Can rabbis be female? This is a complex and multi-faceted question, in part because the role of rabbi contains many different responsibilities that are not always the same.
As we have mentioned previously, the view among most of traditionalist Orthodox Judaism is that Talmud study is not recommended for women, making the role of rabbi unrealistic for them.
However, there is another issue here, and that is the gravity of “Mesorah”, or tradition. The Jewish religion was not discovered in a lab or test tube. Our only access to Torah is through its transmission from generation to generation, parents to children, all the way back to the mass revelation at Sinai, which our entire nation was witness to. As such, maintaining the integrity of that transmission is paramount, even with regards to what may seem trivial and inconsequential. For that reason, Orthodox communities reject the notion of female rabbis, even if technically one might be able to argue that it is not always against Halacha.
More questions about the role of women in Judaism? Get your answers.
By Rabbi Pinchos Fried
