Female rabbis to receive state funded position (Illustration)s?
Female rabbis may receive state funding
Some 15 state funded positions have been made available to reform, conservative rabbis, now the question is: Will female rabbis be selected?
A day after Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein told the High Court that the State was willing to recognize
male and female conservative and reform rabbis, both movements have yet to decide who they would award the funded positions to.
The State's decision notes that in the first stage, only 15 positions which will be divided between the two movements will be approved. The reform movement has 30 female rabbis and 60 male rabbis "fighting" for the positions.
Un-Orthodox
Kobi Nahshoni
Understanding reached between representatives of non-orthodox Jewish groups and State defines spiritual leaders as 'rabbis of non-orthodox communities', a move that makes them eligible for state funding
The reform movement's biennial conference will open on Friday and its members will be celebrating the Stat'e recognition. During the conference, five new communities are set to join the reform movement, which will bring the total number of reform communities in Israel to 40.
In the second phase the reform movement intends to present requests of support for each community that fulfills the government requirements, a move which leaders expect will award them funding for additional leaders from within the community.
"From our perspective this is just the beginning," reform rabbi Gilad Kariv said. "We will demand recognition of rabbis who operate within cities and not just on regional councils, and the matter has already been brought before the High Courts."
Meanwhile, on the other side of the debate, on Wednesday haredi MKs attacked the High Court decision and the reform movement's announcement. MK Moshe Gafni (United Torah Judaism) said: "Suddenly there's money for the reform and conservative clowns that see Judaism as joke, all with the alleged support of the legal
system."
