Masorti Programs: Yaltha for Women
Yaltha, named for one of the few women mentioned by name in the Babylonian Talmud, is a group of women rabbis who belong to the Masorti Movement and the Rabbinical Assembly in Israel, and women rabbinical students studying at the Schechter Rabbinical Seminary in Jerusalem.
Yaltha's main goals are to advance women rabbis and women in the Masorti Movement, as well as the status of women in Israel, and to be a framework for individual and group empowerment for them.
Founded in 2001, in conjunction with the first conference of women rabbis and rabbinical students held by the International Rabbinical Assembly, Yaltha acts as a social support group that strives to clarify issues related to the status and functions of a woman rabbi.
In 2004, two outreach programs were initiated – scholarships for female rabbinical students, enabling them to work in congregations, and the Yaltha Women Seders, held in five Masorti congregations and one Tali school. Yaltha's three central projects for 2005 are Women’s Seders, the Bnot Mitzvah Program and the Internship Program.
Yaltha’s goals and objectives
- To be role models in local Jewish communities, i.e. Yaltha members will lead various activities such as women’s prayers, activities related to the holidays, lectures and study groups;
- To forge relationships with women’s organizations and groups of women rabbis of the different movements in the Jewish world, in Israel and abroad, including those of women in religious leadership positions within any religious denomination;
- To encourage and promote more women entering the rabbinical field;
- To document the paths of women in the Modern Rabbinical world – in Israel, Europe and South America – by founding an archive and a library with material dealing with the subject, in order to preserve the historic work of women in this unique discipline.