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June 8, 2017 | 14 Sivan, 5777 June 9 | 15 Sivan 5777 Parshat Behaalotecha Light Candles: 8:15 pm Shabbat Ends: 9:22 pm
CANDLE LIGHTING
CONNECTING THE DC, MD, & VA JEWISH COMMUNITY
ISSUE #9 Published Bi-Weekly
JCRC, Rodef Shalom Hold Virginia Gubernatorial Forum By Kol HaBirah Staff
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Speaking at a recent candidates forum, Virginia Republican gubernatorial candidate Corey Stewart blamed the left for rising anti-Semitism, while other candidates put the onus for a rise in bigotry on President Donald Trump. Stewart was one of four candidates to speak at the May 21 event held at Temple Rodef Shalom in Falls Church and co-sponsored by the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) of Greater Washington. Also speaking were Democrats Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam
Gubernatorial candidate Corey Stewart speaking at Temple Rodef Shalom in Falls Church, Virginia on May 21. (COURTESY PHOTO)
By Suzanne Pollak and former member of Congress Tom Perriello, and Republican and State Sen. Frank Wagner. Political candidate Ed Gillepsie, also a Republi-
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To Be or Not to Be in the OU — Is That Really the Question? When the word maharat is typed into the search box on the Orthodox Union’s (OU) webpage, the message “no results found” comes up. The same thing happens if the search term is “women clergy.” Since 2013, when Yeshivat Maharat in New York opened its “Kollel: Executive Ordination Track,” 42 women have enrolled and 14 of them have been ordained as maharats, an acronym for manhiga hilkhatit rukhanit Toranit (leader in Jewish law, spirituality, and Torah). From the perspective of Yeshivat Maharat, the maharats themselves, and their supporters in the Orthodox community, maharats are the female clergy of Orthodox Judaism.
From the mainstream perspective of the Orthodox community, however, ordaining women as clergy is fundamentally outside the existing framework of Orthodox Judaism. Four Orthodox synagogues in the U.S. affiliated with the Orthodox Union, including Ohev Sholom in Washington, D.C., and Beth Sholom Congregation in Potomac, Maryland, each employ a maharat, a relatively new occurrence for any Orthodox synagogue. Recently, the OU published a statement that stressed the importance of women’s leadership roles in the shul, but also clearly stated that a woman cannot serve in a clergy role in an OU synagogue. Since
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27th Annual Washington Jewish Film Festival Reviews and event coverage in our Arts & Entertainment section. ÂÂ CONTINUED ON P. 43
Sanctuary at Beth Sholom Congregation and Talmud Torah in Potomac, Maryland. TOP: Ohev Sholom - The National Synagoge in Washington, D.C. (SOURCE: LEVIN BROWN ARCHITECTS; GOOGLE IMAGES)