Dov Eichler of Kan Moreshet interviewed Rabbi Eliezer Simcha Weiss—member of the Council of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel—and Rabbanit Sarah Segal-Katz regarding the Rabbinate’s request to hold a further hearing on the High Court of Justice ruling of 14 July 2025. The interview followed the Rabbinate’s request for a stay of execution of the judgment, on the ground that it cannot presently implement a ruling that requires the Chief Rabbinate, as a state body, to allow women to sit its halakhic examinations. In the interim, the Rabbinate asked to administer the exams to men only, pending final resolution.
In the conversation, Rabbi Weiss voiced warm support for women’s Torah scholarship while maintaining that examinations should not be conducted within the Chief Rabbinate’s institutional framework. Rabbanit Segal-Katz explained why the issue extends well beyond rabbinic ordination: these examinations carry tangible public benefits—professional-development credits for educators and civil servants, academic recognition, and eligibility for state tenders. Excluding women therefore constitutes gender discrimination that must cease. She emphasized that the petition never sought the Rabbinate’s conferral of semikhah on women; it sought only the right to sit the examinations run within a publicly funded, state-operated system.
Following the interview, Rabbanit Sarah posted on Facebook, reflecting on the conversation and its implications >>
