The Rambam Forbids Women Leadership but Is That All He Forbids....

There has been a lot of discussion recently about the whole woman rabbi subject. In more recent news Young Israel, apparently, does not deem women worthy to be presidents of shuls.

I am not getting into a long discussion about the whole topic (though I hope to one day) but I just want to point out one thing. Hirhurim has just posted a link to an article describing the Rav's views on women in leadership roles. One of the main sources referred to is the ever famous Rambam that says that women cannot be given serara - leadership.

The Rambam can be found in Hilchot Melakhim 1:5

ו [ה] אין מעמידין אישה במלכות--שנאמר "מלך" (דברים יז,טו), ולא מלכה; וכן כל משימות שבישראל, אין ממנים בהם אלא איש

We do not appoint a women to the kingship because it says "king" not "queen" and so too all the jobs (leadership roles) in Israel we only appoint to them a man

Now if you insist on taking the Rambam as an immutable code which never changes nor sways in the face of modernity then I suggest you keep reading the Rambam. Remember the Rambam is written in stone! Don't let your liberal/Western ideas tempt you to deviate from him right or left!

ט ... אלא כל השררות וכל המינויין שבישראל--ירושה לבנו ולבן בנו עד עולם: והוא שיהיה הבן ממלא מקום אבותיו בחכמה, וביראה. היה ממלא ביראה--אף על פי שאינו ממלא בחכמה--מעמידין אותו במקום אביו, ומלמדין אותו;

... rather all the leadership and appointments in Israel are an inheritance from father to son. And that is as long as the son is as good as his father in wisdom and and fear (of heaven) If he was equal to his father in fear, even if he is not equal to him in wisdom, we appoint him in his father's place and teach him.

The Chassidishe Rebbes must have had to learn this Rambam by heart. But there you have it. most of the frum world is deviating from the Rambam by not consistently giving preference to the son of the last shul president/Rabbi etc. Yes the Rambam adds that little caveat about "as long as he is equal to his father" but still how many shuls do you know where as soon as the Rabbi leaves/dies they call up his son first for the job interview. Yes it happens sometimes but does anyone actually take this Rambam seriously (besides Chassidim of course). Is anyone careful to always insure that the son of the former Rabbi/president gets a chance to interview for the post before anyone else?

But let's not stop there let's go back in this Rambam a bit. Did you know if you're a convert you cannot be in a leadership role?

אין מעמידין מלך מקהל גרים

We do not appoint a king from the "congregation" of converts

Now the Rambam also says in regards to a king:

אפילו אחר כמה דורות--עד שתהיה אימו מישראל

Even after many generation until his mother is from Israel

He then proceeds to say:

ולא למלכות בלבד, אלא לכל שררות שבישראל

And not just for monarchy but also for all leadership in Israel

Now I'm not sure if the last bit about "until his mother is from Israel" is meant to apply soley to a king or also to "all leadership in Israel" also. If the latter then I'm sorry that last one has got to be the most disregarded "halacha" of the Rambam. Does anyone get disqualified from being a Rabbi or a shul president nowadays because his mother was a convert! I think not.

Even if the "mother from Israel thing" is only discussing kings does anyone demand that the shul president be a born Jew? What if his parents converted when he was 3 years old or something making him also a convert. Are you telling me that someone who has been Jewish since he was 3 cannot be shul president?

Is it consistent to pick and choose which Rambams to consider immutable halacha and which ones not? The whole "no leadership for women thing" is in a chapter dedicated to many other antiquated social rules many of which have long ago been recognized as obsolete by the frum community. So why does the "no leadership for women" get special immutability vis a vis the other leadership rules of the Rambam. Just like those rules are obsolete so too "no leadership for women" is obsolete.

Am I missing something? Does the Shulkhan Aruch add something that I'm forgetting?

Feel free to point out my error.

Edit: I might have had just a little too much faith in the modernity of Young Israel I assumed that no Young Israel shul would bar a convert from being shul president. Apparently its not so clear:

Hat tip: Anonymous

From here

Young Israel officials were not only exercised by the new rabbinic screening policy; the NCYI's recent decision to bar females and converts from being a Young Israel synagogue president was heavily criticized as well.

Dr. Jay Cinnamon, past president of the Young Israel of Toco Hills, Atlanta, who spoke as a private citizen, said he was "disappointed but not shocked" that the NCYI chose to ban women from holding a synagogue presidency. But he found the ban on converts "repugnant." He explained that in Atlanta and many other cities, there is "a small but significant number of converts, many of whom are true gerei tezedek and extraordinarily devoted to the community and halacha." Many of them, he said, are "as pious as any other Jew." Dr. Cinnamon said that to categorically deny converts synagogue presidencies removes productive members from consideration, and possibly more injurious, sends a "profound and distasteful message" that converts are not fully equal Jews.

Other Young Israel officials shared his sentiments. 58% of Young Israel leaders said that they strongly felt that their president should be male. But 67% strongly believed that a convert should be able to serve as president. In practice, it seems that several Young Israels have had females serving as de facto presidents, though at times they used different titles.

The NCYI gave no defense for their restrictions on synagogue presidential candidates in their memorandum. Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, a leading scholar of the last generation, wrote responsa addressing the scope of the prohibition against converts or females serving in a position of coercive authority over other Jews. Medieval scholars dispute whether women can hold such positions, and Rabbi Feinstein decides strictly, mentioning in passing that women shouldn't be shul presidents. While he also upholds the prohibition on giving converts a position of major authority, he does advocate using maximum possible leniency on this issue to be sensitive to converts, and he explicitly permitted a convert to become a rosh yeshiva. He did not say whether a convert was prohibited from becoming president.

Maybe Young Israel is more consistent in their backwardness then I thought.