Talk about your time wasting discussions, and pointless, possibly self-destructive, gestures:
The Religious Women's Forum Kolech decided at their conference last week to choose a Hebrew title for a woman ordained as a rabbi by an Orthodox institution, although no woman in Israel yet holds this position.
The title chosen by a majority of conference participants is "rabba."
In NY, the only ordained Orthodox woman is called "maharat." This strikes me as a perfectly good word. Why are the Israelis trying to fix something that isn't broken? Why are they naming something that's already been named? If they want this woman-rabbi thing to catch on, the thing to do is to go and ordain one. Calling a conference to choose a title, when a title already exists, is like something out of Orwell. It wastes time, deflects attention, saps momentum, and creates internal controversy, confusion and disagreement when what's needed is a unified front.
Less talk, more action Kolech members.
