Haviva in JPost!

To order Life on the Fringes, which sold out in its first print run, click here. We’re going to see if there are any extra boxes of the book in storage.

Click for the full JPost story!

….Until recently, Orthodoxy had yet to officially accept women as rabbis.

That too, it would appear, has changed.

Haviva Ner-David is an Orthodox feminist who has been a leader of some of the most prominent struggles in Jewish women’s lives. Just before Pessah, she received her PhD in Jewish studies from Bar-Ilan University. And then, on the eve of Pessah, Ner-David was ordained as a rabbi in Jerusalem.

Ner-David, who has journeyed through feminism, Judaism and social action for the betterment of the status of Jewish women, admits that she is still not completely aware of the tremendous significance of these two events.

She knows that some Orthodox Jews will not accept her ordination and will not acknowledge her religious and social status as a rabbi.

Yet this young and quiet resident of Baka and mother of five says she is neither hesitant nor frustrated: the dream she began to cherish some 12 years ago is coming true.

“I am not the same woman I was at the beginning of this 12-year journey,” she says reflectively. I have discovered a lot about myself and what it means to be a woman rabbi at the beginning of the 21st century.”

Rabbi Aryeh Strikovsky, well-regarded in modern Orthodox circles, signed Ner-David’s ordination, mentoring and guiding her through her process of study. He is, he tells In Jerusalem, a strong believer in women’s capacity for study and their ability “to swim in the ocean of the Talmud.”

…click for the whole story.

Permalink| Email this post | Print | | BlogPulse