Israel strengthens its religious future, empowering dedicated Orthodox women while Arab adversaries stagnate in intolerance.
Rabbi Seth Farber, Founder and Chairman of ITIM, told Arutz Sheva–Israel National News that Israel’s religious establishment is finally confronting long-delayed reforms that strengthen halachic life rather than weaken it.
At the center of the debate is the landmark decision allowing Orthodox women to take the Chief Rabbinate’s halachic exams, a breakthrough he described as “an enormous victory” for fairness, Jewish scholarship, and Israel’s spiritual future.
Rabbi Farber explained that the fight began in 2016, when passing the Rabbinate’s exams was formally equated with earning a BA degree, unlocking economic opportunities and professional advancement. Since then, women’s high-level halachic study has surged through four to five major programs in Israel — yet despite years of rigorous study, women were barred from accessing the very benefits their learning justified.
This exclusion, he noted, was never about ordination; the Rabbinate itself maintains separate tracks for ordination and examinations. The demand was simple: equal access to exams for equal study.
In 2019, after negotiations failed, a group of women formally applied for the exams. The Rabbinate continued to resist, forcing the case to reach the Supreme Court, where Justice Solberg ruled that barring women violated basic principles of equality. The Rabbinate appealed, but Israel’s Chief Justice shut the door: the exams must be open to women.
Rabbi Farber emphasized that litigation is never ITIM’s first choice. Dialogue is always preferable, but the Rabbinate’s refusal left no alternative. Today, even the Rabbinate recognizes that change is inevitable, and more importantly, halachically justified.
The women involved are fully Orthodox, deeply committed, and have mastered core areas of halacha — Shabbat, Taharat HaMishpacha, Kashrut — often at a level surpassing many male exam-takers.
He highlighted an even more glaring disparity: mikvah supervision. Out of 132 religious councils, only about 35 employ a municipal mikvah supervisor — and nearly all demand passing the Rabbinate’s exam on Niddah, which women were prohibited from even attempting.
“How can men oversee a system used exclusively by women?” Rabbi Farber asked. “Women should lead, manage, and uphold mikvah standards — but they need the exam first.”
He dismissed claims of a “slippery slope,” noting that opponents ignore the far greater danger: alienating Jewish women from halachic life, silencing half the nation’s spiritual voice while Israel’s Arab adversaries exploit every internal division.
He added that the very idea that women cannot excel in halacha is absurd.
“If women are doctors, pharmacists, professors, and physicists,” he said, “why should halacha — the beating heart of Jewish identity — be the one domain closed to them?”
ITIM, he stressed, remains wholly loyal to halachic integrity while fighting to repair systems that push Jews away rather than draw them closer.
More than 78% of Jewish Israelis feel alienated by the current Rabbinate — a failure that directly undermines Israel’s unity at a time when Arab enemies seek every opportunity to weaken the Jewish state.
Rabbi Farber warned of another crisis: conversion. Nearly 6% of Israelis are not halachically Jewish, many from the former Soviet Union who fight and die for Israel in Gaza and Lebanon. If they desire conversion, they deserve a halachically sound, welcoming process — not bureaucratic hostility.
Studies show over 60% would convert if the pathway were more embracing.
That is why ITIM established its own conversion court led by major rabbinic figures such as Rav Re’em HaKohen, Rabbi Zalman Melamed, Rabbi Yaakov Medan, Rabbi David Stav, and Rabbi Shmuel Shapira — committed Zionist leaders determined to secure Israel’s future from within, while Israel’s enemies threaten from without.
Finally, he noted that the Rabbinate’s monopoly over marriage has caused a catastrophic 28% drop in couples marrying through official channels. In a normal reality, over 55,000 couples would marry each year under the Rabbinate; today, the number barely reaches 33,000.
“The situation itself demands change,” Rabbi Farber said. “Those afraid of change should fear the reality we are already living in.”
