The recent opening of rabbinical examination registration marks a significant step towards gender equality in the Orthodox community in Israel, allowing women to compete for rabbinical positions.
Last week, the announcement regarding the opening of registration for rabbinical certification exams appeared to be a routine bureaucratic update from a government ministry. However, it included an important change not explicitly stated: registration is now open to both men and women. This development, unprecedented until now, is a direct result of a legal petition submitted to the Supreme Court by six learned women who demanded the right to take halakhic exams. The petition was filed in 2019 after then-Interior Minister Aryeh Deri enacted new regulations recognizing study at yeshivas and passing the rabbinical exams as equivalent to academic degrees, and the Supreme Court accepted the petition last July.
