Almost two decades ago, I ended my book Women Who Would Be Rabbis: A History of Womenâ??s Ordination, 1889-1985 with a question: â??Will there be Orthodox women rabbis?â? At the start of 2016, media headlines blared: â??Breaking News: New Jersey Synagogue Reveals It Hired First â??Orthodoxâ?? Woman â??Rabbiâ??.â?
Lila Kagedan, the New Jersey Synagogueâ??s new hire, was ordained last summer at New York Cityâ??s Yeshivat Maharat, a seminary that describes itself as offering women â??an official path for gaining the skills, training, and certification they need to become spiritual leaders within the Modern Orthodox community.â? While there, Kagedan broke another barrier: She became its first graduate to take the title rabbi. - See more at: http://divinity.uchicago.edu/sightings/rabbi-rabba-maharat-rabbanit-orthodox-jewish-women-whats-title#sthash.Xn7DVvrt.dpuf
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