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Questions over women’s leadership triggers dispute at Leeds synagogue
Etz Chaim rabbi says woman can be president as long as male honorary officers have controlling majority
August 8, 2024 08:04
Etz Chaim rabbi says woman can be president as long as male honorary officers have controlling majority
August 8, 2024 08:04A dispute has broken out in Leeds over whether an Orthodox synagogue board needs to have a male majority.
Etz Chaim congregation elected a new team of officers at its annual meeting last week, which includes a female president, Sara Saunders.
But the synagogue’s senior rabbi, Dayan Shalom Kupperman, who is also the head of the Leeds Beth Din, raised objections that there would be too few men at the top to comply with the requirements of Jewish law.
The new team is understood to have comprised four men and four women, which would have left Mrs Saunders with a casting vote and so holding the balance of power.
The day before the AGM, Dayan Kupperman and the congregation’s outgoing president, Paul Gross, are understood to have exchanged emails.
Mr Gross is said to have told Dayan Kupperman and the shul’s chazan, Rabbi Anthony Gilbert, that rabbis could not interfere in the composition of the officer team and that if they felt unable to do their jobs in the meantime, the synagogue was prepared to suspend them.
In an apparent response, Dayan Kupperman is said to have cited “clear evidence” from the London Beth Din that a woman president could serve only with a majority of male trustees. He is said to have accepted “your generous offer to be suspended on full pay”.
Neither Mr Gross nor Rabbi Gilbert wished to comment.
Dayan Kupperman did not return calls from the JC. According to local sources, he was absent from the congregation on Shabbat morning.
But a source in Leeds told the JC this week that one of the newly elected female officers has stepped down “so the issue about whether there are more women than men in decision-making for the shul has been sorted”. He expected Dayan Kupperman “to be back in shul”.
Mrs Saunders would only say to the JC that Dayan Kupperman was “delighted for me being president” and had told her: “You’ll be a breath of fresh air”.
In a statement to members, the new president said the synagogue “values the services of Dayan Kupperman very much and we do not wish to become embroiled in speculation regarding this, nor will this be debated in the public domain”.
She said the synagogue had received advice from the Office of the Chief Rabbi last week that there were “no restrictions on a female president or the composition of the honorary officers and council. This was fully accepted by Dayan Kupperman.”
She added: “We will follow correct governance and report to our members in due course”.
One Etz Chaim member told the JC that what had happened was “wrong” and Dayan Kupperman’s authority should not have been questioned.
The OCR has confirmed there is flexibility on the leadership role of women but the decision rests with the local rabbi.
Not so long ago, the United Synagogue changed its rules to enable a woman to become president in future — while ensuring that there would be a majority of male trustees.
The US currently has five male and five female trustees, having co-opted an additional woman trustee. In the event of a split decision, its president Michael Goldstein could exercise a casting vote.