Mimi Feigelson

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Mimi Feigelson
Born7 March 1963
New York, U.S.
Education
Occupation(s)Rabbi and educator
Websiteschechter.edu/staff/rabbi-dr-reb-mimi-feigelson/

Mimi Feigelson is an Orthodox Jewish rabbi, scholar, educator and spiritual leader.[1][2]

Born in New York on March 7, 1963,[3] she moved to Israel at age eight and began studying with Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach at age sixteen.[1] In 1985 she completed a BA degree in history at Hebrew University of Jerusalem.[3] She says that in 1994, Carlebach granted her religious ordination (smicha), normally reserved for men.[1][4][5][6] Her ordination as well as that of Eveline Goodman-Thau was revealed in 2000 in an article by the New York Jewish Week.[7][8] Feigelson is also described as being ordained in 1996 by a panel of three rabbis after Carlebach's death.[7][9][10] She earned a masters degree in Jewish philosophy at Hebrew University in 2000.[3] Upon completion of her studies she had expertise not only in Torah but also Chasidic literature and thought with a desire to teach all who wanted to learn.[1] In 2016 she earned her doctorate from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion.[3] Her doctoral dissertation explores Jewish funeral rituals and how individuals can reclaim their funerals as the final chapter of life, rather than the first chapter of death.[11]

In 2001 she left her role as associate director and head of the women’s beit midrash at Yakar in Jerusalem, an Orthodox synagogue she helped found in 1992,[3] and moved to Los Angeles to teach in the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies at University of Judaism where she was the students’ mashpiah ruchanit, or spiritual guide.[4][8] She taught at the school until 2017, when she moved back to Israel to take a similar position at the Schechter Rabbinical Seminary in Jerusalem.[11] She uses the title "Reb" rather than "Rabbi"[8] and is universally known as "Reb Mimi".[11]

Feigelson was among the few Orthodox women rabbis to have received private ordination in the Orthodox Jewish context before the institutional change that resulted in the founding of Yeshivat Maharat.[9] Other women in her position include Haviva Ner-David and Dina Najman (both ordained in 2006). In 2010 she was recognized as one of the fifty most influential female Rabbis in the U.S by The Forward.[12]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d Wall, Alix (8 March 2002). "Outed as a rabbi, Orthodox woman to speak here". J. The Jewish News of Northern California. Retrieved 29 October 2014.
  2. ^ Horwitz, D. (2020). American Conservative Judaism and Kabbalah. In Kabbalah in America (pp. 254-265). Brill.
  3. ^ a b c d e "Mimi Feigelson". The Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women. Jewish Women's Archive. Retrieved 24 May 2024.
  4. ^ a b Fax, Julie G. (29 November 2001). "A Different Standard: Mimi Feigelson faces obstacles as an Orthodox female with smicha". Jewish Journal. Archived from the original on 30 October 2014.
  5. ^ "Scholar in Residence - Reb Mimi (Miriam Sara) Feigelson". Retrieved 29 October 2014.
  6. ^ Sperber, D. (2010). On women in rabbinic leadership positions. Me'orot, 8, 2.
  7. ^ a b Goodstein, Laurie (21 December 2000). "Ordained As Rabbis, Women Tell Secret". The New York Times.
  8. ^ a b c Cohen, Debra Nussbaum (26 June 2009). "A Woman With the Title 'Reb'". The Forward. Retrieved 24 May 2024.
  9. ^ a b "Meet the world's first female Orthodox rav". The Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved 26 May 2024.
  10. ^ Israel-Cohen, Y. (2012). Chapter Five: Orthodox Women Rabbis?“It’s Only a Matter of Time”. In Between Feminism and Orthodox Judaism (pp. 69-78). Brill.
  11. ^ a b c Fax, Julie Gruenbaum (17 September 2017). "In L.A., Reb Mimi found herself, her soul family and a way home". Jewish Journal.
  12. ^ Birkner, Gabrielle (July 10, 2010). "The Sisterhood 50". The Forward.
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