Orthodox Jewish women in Israel may now take a rabbinic exam, like men

A significant story is unfolding on the international scene. Religion Orthodox Jewish women in Israel may now take a rabbinic exam, like men May 28, 202612:16 PM ET Daniel Estrin Rabbanit Batya Kraus leads a women's study session at Matan – The Sadie Rennert Women's Institute for Torah Studies in Ra'anana. Matan is an Israeli institute dedicated to advanced Torah learning and Jewish studies for women, offering educational programs and leadership training. Ofir Berman for NPR hide caption toggle caption Ofir Berman for NPR JERUSALEM — To be officially ordained as an Orthodox rabbi in Israel, you have to pass a grueling series of exams.

And you have to be a man. Now, after a years-long court battle, Israel has finally allowed women to take the official rabbinic exams. Israel's Orthodox religious authorities still refuse to officially ordain women as rabbis, and most Orthodox communities themselves are resistant to women carrying that formal title.

The Details

But opening up the rabbinic tests to women could qualify them for other leadership roles, like public servant jobs in Israel running state-funded religious services. Advocates consider it a milestone in an ongoing revolution for Orthodox Judaism, expanding women's roles as scholarly experts in Jewish religious law. Sponsor Message "Women need to be part of the world of Torah," said Dr.

Ruth Agiv, a 44-year-old dentist, who was among a pioneering group of three Orthodox women who took the first of a series of rabbinic tests in April. "We should not need to be outside. " A slow evolution for Orthodox Jewish women Ruth Agiv, who sat for examinations administered by the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, attends a women's Torah study session at Matan in Ra'anana.

Ofir Berman for NPR hide caption toggle caption Ofir Berman for NPR The three women emerged from a nearly six-hour rabbinic exam — testing their knowledge of the Jewish religious laws of mourning — at Israel's Ministry of Religious Affairs in Jerusalem. They were greeted by their religious teachers, also women, with singing and bouquets of flowers. "In Israel, we broke the glass ceiling of learning," said Rabbanit Batya Krauss, one of their teachers.

What Experts Say

She goes by the term rabbanit, a female variation of the Hebrew word "rabbi. " Krauss teaches at Matan, an institute of Jewish religious scholarship for Orthodox women in Israel. For generations, advanced religious studies were the domain of men.

A copy of Mishnah Berurah, a widely used Orthodox Jewish religious text, sits in a classroom during a women's study session at Matan in Ra'anana. Ofir Berman for NPR hide caption toggle caption Ofir Berman for NPR "When a woman wanted to learn in the olden days, she had to hide," Krauss said, referencing Yentl, the 1983 Barbra Streisand film about a young woman who disguises herself as a man to study the Talmud. That has shifted in the last few decades, with the emergence of several institutes offering advanced studies in Jewish religious texts to women.

The story has become one of the most prominent items on the global agenda.