<HTML>I read some of the comments given with regards to women in leadership
roles within the religious spectrum. I have a feeling that the reason is
much simpler. I once heard from my uncle who was a student of Rav
Soloveitchik that the Rav was asked if there is a problem with having a
women officiating as a rabbi, a Posek or possibly as in a "gedol hador"
position. The Rav thought about it for a few minutes and said that he saw
no problem what so ever with that. The only problem that even if a woman
has the know-how and all the characteristics of a gadol, she must be
*recognized* as a gadol, as in having people come to her for pesakim. I
don't think that will happen in the near future.=20
One has to have a society that is open enough for such a concept (i.e., a
women rabbi and more so for a woman rabbi as a "gadol hador", as a posek).
Sadly enough its an area that is dominanted mostly by men and as in every
field it has its (if you want to call it that way) chauvinistic approaches
or the fear of the unknown and unfamiliar. It=92s a matter of a social
development of society, a social process that the religious society has to
go through.=20
I can give an example from a different field entirely. In the Israeli
army there were no religious high ranking officers. Although there were
always a few religious candidates the army didn't have to choose from them
because there were so many non-religious choices. Once the amount of
religious officers went up, they had no choice but to slowly appoint more
of them to senior positions. If you have to choose 3 out of 8 for a
certain job and 2 of the 8 people are religious you can always find a
reason for not choosing them. But if you have 5 or 6 out of 8 that are
religious it is difficult to avoid taking them. Basically, the more women
study and gain knowledge and the more society is willing to accept that -
then the chances for having a woman "gedol hador" goes up.=20
Same goes for a job as a principal. If both are equally qualified then
it's a matter of personal choice. Men at times will tend to choose men
over women even if they are just as capable. (Don't get me wrong this is
not my personal view at all) . The more women there are for those
positions and the more it gets to be acceptable - the more likely it will
be that women will be chosen. It will be interesting to see the kivun of
religious society in the years to come.
Kol-toov,
Avi Lottner
Eretz Israel</HTML>
