There are three main stages in the development of women’s religious scholarship in Israel. The establishment of the midrashot, starting in the mid-1970s, comprised the first stage. Thanks to the religious knowledge women acquired in these institutions, the foundation was laid for the second stage, in which women were allowed to become religious authorities. Since the 1990s, women have been trained to fulfill religious roles such as rabbinical court advocates and family purity halakhic counselors.
The third stage included the opening of extensive halakhic training programs in the mid-2000s that addressed various life areas, not only issues related to women. At the end of these training programs, women receive formal or informal rabbinical ordination that is neither officially recognized by the State of Israel nor by the right-wing Orthodox public in Israel.
Since its inception in 1998, Kolech – Religious Women’s Forum, has supported women’s religious scholarship and sought to empower and use it. Hannah Kehat, the founding president, asserts that “out of scholarship will emerge leadership.” Kolech employs three primary strategies in its work: providing platforms from which women’s voices can be heard, holding interdisciplinary, international conferences, and encouraging women’s empowerment.
In my paper, I wish to present the strategies in detail and point out their impact on the Modern-Orthodox public in Israel. In addition to the research data I have collected, I would like to add from my personal experience as a religious scholar who collaborates with Kolech in the past years.