First woman Rabbine ordered in France, Iris Ferreira, which belongs to the Liberal Jewish, is also an author of fantasy novels for young adults.
by Linda Caille
Only his mauve and red kippa splashes his cuterectat of bright colors. Humble and intense, Iris Ferreira, 29, is the first woman Rabbine ordained in France in July 2021. His chestnut hair frames his pale skin pierced with big blue eyes a little dark. She comments soberly: “It shows that things change little by little, so it’s positive for France”. In a fiercely secular country, being a woman and to occupy a religious ministry belongs to the exception.
Unlike the tradition that the rabbis formalize their ministry in the country where they followed their studies – in this case for Iris, Léo Baeck College of London -, the young woman was inducted in France. For in June, the Future Rabbin was prevented from going to England due to sanitary restrictions due to the CVIV-19 pandemic. She has therefore received the semikha (transmission of authority of a rabbi to another) of the rabbinate Pauline Bebe in Paris.
These purely logistical reasons, however, create a precedent in French Liberal Judaism, devoid of seminar on its territory and more attached to an adaptation of Jewish law to contemporary societies than the Orthodox movement. In France, the four women rabbles already in exercise – Pauline Bebe, the first, Delphine awning, Floriane Chinsky and Daniéla Touati – have all been ordained abroad. Iris has been exercising since September in the Liberal Jewish community in Strasbourg.
Assisi, all right, in the Parisian synagogue of the rue Muffle (Xie arrondissement) where Pauline Bebe Officie since its creation in 1995, Iris Ferreira is preparing to give his first courses in front of a small assistance. If the young rabbine recognizes his pride in being the first to have been ordered in France, she does not make a feminist banner. Iris ensures to be primarily attached to equality between women and men. “By releasing the word of the victims, the #meetoo movement has awakened a state of consciousness, does it analyze. This has had a positive impact also in men who, unconsciously, reproduce violent schemes.” For her, society, society, “Built defined roles” for women as for men, what to regret. “It’s hard to get out, I observed it in Orthodox Jews.”
Back to Faith
At the age of 20, in Vendée, Iris attended the discreet orthodox Jewish community of Olonne sands (Vendée). “I learned everything, the prayers, the office, she remembers, but I was frustrated.” Iris knows that it is impossible for it to “take an active part at the office” and “go up to the Torah” since women are excluded from the rabbinat. “Orthodox women can not access all areas of Jewish literature, they are less educated, I have witnessed these restrictions, does it notify. Know that every day of my life it would not change … It was difficult. I’m learning what I want! “
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