Reb Mimi Feigelson, Israeli Orthodox rabbi and scholar of Hasidic thought, who is visiting St. Louis April 23-26 to serve as Traditional Congregation’s 2015 Scholar in Residenceand speak atother events, is a unique figure among the rabbinate, having received her smicha (rabbinic ordination) from the late Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach. She has also been recognized by the Forward as one of the 50 most inspirational rabbis in the United States.

Born in the United States, Feigelson moved to Israel at age 8 and began studying with Carlebach when she was 15. In 1994, Carlebach granted her an Orthodox rabbinic ordination, which is usually reserved for men. Her ordination was revealed in 2000 in an article in the New York Jewish Week.

Feigelson is currently a lecturer in the rabbinic school at American University in Los Angeles, where she serves as the Mashpia Ruchanit (Spiritual Mentor) and lecturer of Rabbinics and Hasidic Thought at the Ziegler School. She has an international following.

The Jewish Light caught up with Feigelson where she answered questions from Los Angeles.

Have any Orthodox institutions recognized the validity of your smicha?

While the answer to your question is “yes,” I would like to challenge the premise of your question, supposing that Orthodox institutions can question the ordination granted by other Orthodox rabbis. I do not think that this is the case. Indeed, there have been some institutions that have been more welcoming than others. I am a returning guest at the Hesder Yeshiva, Ma’aleh Gilboah, and its women’s counterpart, Midreshet Aiyn HaNatziv, when I return home to Jerusalem. I am a member of the spiritual advisory board of Yeshivat Maharat and a returning lecturer at Drisha, to name a few. In Los Angeles, I am a member of B’nai David Judeah, where the rabbi, Rabbi Yosef Kanefsky, and I have a weekly chavruta in halacha, and it is where I did my siyum of the Shas when the previous cycle of Daf Yomi was completed. Thank God, the list of rabbis that respects my ordination is too long to mention.

How would you characterize your relationship with other Orthodox rabbis as well as with rabbis from other streams of Judaism?

Teachers of Torah are teachers of Torah. I believe that as rabbis serving one God we share a journey of leadership and shepherding. I believe we have a responsibility as rabbis, to support each other and to walk together in the life of service that we were called to live. I would not be honest if I did not say that the path with my Orthodox colleagues has been paved with a train of pain in my earlier years of rabbinic life, and I’m grateful that both they and I have continued to grow in ways that avail conversation and dialogue that wasn’t possible in the beginning.

Are there any current Orthodox rabbis who are ordaining women as rabbis?

I truly believe that the question of Orthodox women being ordained is going to be a question that will slowly disappear as a conversational item. There are multiple institutes in Israel where women are learning and being tested for their scholarship by revered Orthodox rabbis in the Israeli Modern Orthodox Zionist world. The women are serving in different roles within the Orthodox establishment. Such programs exist at Beit Morasha and Midreshet Lindenbaum in Jerusalem. 

One of your talks is “Observations of a Rebellious Daugher: Psycho-Spiritual Preparation for Shiva.” Was your desire to become a rabbi within Orthodoxy motivated by a “rebellious daughter’s” nature?

I always tell my students, “being a rabbi is not what you do, it is who you are.” I have a conscious memory of being 3½ years old when I partnered with God as a way to live my life. The irony is that at that age the only women I knew living a life of service were the nuns I saw on the bus. Growing up my dream was to be a history professor, but who I am is a Rav (an esteemed rabbi). My halachic DNA was formed in the Orthodox world and hence my commitment to the Orthodox community. I was not, and still am not, willing to accept that the Orthodox world cannot embrace the totality of my observance and service. My soul and spirit, as being coined in God’s image, have no definitions.

What do you want people to take away from your various talks while in St. Louis?

When leaving St. Louis, I would like to leave a community of people that believe that not only are they loved by God, but that God is directly speaking to each and every one of them. Individuals that will continue to seek their personal narrative and meaning from within the well and wealth of our scripture and tradition.