Former Chief Rabbi, HaGaon HaRav Shlomo Amar, addressed the topic of the Supreme Court’s ruling ordering Israel’s Chief Rabbanut to allow women to take Rabbinical certification exams during his weekly shiur at the Ner HaTorah Yeshiva on Sunday.

In July 2025—after a years-long legal battle—the Supreme Court issued a ruling ordering the Chief Rabbanut to allow women to take the Rabbinical certification exams. The Rabbanut fought the decision—unsuccessfully—while repeatedly delaying the certification exams. But in December 2025, after the Supreme Court rejected the Rabbanut’s request for another hearing on the issue, the Rabbanut determined that it would be impossible to win the battle in court. According to reports, the Rabbanut is now preparing to open the exams to men and women while tightening the testing criteria to make it difficult for women to pass the tests and creating a special committee to grant certifications.

HaRav Amar said, “About 20 or 25 years ago, people filed a Supreme Court petition to appoint female neighborhood Rabbanim, and since then no neighborhood Rabbanim have been appointed at all. Even our own people, instead of finding a way to act, refrained, and since then there are no neighborhood Rabbanim. Now it’s also city Rabbanim—most cities don’t have Rabbanim at all.”

“Now they went to the Supreme Court again, and the court said that women are entitled to take the exams for the Rabbanut and Dayanut. And some people say—because there haven’t been exams for a long time, so they feel pressured—what will be? If we don’t hold exams, we won’t have Rabbanim. So let them take the exams, but we won’t appoint [the women].”

“Baruch Hashem, I heard that the Chief Rabbanim, HaRav Dovid Yosef and HaRav Kalman Ber, both vehemently oppose it. They say it is preferable to have no exams than to allow women to take them.”

“But there are those trying to weaken them and fight them. I want to give them chizzuk—that the thought should not even enter their minds, chalilah—even in thought—this is truly an idolatrous idea. If, chas v’shalom, they allow them to take exams, ultimately they will appoint them. Better to stop now and not let it happen through us. Even if the result is that there are no Rabbanim, even if there will be no Batei Din, even if there will be no Rabbanut at all in Israel. Then we’ll create a private Rabbanut. There will be private community Rabbanim like abroad, each community appointing its own Rav, until Hashem has mercy and they understand what they are doing. I’m sure we won’t reach that—we will overcome them; we just must not be afraid.”

“I say to the Chief Rabbanim: Stand firm. Hashem has given you great and important roles. The responsibility for Am Yisrael is on your shoulders. Don’t look to anyone else—place only Hashem before your eyes. Don’t agree under any circumstances to exams for women, not for the Rabbanut and not for anything. All the matters of the Rabbanut belong to men—and this is not shameful or degrading to women. This is the honor of women, everyone with their own roles.”

“We will not submit; we will stand guard. What the Torah preserved for five thousand years—and we’ve been in Galus for two thousand years and we haven’t allowed any women—except the Reform movement, which caused a huge Churban in Am Yisrael.”

“Should we listen to them? Chas v’shalom. We will try to bring them back, to draw them close in love—‘Let sins cease,’ not sinners; the sinners should repent. But sins, the transgressions, should end.”

“But to submit, chas v’shalom—there will be no exams under any circumstances. And woe to anyone who lends a hand, rachmana litzlan—such a person destroys generations, the Rabbanut for generations. This is the real destruction, from within and out. We must stand guard and protect. ‘He who comes to purify is assisted,’ and Hashem will assist us—I have no doubt.”

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)