Now, the equivalent is no Cabbala until age 150 What part of "prohibited by Tora" is too complex for you to comprehend???

man - including, or especially, Haredi rabbis!

More fundamentally, it's the conflict between sons -- and daughters -- of Light (education, learning, knowledge) vs sons of darkness (ignorance) -- AND the resulting image viewed by the world as "Jews" and Israel.

for the WoW (Women off the Wall).

asking them questions is a whole 'nother matter. Following dead leaders IS tradition, precedence. However, talking with them is insanity and worshiping them is idolatry.

In reform Judaism the rules are upside down back to front, whatever they find most convenient. In orthodox Judaism there are different roles for men and women and one of the roles assigned to the men only is reading from the Torah scrolls and leading services. Jewish fairness as he puts it is a man made idea based on equal opportunities its not based on religion. Next thing you know he will be supporting WOW in the name of jewish fairness. What this idiot is proposing is make reforms to orthodox Judaism so it can compete with reform for customers. Basically a competition on which is the best reformist sect for them to belong to.

among others allow a niddah woman to touch and read from the sefer Torah. 1) Either the Sefer Torah is not counted as "kadosh" to the point of counting it as a tenth minyan member or 2) The niddah woman is not "impure" and there should be no emphasize on the mikveh. (Why purify?) The niddah woman can never hurt the Sefer Torah...but rather the Sefer Torah may severely hurt the woman in niddah. However, it is not recommended for women to become rabbis not only because of the Niddah issue but because Hashem clearly states in the Torah that a man leads (chesed) and not a woman (din). Hashem created the universe this way. When there is a woman "rabbi" and a man "non rabbi" who should lead? The woman rabbi? No. The man...even though he knows not what she does.

Yes, it took a couple of thousand years for equal pay for equal work to be accepted. I guess we have to wait longer for this particular civil right. However, why all these quotes/references to a 3000 year old text/lifestyle guide? These texts are more outdated than 100 year old medical texts - no one in his/her right mind would use those to treat diseases. If the super religious really want to take that guide literally (and if they want to be taken seriously), they should get rid of their glasses, hearing aids, mobile phones, running water, electricity, cars, bicycles, printed books/papers, potatoes, tomatoes, sweet corn and anything else invented/discovered after around 1000 BC. Then they might be taken seriously for what they really are.

1. Where Sefer Torah "clearly states in the Torah that a man leads (chesed) and not a woman (din)" since the masc. form is often used in the collective sense for both genders AND Devorah would be a glaring contradiction. And 2. There are streams of Orthodox Judaism that never accepted your Shulchan Aruch.

It's different. It's happening for a different reason, and these women will, for the most part, serve different people. They will not substitute for men, but complement them, filling a gap men cannot fill. This is not about women doing men's work. It's about women doing more of women's work. And quite different from WOW who just want to do men's stuff to prove they can.

To: jrebecca@ #10: You wrote: "This is not about women doing men's work. It's about women doing more of women's work." No one objects for women doing men's work physically. The main problem is that they are leading (either services or a country, or an army and most importantly her family unless she has no choice..) Women should not be in leading positions because she is considered "din". To: Sage of the Age @ #9: Thanks for mentioning Devorah as a great example. (not contradiction). When she was asked to lead the army, she was very hesitant. "You bring shame upon Israel by having a woman lead." Because this great woman knows she is a woman and brings with her dinim. Even Clint Eastwood knows. He said: A man must know his limitations. I think, so does a woman.

are pleasant for women to study in the guemarra (talmud) especially some which are about women. I suppose Rabbi Weiss knows how to prepare his female students to be Rabbis but it has to be done in a carefull and sensible way.

Why must these shlompes be such shtinking Yentas?

Devorah judged AND indicated you Haredim men should be serving in the army. Yes, YOU shame Israel!!!

The Orthodox can't have it both ways. They can't say that "That's not how is was in the biblical days" or that it's not written in the Talmud. While using electric timers for their Shabbat lights and Shabbat elevators. It's all or nothing at all. The Orthodox anti women bent is what turns modern Jews off to the Orthodoxy. This is 2013 not 1953.

We are talking of Judaism here not of the Roman Church or any other christian denomination.

American-style Modern Orthodoxy is going down the same path that Reform and Conservative took in the 1970's. In order to stem attrition, and in order to try to make themselves appear in touch with the shifting values of the secular world, Reform and Conservative began mixing the roles of men and women and blurring boundaries between the two. Decades later, the result is that Reform is little more than a left-wing political movement - a non-religion practiced largely by non-Jews - and Conservative is in a state of irreversible decline. Reform and Conservative have both become female-dominated, with male participation and interest greatly diminished. Modern Orthodoxy is now making the same mistake: confusing civil rights with religious responsibilities. Much can be said about the need to innovate and to keep up with the times, but throughout our history, no group that has broken away from normative Judaism has ever lasted long enough to maintain a relevant and sustaining influence.

Bravo Women! The deck has been stacked against you by men for far to long.