The storm surrounding the exclusion of women to the “Achdus Conference” of dati leumi tzibur continues to spark discussion today, after women were able to register for the conference through the automatic registration system after adding the title of “rabbi”, only to be dumped from the invitation list.

However, the rumor quickly spread throughout the social networks, and conference organizers blocked the possibility of registering through the automatic registration system, claiming that the registration was only by telephone and “on the basis of availability.”

Attorney Nitzan Caspi-Shiloni, who received a statement that her registration was registered as “Rabbi Nitzan”, was able to register through the website.

Shiloni says that not inviting women to the conference is problematic, especially in light of the marriages that will be discussed at the conference: “Talk about, for example, how to integrate women into shul and what happens if women ask to change the height of the mechitzah. She questioned, “How can Rabbis talk about them amongst themselves, without hearing important voices.”

Others point out that no one would dare hold an annual Israel Bar Association convention without women, as is the case with other organizations, seeking to understand how rabbonim could exclude them. They add over “50% of the dati leumi tzibur will not be present, and this is absurd”.

She adds, “They call this a kenos of ‘achdus’, but it represents exclusion of women so it is totally void of achdus. A woman who may have a great deal to contribute to such a forum may not because of her gender. We felt the insult of our sector, talmidot chachamim who are not permitted to attend. Something was done here that I hope will not occur again in the future”.

Organizers of the kenos responded saying, “Unfortunately, different people who have nothing to do with the world of the rabbinate, and organizations with an extreme liberal agenda, pretended to be rabbis and were registered for the conference, disrupting the preparations for it, sabotaging the registration system and leaving us with no choice but to make it by phone only. We are saddened the culture of machlokes of these very ‘enlightened’ people is in their own eyes.”

The kenos is scheduled for this Thursday, 25 Iyar, in Binyanei Ha’uma, the Jerusalem Convention Center, beginning at 4:00PM.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)