Daniel Landes
Image by Wikipedia
The Rabbi Whose Ordination of Women Is Pushing the Envelope of Orthodoxy
In 2016, Rabbi Daniel Landes pushed the envelope of Modern Orthodoxy in Israel by ordaining women rabbis in an Orthodox-style ceremony. The former head of the Pardes Institute — a coeducational beit midrash, or religious institution of Jewish study — Landes has been one of the leaders proposing new forms of gender equality within observant Jewish settings.
Over the summer, Landes ordained 21 rabbis, including eight women, at a ceremony hosted by the Modern Orthodox Kehilat Yedidya synagogue in South Jerusalem. It was seen as a watershed in the movement to introduce female religious leaders into more traditional corners of Judaism. However, the egalitarian impulse has provoked deep controversy within the broader Modern Orthodox movement, and has threatened to splinter the fragile sub-denomination.
Born and raised in Chicago, Landes, 65, grew up in an observant household and spent his summers at the Conservative-affiliated Camp Ramah. Entering the rabbinate, he studied with such Talmudic giants as Joseph Soloveitchik and Zvi Yehudah Kook.
In addition to his work in Israel, with Pardes, Landes has taught in America at the Simon Wiesenthal Center and the Wexner Foundation.
Landes has also become a commentator in the wider world on issues relating to Judaism and Israel, writing columns for Haaretz, Tikkun, the Daily Beast and the Jewish Review of Books. Though his thought has spread through these secular outlets, his real influence will be felt in the inclusivity of Orthodox Judaism for generations to come.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.
If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.
Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
