Most religious-Zionists, including haredi-religious-Zionists (hardalim), do not want to see women as rabbis or halachic decisors (poskim).

A survey held in advance of Besheva Magazine’s 12th annual Jerusalem Conference by Maagar Mochot found that 54% of the religious-Zionists think it would be wrong to let women serve as rabbis and as poskim. Eighteen percent think that women should be allowed to serve as rabbis and decisors, and 28% are not sure or did not answer.

The survey sampled 519 men and women.

A panel discussion in the conference will include Idit Bartov, who serves in a de facto rabbinical position, Michal Tikochinsky and Hanna Hankin, who head institutions that train women for making halachic decisions.

Facing them will be Rabbanit Inbal Melamed and Rabbi Yehoshua Shapira, who are expected to oppose the idea of having women as rabbis and decisors.

In recent years, there has been a systematic effort to establish educational frameworks in several institutions for providing halakhic knowledge to women and training them as decisors.

The conference panel will seek to determine how far the process has advanced, what its leaders’ true motivation is, and whether it is truly seen as legitimate, at least in the religious-Zionist public.