@Charlie Hall
Wikipedia:
The Conference of European Rabbis followed suit that same month, stating, “The Conference views with great pain the deviations from religious foundations emanating from the movement called ‘Open Orthodoxy’, and warns that those who act in this spirit, alumni of the aforementioned movement… will not be recognized by us as rabbis, with all that entails.”
Similar sentiments were echoed in a press release of a ruling by the Rabbinical Alliance of America on February 22, 2018, likening Open Orthodoxy to Reform and Conservative Judaism, and stating, “The clergy of this movement are espousing philosophies of the generation of the Sin of the Golden Calf.”[36]
Prominent Central Orthodoxy leaders have also stated that Open Orthodox practices or beliefs are incongruent with Orthodox Judaism. These include Hershel Schacter, Rosh Yeshiva at Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS), Yeshiva University[37][38] and Avrohom Gordimer, a rabbinic coordinator at OU Kosher[39][40] among others.
OU/RCA response
Steven Pruzansky, rabbi of Congregation Bnai Yeshurun in Teaneck, New Jersey and a trustee of the Rabbinical Council of America (RCA) on the Board of the Beth Din of America,[41] argues that Weiss’ approach closely resembles early 20th century American Conservative Judaism and in his opinion would more aptly be called “Neo-Conservative” rather than “Orthodox” Judaism. Concluding an opinion piece in Matzav.com he states that “clarity and honesty at least demand that we recognize before our eyes the creation of a new movement in Jewish life outside the Orthodox world, one that we have seen before. It can be termed … Neo-Conservatism. ‘Open Orthodoxy’ is a deceptive brand name, an advertising slogan, and an attempt to remain tethered to the Torah world to re-shape it from within, but far from the reality. The reality is that we are living through the rise of the Neo-Conservatives.” [42] Moshe Averick, a columnist for the Jewish magazine The Algemeiner Journal and author of Nonsense of a High Order: The Confused and Illusory World of the Atheist, agrees with Pruzansky that Weiss has created a new Jewish movement in America, comparing him with Isaac Mayer Wise (founder of Reform Judaism) and Solomon Schechter (founder of Conservative Judaism in the United States). He compares Weiss’s ordination of three women as Maharat on June 16, 2013, with the so-called Trefa Banquet of 1883, which marked the split between Reform and Traditional Judaism in America. Says Averick: “Weiss’ movement, a form of Judaism that enthusiastically embraces the ideologies of feminism and liberal-progressive-modernism while coating it with a strong Orthodox flavor, could accurately be labeled as Ortho-Feminist Progressive Judaism,” but “the term coined by Rabbi Steven Pruzansky … Neo-Conservative Judaism … has managed to fit neatly into the slot to the left of Orthodox Judaism and to the right of Conservative Judaism.”[43] In October 2013, dozens of rabbis who defined themselves as “members in good standing or [who] identify with the Rabbinical Council of America”, signed a letter arguing that Open Orthodoxy has “plunged ahead, again and again, across the border that divides Orthodoxy from neo-Conservatism”.[44]
The Orthodox Union (OU), Rabbinical Council of America (RCA) and National Council of Young Israel have all in turn responded to Open Orthodoxy by severing their ties with the Open Orthodox institutions. The RCA does not accredit the rabbinic qualifications of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah[45] or Yeshivat Maharat[46] graduates, the OU and Young Israel do not accept females as rabbinic clergy,[47] and Young Israel Synagogues no longer accept candidates with YCT accreditation.[48]
Two years later Lopatin resigned from the Rabbinical Council of America.[55]
The Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, where Weiss served as rabbi (“Senior Rabbi”) until his retirement in 2015, and where he continues as “Rabbi in Residence”, continues to define itself as “an open Orthodox synagogue.”[57]