Dina Najman, 38 ans, est appelée "rosh   kehillah" (tête de la communauté) et non « rabbin   », titre réservé aux seuls hommes pour le moment dans le mouvement orthodoxe  . Cela se passe dans une petite communauté de Manhattan Upper West Side appelée « Kehilat Orach Eliezer ».

Dina Najman est mère de trois enfants, elle enseignera la religion, la Halakha  , répondra aux questions des membres de la communauté... Par contre, elle ne mène pas la prière et ne lit pas dans la Torah, ce rôle est réservé aux membres masculins de la communauté. De même elle n’officie pas comme rabbin   à des mariages ou des enterrements.

En Amérique, le mouvement orthodoxe   commence à nommer des femmes à différentes fonctions dans les communautés, elles portent le titre de « religious mentor ». Blu Greenberg, la célèbre militante féministe fondatrice du mouvement « Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance » y voit un bon début mais espère bien que le mouvement orthodoxe   ne s’arrêtera pas là et qu’elle pourra avoir la chance de voir introniser la première femme rabbin   dans le mouvement orthodoxe   avant de mourir. En attendant, le titre "rosh   kehillah" trouve déjà grâce à ses yeux.

Dans le mouvement orthodoxe   actuel en Amérique, déjà nombreuses sont les étudiantes en Talmud   et l’on trouve déjà plusieurs avocates rabbiniques.

Vu, à partir du mouvement Massorti  , tout cela peut sembler très lent, voire ridicule ; mais cela est un excellent début. Ne nous y trompons pas, il s’agit de l’Amérique, en ce qui concerne la France, le judaïsme orthodoxe   est loin d’en être là... Mais on peut toujours rêver et oeuvrer pour le changement.

Yeshaya Dalsace
août 2006

Ligne rouge

L’ordination d’une femme rabbin   orthodoxe   attire les foudres sur le rabbin   Avi Weiss

Rabbi condemned for ordaining woman
February 25, 2010

(JTA) — The Agudath Israel Council of Torah Sages   has issued a statement suggesting that a New York rabbi should no longer be considered Orthodox because of his decision to ordain a woman.

Last month, Rabbi Avi Weiss announced that one of his female students would now be known as rabba — a feminized version of rabbi — replacing her previous title of “maharat.” He declared in a statement that the name change “makes it clear that Sara Hurwitz is a full member of our rabbinic staff” at Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, a Modern Orthodox synagogue in the Bronx where he is the spiritual leader.

The Agudath Israel council, comprised of leading haredi   rabbis, declared in its statement Thursday that "these developments represent a radical and dangerous departure from Jewish tradition and the mesoras haTorah, and must be condemned in the strongest terms." The statement, which was signed by 10 members of the council, added : "Any congregation with a woman in a rabbinical position of any sort cannot be considered Orthodox."

Hurwitz, who has served at the Hebrew Institute for nearly seven years, performs some rabbinic duties, but cannot perform others because of her gender, including acting as a witness, leading religious services and being counted in a minyan  .

In recent years, a handful of prominent mainstream Modern Orthodox synagogues have hired women for roles like Hurwitz’s, in which they carry out certain functions that historically were the sole domain of male rabbis, from offering guidance in spiritual or Jewish legal matters to teaching classes and delivering lectures.

Agudath Israel spokesman Rabbi Avi Shafran said that the council’s objection to Hurwitz’s situation is that she is considered a “full member” of the rabbinic staff, in violation of the Orthodox value of “tzniut,” or modesty, for women.

“Some of the roles intended for the ‘rabba’ are in fact roles that women even in the haredi   community have played for centuries, such as counseling and offering wise advice,” he said. “ Others, though, are not, especially those that thrust a woman into a public venue.”

The council also objects, Shafran added, because any change in Orthodox norms must be backed by a “world-class Torah decisor,” and no such authority has lent his name to Wiess’s actions.

Meanwhile, The New York Jewish Week is citing an unnamed source close to Weiss as saying that The Rabbinical Council of America, the Modern Orthodox rabbinical group, is considering kicking Weiss out of its organization. Like many members of the RCA, Weiss received his ordination from the Yeshiva University-affiliated Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary.

The RCA has refused to grant membership to graduates of the liberal Orthodox seminary, Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, founded by Weiss.