>>>Are Jewish women no longer kept up on the balcony (or at least separate from the men) in the synagogue?
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>>Only in Orthodox synagogues (where it'll never change). In Conservative (know as Masorti in your part of the world), Reform and Reconstructionist, there's mixed seating, female rabbis and egalitarian services. My synagogue has two rabbis--one male, one female. My aunt just finished three years as the president of her synagogue.
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>Well, there is indeed progress in women's rights. I had never heard about women as rabbis. Is this a relatively new development?

The Conversative movement has been ordaining women for more than 20 years, Reform and Reconstructionist longer than that.

Tamar