Shalom. I hope you had a good Thanksgiving holiday, and wish you a happy Hanukkah in advance.
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I would much like to hear your views on the following topic. The International Rabbinic Fellowship, a new modern Orthodox rabbinic association founded by Rabbi Avi Weiss and me, had a conference last month. About 60 rabbis from throughout the US attended, as well as rabbis from Canada and Colombia. The group reached a consensus that it would be appropriate to include women members, even though they do not have, and don't have the opportunity to have, semikha. A committee was tasked with coming up with suitable criteria for membership. Some rabbis were concerned that admitting non-rabbi women into the IRF will undermine our credibility as an Orthodox rabbinic body, and will impede our efforts in such areas as conversion to Judaism, the agunah issue, Jewish education etc. What do you think? How do you envision religious leadership for modern Orthodoxy 10 years from now?
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