By Rabbi Aryeh Lebowitz

And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aharon, took the drum in her hand, and all of the women followed her with drums and dances.

Shemos 15:20 Introduction

A number of Orthodox Shuls have either suggested appointing or actually have appointed women to serve as their presidents or on their board of directors. Assuming that the community is one in which women are generally taking leading roles in communal activities, is there any halachic objection to women serving in these roles? To the extent that there are halachic sensitivities, is it an absolute prohibition, or is it something that allows for some degree of leeway depending on the community?

The Source

The main objection to having a woman serve in a position of authority comes from a comment in the Rambam (Hilchos Melachim 1:5). The Torah instructs (Devarim 17:15), “Som tasim alecha melech,” “You shall appoint a king over you,” and the Sifri (Shoftim 157) derives from this that we specifically appoint a king and not a queen. The Rambam elaborates that this applies not only to actual royal appointments, but to any position that requires an official appointment and constitutes authority over others (serarah). This would likely preclude a woman from serving as a shul president, since it is an appointment that carries a certain level of authority.

Rav Moshe’s Explanation

Rav Moshe Feinstein (Igros Moshe, YD 2:44,45) suggests that the Rambam is based on a Gemara in Yevamos (45b), which rules, based on the same pasuk, that a ger is not permitted to be appointed as a king, nor may he be given any position of authority. Thus, the Rambam is simply applying the Gemara’s reasoning to the Sifri. When one is excluded from the right to be appointed as a king, he is similarly excluded from all positions of authority.

Defining Serarah

In order to know what the Rambam would prohibit, it is essential to understand what constitutes a position of serarah. The Gemara in Kiddushin (76b) teaches that a ger should not be given the job of inspecting vendors’ weights and measures. Rav Moshe (YD 4:26) explains that although this is certainly not a prestigious position, it is one that allows the individual to oversee and work against what others in his field – even those who hired him – are trying to accomplish. In this case, the local vendors might be attempting to cheat with their weights and measures, and it is the inspector’s job to keep their dishonest proclivities in check. In contrast, a CEO of a company, who is obviously in a more prestigious and authoritative position, is not there to work against anyone in the company, but to more generally manage and make important decisions for the company. Based on this definition, Rav Moshe rules that a ger can serve as a rosh yeshiva or a mashgiach in a yeshiva, even though he has the authority to throw students out of the school. This is because a rosh yeshiva works for the yeshiva’s board of directors and is supposed to implement their demands, not to work against them. Thus, we find that in a wide range of religious communities, women serve as principals and heads of school. On the other hand, a mashgiach of kashrus is considered to hold a position of serarah, since he is hired to supervise and keep the business owner in check, sometimes working against the owner’s business interests in the name of kashrus. Based on this, Rav Moshe ruled that a woman cannot serve as the chief mashgiach of a factory or facility. He did, however, permit a woman to work for a rav hamachshir and serve to implement his policies.

Other Opinions in the Rishonim

Many other rishonim seem to dispute the Rambam’s application of serarah and do permit a woman to serve in various public appointments.

Tosafos (Niddah 50a, s.v. kol), in discussing the role that Devorah played as a shofetes, cites an opinion that a woman is permitted to serve as a dayan, which is certainly a position of serarah.

The Sefer HaChinuch (497), in describing the mitzvah of appointing a king, mentions that a woman cannot be appointed to this position, while in the next mitzvah, he writes that a ger cannot be appointed to a position of serarah and makes no mention of women in this regard. This indicates that the Chinuch also argues with the Rambam. Rav Moshe points out that Rashi (Kiddushin 76b) and the Ran (Kiddushin 31a in dapei HaRif) understand that the source of the issur of serarah for a ger is the words “som tasim,” whereas the Rambam’s source prohibiting a woman from serarah is the word “melech” (velo malkah), thus indicating that they are not necessarily related. Rav Moshe adds that the Ramban and Rashba likely disagree with the Rambam as well, since they do not deal with the issue of Devorah serving as a judge, indicating that they likely have no problem with it.

However, the Ritva (Shevuos 30a, s.v. shevuas) does agree with the Rambam that a woman cannot be appointed as a dayan. Based on the fact that this is a machlokes rishonim and it is an issue of an issur d’oraysa, Rav Moshe rules that we should be machmir for the opinion of the Rambam and refrain from appointing women to positions of serarah.

A Shul President

Do we consider a shul president to be a position of serarah? According to Rav Moshe’s definition, the answer would be yes. The president and board members of a shul are there to ensure that the rabbi and the members of the shul are following their mandates appropriately, and they have to make supervisory decisions that may be in conflict with the desires and tendencies of others in the shul. Rav Moshe therefore rules that a woman may not serve as president or a board member of a shul.

Other poskim, including Rav Soloveitchik, permit women to serve on the shul board, but not as president of the shul, as they view the president as being the singular person of authority, while other board members serve merely as his deputies and do not have the power to make any decisions on their own. Rav Soloveitchik thought it wisest for women not to serve as vice president either, since the title would suggest that they are eligible to become president. Rav Chaim Dovid HaLevi (Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv from 1973-1998) writes in a teshuvah that even according to the Rambam, a woman should be able to serve as president of a shul, since (in his opinion) serarah applies only to a position that is given through appointment or taken forcefully, not to a position that is voted on by the public or by the membership.

Other Considerations

It is important to note that a shul president spends many hours working very closely with the rabbi of the shul, and it is extremely inadvisable for a man and a woman who are not married to each other to spend so much time together. While sometimes unavoidable in a business context, it is wisest to avoid this unwanted challenge in a Jewish communal leadership context. This is true even if the halachos of yichud are strictly adhered to and everything is