Rabbi Who Ordained Rabba to be Admitted into RCA
A Matzav report: Rabbi Joshua Maroof, credited with being one of the three rabbis who ordained Sara Hurwitz, is expected to be admitted as a full member of the Rabbinical Council of America (RCA) at a teleconference of the RCA Executive committee tomorrow, Thursday.
Rabbi Maroof announced his resignation yesterday from the pulpit of Cong. Magen David of Rockville, MD, as well as his new position as rabbi of Cong. Ezra Bessaroth in Seattle, WA. The Seattle shul made Rabbi Maroof’s appointment contingent upon his admission to the RCA. Thus, many in Seattle are waiting with a great deal of anticipation the outcome of the RCA Executive Committee’s decision regarding Rabbi Maroof’s admission into the rabbinical organization.
The decision to admit Rabbi Maroof to the RCA is both national and local for RCA President Rabbi Moshe Kletenik, whose own Seattle shul is a mere few blocks from Rabbi Maroof’s soon-to-be pulpit.
Rabbi Maroof provided the RCA Executive Committee with the following explanatory statement as a prelude to his admission:
“I spoke at the ceremony conferring the Maharat title upon Sara Hurwitz because I am an avid supporter of advanced learning opportunities for women in general and because I served as Sara Hurwitz’s halakha teacher for one year and I admire her accomplishments in particular. I knew in advance that she would be given a special degree or title at that ceremony, but I did not believe there was anything halakhically objectionable about her being granted a special title such that I would be forbidden to deliver a speech at the gathering. I had nothing to do with the conferral of Maharat title, the selection of the term Maharat, or the like, although I would be less than honest if I did not admit that I do not see the conferral of the title as a violation of halakha per se. (The ‘rabbah’ title and the ensuing controversy did not yet exist at the time.) Afterwards, Yated Ne’eman printed a sharp critique of me and others in which I was accused of championing a radical left-wing agenda, including women’s ordination. I responded to Yated that I was not actively promoting the concept of semicha for women, but rather just supporting advanced Torah Shebaal Peh study for women in general, and supporting Ms. Hurwitz, my student, in particular. I furthermore wrote that had I known that participating in the event would be interpreted as an endorsement of a far-left “Open Orthodox” agenda, I would not have consented to participate, since the support I offered was intended to be applied only to the advancement of women’s Torah learning and not to any broader ideological platform. In fact, I generally consider myself to be a center-to-right leaning Orthodox Rabbi. Yated printed an edited version of my letter and accepted my clarifications and distinctions as valid given the view (debatable in some circles) that women may study the Oral Torah. Regarding the ordination of women, while I have stated openly and I still maintain that it is not halakhically prohibited in theory, I nonetheless accept the RCA’s 2010 policy statement on this issue for all practical purposes.”
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4 comments:
Well if the Yated accepted his clarifications then he's good to go. Kal vachomer from charedi fundamentalists to charedi fundamentalist wanna be rear-end lickers. On second thought, that doesn't always work.
If this affected his getting his job in Seattle, it isn't hilarious at all.
I wonder what point exactly was Matzav trying to make. Stam causing trouble?
They are always seeking opportunities to villify and deligitimize the RCA. My case is just a foil for them.
What is so hilarious about it anyway?
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