RCA resolution on female ordination ‘political and unfortunate,’ says Riskin.

“I believe the resolution they made wasn’t halachic as much as it was political,” the rabbi said.

Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, the chief rabbi of Efrat and one of the most prominent leaders of modern Orthodoxy, has criticized a recent resolution adopted by the Rabbinical Council of America that banned its member rabbis from giving any form of ordination to women or hiring women in a role of religious or spiritual leadership.

The RCA resolution said its members may not “ordain women into the rabbinate, regardless of the title used,” or “hire, or ratify the hiring of, a woman into a rabbinic position at an Orthodox institution.”

It appeared to be mostly aimed at institutions associated with the liberal-Orthodox movement loosely defined as Open Orthodoxy, including Yeshivat Maharat in Riverdale, New York, founded by Rabbi Avi Weiss, which gives ordination to women to serve as spiritual guides and to give rulings in Jewish law, or Halacha.

Riskin, along with other rabbis in Israel, is himself an RCA member and oversees the Susi Bradfield Women’s Institute for Halachic Leadership (WIHL) at Midreshet Lindenbaum in Jerusalem, which gives women a qualification that amounts to ordination, although it is not labeled as such.

And Riskin appointed a graduate of WIHL to a position of spiritual leadership, the first such appointment to the Orthodox world in Israel, when he hired Dr. Jennie Rosenfeld last year to work as a halachic and spiritual guide in Efrat.

Speaking to The Jerusalem Post earlier this week, Riskin said that the RCA’s resolution was “unfortunate” and argued that it was not based on the substantive issues of women’s ordination.

“I believe the resolution they made wasn’t halachic as much as it was political,” the rabbi said.

“As such it was quite unfortunate. There is no question whatsoever that throughout the generations women have often provided halachic and spiritual leadership as is shown from Sarah the prophetess to Deborah the judge, from Bruriah, the daughter of Rabbi Hananiah ben Teradion of Talmudic times to the rulings of major halachic decisors of today including former chief rabbi [Eliyahu] Bakshi-Doron, that state that women can become the great religious leaders of the generation, the gedolei ha’dor, and that they can provide rulings for halachic direction,” he said.

Riskin also said he was “very taken aback by the inclusiveness of the resolution.”

The terms of the RCA’s resolution banning the ordaining and hiring of women appeared to include women who graduate from the WIHL.

Women at WIHL complete a halachic study comparable to ordination programs undertaken by men, and upon graduation are given the title of morot hora’ah and are certified to serve as spiritual leaders and arbiters of Jewish law.

“The guide must be Halacha and not politics,” continued Riskin. “One can argue about the titles and what title to give, but halachic and religious leadership can certainly be given to women.

“The RCA certainly understand this, and their resolution makes no sense halachically since they accept yoatzot halacha. That’s why it seems to be a political decision and not one based on Halacha.”

Yoetzet halacha are women qualified to give halachic guidance on issues pertaining to Jewish law in the field of family purity, and the position has become an accepted part of modern Orthodoxy in the last 15 years.

The RCA’s resolution says explicitly that it does not apply to “non-rabbinic positions such as yoatzot halacha.”

from the Jerusalem Post, Jpost.com

Full story here.