page_title: Aryeh Stern
section_title: Positions
hierarchical_section_title: Aryeh Stern / Positions
caption_attribution_description: עברית: הרב שטרן במכון הלכה ברורה
context_page_description: Aryeh Stern is the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem, a member of the Chief Rabbinate Council of Israel, and the chief editor of the Halacha Brura and Berur Halacha Institute.
context_section_description: Rabbi Stern pledged that as the rabbi of Jerusalem he would organize kiddushim for religious and secular people, held once a month in synagogues around Jerusalem after the prayers.
  He opposes cultural-religious segregation of sectors where each sector lives in their own neighborhood, and supports the establishment of mixed neighbourhoods of both religious and non-religious.
  He has said that he is interested in returning the kashrut level in Jerusalem to its status fifty years ago, when it was perceived as very mehudar. He has been proactive in checking kashrut and addressing corruption in the Jerusalem Religious Council to improve supervision.
  With regard to the place of women in prayers, he said: "In the world I knew from the times of my mother and my grandmother, there was no such demand, and it was also apparent in the posekim of the time. Our grandmothers did not want it. Today, however, the situation is different, and one cannot claim old arguments exercised in past generations... it is clear that one needs to renew things, basing it on the Halakha, of course". That is why he supported  expanding the Women's Gallery at the Western Wall to the same size of the men's section, and also allowed placing a Sefer Torah in the women's gallery at the times of hakafot (encirclements at the synagogue) on Simchat Torah.
  Regarding acceptance of religious homosexual couples, he said he would accept them at his synagogue, in the same way he accepts Shabbat violators, though he would not appoint them as congregational cantors. He opposes the Pride parade in Jerusalem.
  He has called to abolish the Talmud and Torah matriculation exams.
caption: Rabbi Stern at his desk
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