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The International Rabbinic Fellowship (IRF), billed as an Orthodox alternative to the establishment Rabbinical Council of America (RCA), was officially established at a two-day conference Nov. 17-18 in Baltimore.

The IRF, which has been in the making for the past two years, is the creation of Rabbi Avraham Weiss of the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale in the Bronx and founder of the "open-Orthodox" Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School (YCT), and Rabbi Marc Angel, rabbi emeritus of New York's Shearith Israel and director of the Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals.

The IRF's creation comes after divergences within the Orthodox world over the issues of conversion and the role of women. It also comes after the country's largest Orthodox rabbinic organization, the RCA, refused to admit alumni of YCT as members.

The RCA declined to comment for this story.

Angel, who is a former president of the RCA, said that the IRF formed for two reasons, one positive and one negative.

On the positive side, Angel felt there was energy within the modern Orthodox community that could be tapped into.

The other, negative reason, Angel explained, deals with the issue of conversion.

Conversion: Empowering local rabbis

Angel explained that he felt that the RCA had abandoned its modern Orthodox wing and "capitulated" to the Chief Rabbinate of Israel over the issue of conversion after an agreement was reached several years ago by the RCA and the Chief Rabbinate that would only allow for conversions approved by a dozen or so religious courts in the U.S., whereas previously the Chief Rabbinate recognized conversions performed by any RCA member.

Regarding this agreement, Angel said that the "RCA betrayed the Orthodox community and the Orthodox rabbinate."

Rabbi Chaim Lobel of Young Israel of Aberdeen-Congregation Bet Tefilah, who is a member of the RCA, disagreed.

"Any agreement between the RCA and the Chief Rabbinate of Israel I think is great," he said. "They are both credible organizations and I don't doubt whatever they do."

Among the 120 founding members is Rabbi Yerachmiel Shapiro of Congregation Beth Shalom in Red Bank, who received smicha from YCT.

Shapiro said that the RCA's position on conversion was the issue that "broke the camel's back" and led to the creation of the IRF.

"One of the main reasons that the International Rabbinic Fellowship was created was because more and more decisions that affect the world of orthodoxy were being made by a smaller and smaller group of people, by gedolim (institutional leaders), people within yeshivas, and not by congregational rabbis who were out in the field," Shapiro said.

At the conference, a committee was assembled and given the task of coming up with conversion guidelines to be presented at the organization's next meeting in June. It has not yet been determined if those guidelines will be merely advisory or binding.

"What we took away from the conversion [discussion] was that local rabbis must play the central role in the conversion and bet dins in their communities," said Rabbi Barry Gelman of the United Orthodox Synagogues of Houston, who was elected as the IRF's first president.

"The IRF wants to make sure that individual rabbis are empowered," said Rabbi Hyim Shafner of Bais Abraham Congregation, St. Louis and the IRF's vice president of education and communication.

Status of women

The other major issue discussed at the conference was whether the handful of women who serve Orthodox congregations in rabbinic capacities be allowed to become full members of the organization.

Although there is not currently an Orthodox institution that ordains women as rabbis, there are several women in the United States who function as rabbinic authorities in their respective Orthodox communities.

One of these women is Sara Hurwitz, who serves as the "maharat" at the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale. Hurwitz was conferred this title by Weiss after passing the same exam given to rabbis at YCT. Maharat is a new acronym, coined by Weiss, which stands for "manhiga hilchatit ruchanit toranit," leader in Jewish law, spiritual matters, and Torah.

A "membership" committee was formed at last month's conference, tasked with deciding upon the IRF's stance toward women like Hurwitz.

Shafner said that a "strong majority" of the rabbis in attendance at the conference supported the inclusion of women, though he acknowledged that there were only four or five women out there that were potential candidates.

"We want to make sure that everyone has the right training and credentials," he said.

"This is really exciting stuff," said Gelman about the possibility of admitting women as members of the IRF. "It's a recognition that there are a number of women in the U.S. that are serving in essentially rabbinic roles in their Orthodox congregations."

Jeffrey Gurock, the Libby M. Klaperman Professor of Jewish History at Yeshiva University, who has written extensively about Orthodox Judaism in the United States, said that this discussion taking place in an Orthodox rabbinic organization was "unprecedented," though added that "comparable discussions took place earlier in the more liberal denominations."

The future of IRF

Attendees of the conference said that the IRF offered an open, non-judgmental environment for Orthodox rabbis to share ideas with one another.

"In my 40 years in the rabbinate, I've never been to any conference that even compared to the IRF's in its openness, honesty, and candor," Angel said.

Shafner agreed.

"There was a need for a rabbinical organization that can be an open space for rabbis to talk," he said. "The IRF is a little more liberal, open-minded than the rabbinic organizations out there."

Many of the founding members of the IRF are also members of the RCA and those that are said that they did not seek to replicate the RCA and intend to remain members of that organization.

Angel said that over the next several years he envisions the IRF expanding to include between 250-300 rabbis.

"I think the IRF is a revolutionary force that is going to transform orthodoxy," he said.

Gurock, however, is more skeptical about the organization's potential for expansive growth.

"It's hard to say how many congregations are supportive," Gurock said. "It's simply an attempt to institutionalize what's happening at Rabbi Weiss's synagogue."

"Rabbi Wiess may feel himself isolated," he added, noting that many of the IRF's members are associated with Weiss's congregation or yeshiva.