JERUSALEM — Orthodox Jewish women in Israel took the first state-administered rabbinic exams in April, following an Israeli Supreme Court ruling that opened the tests to women. Until recently, only Orthodox Jewish men were allowed to take the official rabbinic exams administered by the Chief Rabbinate of Israel.

The exams, held at Israel's Ministry of Religious Affairs in Jerusalem, tested knowledge of Jewish religious laws of mourning and lasted nearly six hours. Three Orthodox women, including Dr. Ruth Agiv, a 44-year-old dentist, sat for the first of a series of required tests. Agiv said, "Women need to be part of the world of Torah. We should not need to be outside. It belongs to us."

Rabbanit Batya Krauss, who teaches at Matan – The Sadie Rennert Women's Institute for Torah Studies in Raanana, called the milestone a breakthrough. "In Israel, we broke the glass ceiling of learning," she said. Krauss added, "When a woman wanted to learn in the olden days, she had to hide."

The Jewish advocacy group ITIM, led by Rabbi Seth Farber, filed the lawsuit that led to the Supreme Court’s ruling. After the court decision, the rabbinic authorities initially refused to administer the exams to anyone—men or women—for more than half a year. "The rabbinate said we'd rather not give exams to men than give exams to anybody," Farber said in a podcast interview. Following renewed legal action by ITIM, the court ordered Israel's religious authorities to hold the exams and to pay ITIM approximately $5,000 in court fees.

Women who pass the exams still cannot be officially ordained as rabbis by Israel's Orthodox religious authorities, and most Orthodox communities remain resistant to women holding the formal title. However, passing may qualify them for leadership roles in public service positions overseeing state-funded religious services. For Agiv, the goal is recognition as a learned authority in Jewish law to offer women religious guidance. "I am also at the beginning of the path. This was the first test. I still have a lot, a lot, a lot to learn," she said.

Israel's chief rabbis expressed "deep regret" over the court's "interference in topics carrying implications in Jewish religious law." Farber responded that "the momentum toward recognizing women's Torah scholarship is irreversible. The question now is whether the Rabbinate will choose to lead that process responsibly or continue resisting a reality that Israeli society and the courts have already acknowledged."