In March, 1972, Ezrat Nashim, the first Jewish feminist organization, publicly called upon the Conservative movement to ordain women as rabbis. Today we salute the faculty of the Jewish Theological Seminary for voting to accept women as candidates for ordination in the Rabbinical School. This act recognizes the compelling moral claim of women's equality as well as the changed status of women in the modern world. It is consonant with Conservative interpretation of the development of halakha (Jewish Law). It also follows logically from earlier decisions of the Conservative movement to reject the sexual segregation characteristic of the Jewish past by providing equal education for Jewish daughters, introducing mixed seating in the synagogue, counting women in the minyan, and calling them to the Torah.
This important step forward enables the Conservative movement, the largest denomination within American Jewry, to draw upon the talents of all Jews for religious leadership and prepares the way for including women, and women's sensibilities, in the ongoing interpretation of Torah which has ensured the survival of Judaism. [Jewish Women's Archive, jwa.org/feminism]
Suggested Discussion Questions:
1. How did the Conservative movement justify ordaining women? How did this revolutionary document transform American Judaism?
2. What does it mean that this decision is "consonant with Conservative interpretation of the development of halakha?"
3. How do other movements differ on this decision?
Time Period: Contemporary (The Yom Kippur War until the present-day)