
The Council's 2026 Summer Meeting was held May 31st through June 2nd in Orlando.
At this year's meeting, Rabbi Nathan Joiner was elected Vice President and Rabbi Lonnie Bradshaw was elected Treasurer.
The Council engaged in a deep halakhic study on the issues surrounding Messianic Kiddushin and continued our revision of our Shabbat standards.
We again had the pleasure of ordaining two newer members of our Council: Rabbi Jude C. and Rabbi Jennifer C.
Rabbi Jennifer is the second woman to receive rabbinic ordination from the MJRC, and just became the second woman to receive ordination from the UMJC, making her the first woman to receive ordination from both organizations.
Rabbi Jude leads a congregation, already holds ordination from the UMJC, and serves on its Executive Committee.
Our Council first ordained a woman, Rabbi Dr. Vered Hillel, in 2018. We understand the witness of Scripture to clearly show that both Hashem and leaders such as Paul approved of women in leadership and appointed them to positions of authority. Salient examples include Deborah the judge, held up by the Sages as an example of a woman serving as a community's spiritual and halakhic guide; Yeshua's female disciples who merited being the first bearers of the Good News; and Priscilla, who was considered able to teach the preacher Apollos a more complete Gospel. You can find our full reasoning in our
Standards Manual.