Can a rabbi be a woman?
Women's Torah Project
According to the Talmud ("Gittin" 45b), a Torah scroll written by a woman for ritual use is invalid. The Arba'ah Turim, however, does not prohibit women from becoming scribes. Several modern-day rabbis have presented arguments supporting the view that a woman can write a scroll for ritual use. A Conservative Israeli Rabbi, Simcha Roth, wrote that since women may learn the Torah, "they should certainly be eligible to write a scroll". Linda Coppleson, who is a Conservative Jew, expresses that while the Talmud forbids women from writing Torah scrolls, it also states that "whoever is qualified should write a Torah;" and when women have "the same opportunities as men, it is fitting to remove them from forbidden categories". Wendy Graff, the project's leader, said that "if my daughter could read and study the Torah and yet not be allowed to create the scroll that is the basis of our faith, then we still have a long way to go".
Ordination of women
There has been one female Hasidic rebbe, Hannah Rachel Verbermacher, also known as the Maiden of Ludmir, active in the 19th century. In 1935 Regina Jonas was ordained privately by a German rabbi and became the world's first female rabbi. Sally Priesand became the first female rabbi in Reform Judaism in 1972,
Sandy Eisenberg Sasso became the first female rabbi in Reconstructionist Judaism in 1974, Lynn Gottlieb became the first female rabbi in Jewish Renewal in 1981,
Amy Eilberg became the first female rabbi in Conservative Judaism in 1985,
and Tamara Kolton became the very first rabbi of either sex (and therefore, since she was female, the first female rabbi) in Humanistic Judaism in 1999. Women in Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist, Renewal, and Humanistic Judaism are routinely granted semicha (meaning ordination) on an equal basis with men. This version of semicha is not valid according to Orthodox Judaism and its interpretation of Jewish law.