. Thank you Modern Orthodox for doing nothing about the threat of Avi Weiss and co. What’s next. Orthodox transgender rabbis? Coming to a theater near you.
There have been many women giving halachic instruction- teaching Jewish law to women that apply to women.
“One may not appoint a woman to the post of kingship, and similarly all appointments [of religious authority] amongst the Jewish people may be held only by men.” Rambam, Hilchot Melachim 1:4, How can women be arbiters of Jewish laws? The Jerusalem Talmud states that women cannot be judges. The ruling is codified in the Code of Jewish Law.
What a ביזיון!!!
is anyone still thinking israel is a jewish state?
Kol ha’kavod. Ken tirbu!
With the decline in decency and moral standards of the Rabbi’s and Rebbe’s we have leading us now, it is refreshing to have to go to the Ezras Nushim for some true and honest leadership. We did this to ourselves….get over it guys!
Please stay in the kitchen where you can do the least damage.
You people are all living thousands of years in the past; times have changed! You remind me of the Taliban, and the religious police in Saudi Arabia, which look to oppress women.
ודבורה אשה….היא שפטה את ישראל
שופטים ד,א
I guess the author of Shoftim, Shmuel Hanavi, was a nebech, the real founder of Open Orthodoxy, a follower of Rabbi Avi Weiss, who created a groisa bezayoin by not following the psak of the Rambam.
Shame on all of you. Read the article again. She is working under the leadership of a Rav. She is NOT taking over for the Rav or the Jewish men in this world. Stop scaring yourselves to death. There is a very important position for women in the religious world and that is to have women come to them with their sheilos, sheilos that they should not be discussing with men, whether they are Rabbonim or not. This is crossing the border and have resulted in dastardly consequences. This is a great idea well past due. If there is a reason for this Rabbanit to discuss something she can not answer, with the Rav she works with, SHE will do so and get back to the women who have approached her. This puts a barrier with the Rav and the women in the kehillah which is a very important issue.