A personal interview by Daniela Satran Reifen with Rabbanit Sarah Segal-Katz was published in the blog Playing with Color, as part of the series Joyful Jerusalem Women. The series seeks to highlight the lives and contributions of women who have lived, or continue to live, in Jerusalem, foregrounding their positive, creative, and life-affirming work.
In this post, Stern Reiffen portrays Rabbanit Sarah through the lens of both her personal journey and professional commitments, emphasizing her contributions to religious feminism, the accessibility of halakhic knowledge for women, and the cultivation of supportive communities around issues of the body, sexuality, and family life.
Photos: Daniella Satran Reifen, from the blog Playing with Color
From the Interview
Sarah’s halakhic work continues to take place in an independent framework, since her studies and examinations are not formally recognized. In Israel, official certification in halakhic knowledge can only be obtained through the Chief Rabbinate, a state institution. Yet within this institution, discrimination has always existed—the examinations are open exclusively to men.
Approximately two years ago, Sarah, together with Rabbanit Avital Engelberg, submitted a formal request to the Chief Rabbinate to register for the exams in the laws of niddah, attaching all required documentation and recommendations from rabbis, rabbanits, and academic institutions in which they had studied. Unsurprisingly, the request was denied. In other words, women are excluded from sitting for the very examination that pertains most directly to their halakhic practice—niddah.
In response, the organization Itim, together with other women’s advocacy groups and a cohort of rabbanits (including Sarah), petitioned the Israeli High Court of Justice, demanding that the Rabbinate’s halakhic examinations be opened to women as well. The case remains under deliberation in the courts.
