A motion supporting the ordination of women to the rabbinate in the Conservative movement was overwhelmingly approved today by the nearly 2000 delegates attending the national convention of the Womens League for Conservative Judaism here. In the first such stand by the women’s arm of the Conservative movement, with a membership of 210,000, the delegates voted for the following motion;
“The Womens League for Conservative Judaism supports the proposal that women be accepted as rabbinical school students at the Jewish Theological Seminary culminating in ordination.”
The original motion, tabled at the 1978 biennial convention of the Womens League, did not include the last three words contained in the version approved today. There words were added as an amendment following a discussion as to whether the amendment should lead “culminating in ordination” or “leading to ordination.”
Before the vote, six delegates spoke in favor of the amendment and six spoke in apposition to it. Comments favoring passage included statements on the Jewish concept of social justice and the importance of not eliminating qualified candidates for the rabbinate because they are female. When an opposing delegate remarked that the words “culminating in ordination.” were ” pushy”, another delegate retorted that “A man of quality is never threatened by a woman of equality.”
COHEN: ORDINATION IS “ONLY A MATTER OF TIME”
In an interview before the voting, Dr. Gerson Cohen, Chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, who is on record in favor of women in the rabbinate, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that “the ordination of women in the Conservative and modern Orthodox movements is only a matter of time.”
He cautioned, however, that “a frontal attack will only split the community” and he expressed fear that a positive vote by the Womens League could stiffen opposition to ordination. Calling himself a religious humanist rather than a feminist, he said he is convinced that women should be ordained. Cohen said a general trend toward conservative reaction in all spiritual matters may slow down the process, but added that he is convinced that approval of ordination will come about “in a couple of years.”
According to Cohen, “As more people return to the synagogue and it becomes a part of their lives, they won’t want it to be a fossil. The issue will be solved by the climate of opinion, not by halachic canons.”
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
