NOVEMBER 28 • 2019 | 15

woman, he said.
“Thank God, we are living
in a time where there are
women as knowledgeable as
Rabbanit Jenna, to whom we
can turn with full confidence
that they will give an erudite,
sensitive and authoritative
halachic answer,
” he said. “I
believe she and I will learn
from each other, and I hope
other synagogues in Detroit
will take advantage of her
expertise and skills.
”
Neither Yeshivat Maharat
nor the idea of ordaining
women — even if they’
re not
called “rabbi” — have been
embraced by mainstream
Orthodox Judaism.
When Lopatin, former
head of the Yeshivat Chovevei
Torah, moved to Detroit, he
was not embraced by seg-
ments of the local Orthodox
community because of his lib-
eral Modern Orthodox views.
Recently, he was named to

head the JCRC/AJC.
In 2015, the Rabbinical
Council of America passed
a resolution stating that its
members with positions in
Orthodox institutions “may
not ordain women into the
Orthodox rabbinate, regardless
of the title used; or hire or
ratify the hiring of a woman
into a rabbinic position at an
Orthodox institution; or allow
a title implying rabbinic ordi-
nation to be used by a teacher
of Limudei Kodesh (religious
study) in an Orthodox insti-
tution.
”
Other organizations have
gone even farther, declaring
Yeshivat Maharat a dissident
movement that has rejected
the basic tenets of Judaism.
But Englander is unfazed.
“I feel very welcome here,
”
she said. “Everyone I’
ve met
has been welcoming and open.
It’
s an incredibly friendly cul-
ture.
”

area. The two co-authored The
Hebrew Priestess: Ancient and
New Visions of Jewish Women’
s
Spiritual Leadership and Siddur
HaKohanot: a Hebrew Priestess
Prayerbook.
The institute’
s three-year
training program includes a
seven-week intensive residency
at the Isabella Freedman Jewish
Retreat Center in Falls Village,
Conn., with the rest of the learn-
ing conducted online.
“Birth and death traditionally
happened in the home, which
was the province of women,”
said Beimel, who is also a doula,
assisting women in giving birth.
“We’
re returning to some of
those original practices, without
the influences of capitalism and
patriarchy.”
Bemiel also hopes to join
many of the other kohenot
licensed to officiate at weddings

— licensure requirements vary
from state to state — and she’
d
like to establish an alternative
Jewish burial society.
In mid-September, Beimel
and Keshira haLev Fife, a vis-
iting kohenet from Pittsburgh,
conducted a ceremony at the
Jewish Community Center
to mark the full moon of the
Hebrew month of Elul. Beimel
also curated an exhibit, “The
Divine Feminine,” at the JCC’
s
Janice Charach Gallery late this
summer.
For her kohenet capstone
project, she registered Kibbutz
Detropia as a nonprofit organi-
zation and developed plans to
make it more active as a retreat
center. She’
s also looking into
building a mikvah (ritual bath)
near her home that would be
easily accessible to Jewish
women living in the city.