Women and The Evolution of Halakha: Kaddish, Minyan and Rabbinic Ordination – Part 2

Introduction

In this four-part series, Rahel Berkovits discusses the evolution of women in halakha with specific focus on Kaddish, Minyan and Rabbinic Ordination.

Rahel Berkovits has spent many years studying Talmud and Jewish texts in both traditional and academic frameworks at Midreshet Lindenbaum, The Shalom Hartman Institute, and Hebrew University in both the Talmud and Jewish education departments.

She lectures widely in both Israel and abroad on topics concerning women and Jewish law, and has published entries in the CD Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia. Rahel is the editor in chief and halakhic editor of Ta Shma JOFA’s Halakhic Source Guide Series. She recently published the book A Daughter’s Recitation of Mourner’s Kaddish. She is a founding member of Congregation Shirah Hadasha, a progressive halakhic minyan, which is enriched by both male and female participation in synagogue ritual.

Rahel Berkovits

Rabbi Rahel Berkovits is Senior Faculty at Pardes, where she has taught Mishnah, Talmud and Halakha for more than twenty years. She lectures widely in Israel and abroad on topics relating to women and Jewish law and Jewish sexual ethics. In 2015, Rahel received rabbinic ordination from Rabbis Herzl Hefter and Daniel Sperber.

Rahel is the halakhic editor and a writer for Hilkhot Nashim, the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance’s halakhic source guide series published by Koren. She is also a founding member of Congregation Shirah Hadasha, a halakhic partnership synagogue in Jerusalem, where she serves on the halakha committee.