”Upon consultation with its rabbinic leadership, Agudath Israel of America issued the following statement today:

The leadership of the Rabbinical Council of America and Rabbi Avi Weiss have apparently reached agreement that Rabbi Weiss would no longer confer the title of “Rabba” upon graduates of his women’s seminary, but rather the title “Maharat.”

This superficial move does not in any way change the position of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah that placing women in traditional rabbinic positions departs from the Jewish mesorah, and that any congregation with a woman in such a position cannot call itself Orthodox.

That the leadership of a respected rabbinical organization seems to have capitulated to Rabbi Weiss’ enterprise is deeply dismaying.  We trust that this capitulation does not represent the perspective of the principled majority of the organization’s member rabbis.”

You know, there’s a line from the Mel Brooks movie, “Blazing Saddles.”
It goes something like, “Gentlemen, we’ve got to protect our phony, baloney jobs.” Yeah, I know, you guys quote Torah, I quote Mel Brooks. Okay, so get over it.
Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah?
Rambam, Rashi, Rabbi Akiva, Rabbi Gamliel, Ramban. These are the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah.
We don’t have sages like that anymore.
Instead, we have grown men whose Jewish communities are starving in place; who are unemployed in place; who are molesting in place; who are living on welfare in place; who are suffering from depression in place; who are abusing their wives in place. We have men and women who know how to work the system to receive food stamps and money because they’d rather do that than work on a resume. We have communities where loshon hora is a varsity sport.
Let’s feed our people. Let’s give them the wellsprings of Torah. Let’s find people jobs. Let’s give people dignity and pride. Let’s honor one another with respect.
And let’s stop this religious pretending.
If the best that can be offered up is the incessant hysteria over a woman being called Rabba or Maharat? What does this say about us?
“Principled majority?” Can we get more arrogant?
This hysteria has nothing to do with the Jewish mesorah, and everything to do with turf and truth.
If Deborah or Ruth, Rachel. Rivkah or Miriam or Esther or Sarah or Rashi’s daughters came back to life and showed an interest in becoming a Rabbi or a Maharat, would the self-proclaimed Motzes Gedolai HaTorah speak with such fearful condemnation?
Glad Passover is approaching, because there’s just so much chometz that needs to be cleaned out. And I’m not talking bread.
Just crumbs.

ouch!

Thanks Phil for continuing to prove that you have no clue what this is all about. Feel free to place a call to Rabbi Shafran and voice your concerns. Don’t call as a reporter, but as a person who seeks to sincerely understand the community. I’m sure Rabbi Shafran can schedule a time for the 2 of you to have a heart to heart discussion if you can give off your sincerity.

Very well written. It could not be said better..