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.