Religious News - Women outnumber men in rabbinical schools

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Women outnumber men in rabbinical schools

Women significantly outnumber men studying in U.S. rabbinical schools, Jewish leaders say.

The Boston Globe reported Sunday that women are significantly outnumber men in several segments of non-Orthodox Jewish community life.

At the Reform movement's seminary, for instance, 60 percent of the rabbinical students and 84 percent of those studying to become cantors are female, the newspaper reported.

Moreover, girls outnumber boys by as much as 2 to 1 among adolescents participating in youth group programs and summer camps, while women outnumber men in a variety of congregational leadership roles, the Union for Reform Judaism says.

"After bar mitzvah, the boys just drop out," said Sylvia Barack Fishman, a professor of contemporary Jewish life at Brandeis University and the co-author of a study on "Gender Imbalance in American Jewish Life," which was released recently.

Some scholars say they are concerned by the diminished participation by men in Judaism.

"Men need to be encouraged to come back into the synagogue," said Stuart Matlins, editor in chief of Jewish Lights Publishing. "The welcoming of women into leadership positions is something I have worked very hard on, but we don't want to lose the men."

Copyright 2008 by United Press International.

This news arrived on: 06/23/2008

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