Mahara”t Sara Hurwitz Speaks at Stern College

On Monday evening, October 2^nd, more than sixty students, representing both Wilf and Beren campuses, squeezed into the cozy back lounge of the 36^th St. Residence Hall to hear “Mahara”t” Sara Hurwitz, the first woman to be effectively ordained to a rabbinical leadership position within the Orthodox community, discuss her ordainment and the future of female leadership in the Modern Orthodox world. 

The event, organized by TEIQU (Torah Exploration of Ideas, Questions, and Understanding) and co-sponsored by TAC, is the first of TEIQU’s Leqah series, a conversations series throughout the school year to “create forum for productive conversation surrounding matters of import to the contemporary Jewish community.”  These lectures all involve a scholarly speaker of note, accompanied with readings and a conversation afterwards.

            Many rose out of respect when Mahara”t Hurwitz entered the room, and the overwhelming majority of the audience stood when she was introduced.  Hurwitz, the first woman to be ordained “Mahara”t”, an acronym for “Manhiga Hilkhatit Ruchanit Toranit, graduated from the Drisha Scholars Circle prior and has served as one of the rabbis at the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale community in various forms for more than seven years.

Mahara”t Hurwitz was ordained by Rabbi Avi Weiss of the HIR back in March, who received both criticism and praise from various sectors of the Modern Orthodox community.  In May, Rabbi Weiss announced that he was creating Yeshivat Mahara”t, "an Orthodox Yeshiva of Higher Learning ... [to] train women to become Orthodox Spiritual Leaders – full members of the Rabbinic Clergy – in Synagogues, Schools, and on University Campuses."  Graduates of the four year program, which will provide a full education in halakhic and pastoral leadership, will receive ordination with the Mahara”t title.
            Ilana Gadish (SCW ’11), emcee for the recent event and current co-president of TEIQU, said of the event, “It was important for students to have the opportunity to both hear and converse about the various social and halakhic nuances of the developing roles for Orthodox women in Jewish Leadership.”

Mahara”t Hurwitz began the lecture by posing a question to the audience.  “The whole topic,” she suggested, “does not warrant that it should be frontal and me just speaking,” stressing the need for dialogue and conversation.  She asked the audience “What does a rabbi do?” stating her intention do go point by point picking apart each of those functions and see if a woman can fulfill them.  The first audience response, was “psak,” followed by “spiritual leadership,” “communal counseling,” “sermons,” “transmission of Mesora,” which Mahara”t Hurwitz reframed as “teaching”, and “social activism.” 
            “Of those roles,” Mahara”t Hurwitz asked, “what can a woman perform?”  She proceeded to address the suggested rabbinical roles, beginning with “psak,” the only one contested by some members of the audience.  Mahara”t Hurwitz proceeded to make a halakhic case for the legitimacy of women serving in positions of psak and in rabbinical leadership roles in general.  She handed out source sheets, verbally recognizing that they “are not meant to delve into any of the issues…spoken of in any deep way.  We could spend hours and hours on each of the topics…”
            Mahara”t Hurwitz praised the Yeshiva University community, noting that in the opening section, where people named the qualities and functions of a rabbi and whether women were precluded for any of those factors, no one in the audience raised the issue of a woman’s scholarship and Torah study.  “If we were in an even slightly different time and a slightly different place,” she suggested, “this would have to be a very relevant conversation.  “Nobody had to mention that…it’s intuitive, it’s taken for granted…Thank God we are in a place like this, where women are granted the same access to learning that men are.”

Touching on the issue of a woman’s ability to formally paskin, Mahara”t Hurwitz noted that very few pulpit rabbis today consider themselves actual poskim.  Psak, she argued, requires great expertise in a specific area, and not only knowledge of the germane halakhic texts.  It requires “creative ability to translate the black and white words into a Modern day situation.  That takes a lot of wisdom, a lot of time, and…years of learning.”

“Psak is one of these loaded terms,” she suggested.  “I don’t think there is any problem with men or women, if they are knowledgeable in the materiel and know their stuff—if they have passed some tests and…others making sure that they are responsible for the material they are supposed to know, there should be no issue with someone being able to answer a question.  I would think that most community rabbis, when faced with a question which is much more complicated, probably turn to their posek…in order to help them maneuver through more complicated situations.” 

Mahara”t Hurwitz noted that in her community, she answers many niddah questions, among other things.  She emphasized the value of having a female able to answer such questions, relating that many women thank her for being available, since they are often too embarrassed to go to a male with such personal questions. 

            “I think the answer is yes,” Mahara”t Hurwitz answered to the question “Do you see in the future a time where women not only are serving as part of the rabbinate of the community, but also as gedolot whom community rabbis will call up and ask more complicated questions?”  “I think the longer that women are in positions, not only scholarship, but leadership…I think there are women who are becoming experts…”
            Mahara”t Hurwitz noted that although it is certainly not traditional for women to assume such roles of leadership, there was a time when women did not even leave the house.  “There are examples of mihagim developing and changing and expanding,” she argued.  “It’s not that I don’t have a tremendous amount of respect for the mesora…I don’t think that I’ve stepped too much afar from the mesora and the minhagim that have been established.”

            “I do think that change is hard, and that change is slow, and it should be,” Mahara”t Hurwitz admitted.  “I think change is happening in the Orthodox community…people are not used to seeing a woman…functioning in a position of spiritual leadership.  I have found the community just gets used to it…I was not the first woman to work as a congregational intern…It took about seven years for my community to become comfortable with my expanded role.”

            With respect to the issue of tzniut, Mahara”t Hurwitz argued that the notion of modesty has shifted in Modern communities in America.  “Now, we are used to be in proximity of men, we are used to working with women, and as long as the work is done in a modest way…there should be no concern of modesty.” 
            Mahara”t Hurwitz recalled that there reached a point in her learning under Rabbi Weiss where she had taken all of the exams that smicha students take, and the two were forced to ask “ok, now what?”  They discussed the danger of creating a split in the Modern Orthodox community.  “It’s something that we are all sensitive to—that I’m sensitive to, that Rabbi Weiss is sensitive to…I didn’t want to be in a position of causing any split within the…community.  The question of title naturally arose, Mahara”t Hurwitz related, though noting that for her, it was less about title and more about the ability to function as a rabbi.  She argued that a title, however, is important, because “it allows me to do my job better…It’s a different presence…because I am seen in the position of a rabbi.”  “The title Mahara”t,” she suggested, “was a good compromise.  It remains to be seen whether it is a means to an end, or an end itself.”
            Mahara”t Hurwitz admitted that the orthodox community to the left was disappointed by the concession of title (Mahara”t and not “rabbi” proper).  “What the community to the right and left need to know is that I am functioning as a rabbi.”  Mahara”t Hurwitz stressed that “I am not doing what I do because I am a blazing feminist…I do it because I love my job…for a young mother, its not an easy job, but it’s what is natural for me, and right now, I cannot imagine doing anything else.”

            In a private interview with The Commentator, Rabbi Yosef Blau, Mashgiach Ruchani at the Rabbi Isaac Elhanan Theological Seminary, addressed some of the matters raised at the lecture, both halakhic and ideological.  “The original concept of semicha,” he noted, “was a chain going back to Moshe Rabbeinu that was broken.”  Rabbinic leadership nonetheless exists and is still referred to as “Rav,” despite the breach of semicha tracing back to Moshe.  “If you assume that there is an element of serara (authority over it) in it, Rambam’s view is that women are excluded from all positions of serara.  That is one of the issues involved in the complicated discussion of a women being a Dayan.”  Rabbi Blau noted that Hora’ah, halakhic instruction, simply requires that one know the answer and be knowledgeable, but to carry out halakhic punishments, by means of a beit din, there is clearly a difference.  When asked about the range of halakhic areas in which women could theoretically offer hora’ah.
            “The issue of women paskining,” Rabbi Blau stated, “is not in any manner or form restricted to hilkhot niddah” (as is primarily the case today).  However, he emphasized that “the program for preparing women in hilkot niddah is because there are good reasons why you might want to have a women do it—because it is clear that there are many women who are uncomfortable asking their shaiylos to men.  Theoretically, a woman can study hilkhot Shabbat for years, but it wouldn’t be serving the same kind of specific need.”  Rabbi Blau noted the two areas of Halakha in which women in Israel function within the sphere of halakhic discourse, the first being the aforementioned hilkhot niddah, and the second being To’anot Halakha, female advocates in rabbinic courts who are utilized particularly in areas of marriage and divorce.  “It’s a question of having women play a role where their being a women is helpful.”
            “Current semicha,” Rabbi Blau reiterated, “is a certification that someone knows… coming from some recognized source—either an institution or an individual rav whose name means something.”  He stated, “The issue of women rabbis is the issue of women taking on rabbinic roles...since the definition of “a rabbi” is so amorphous…it’s hard to answer in a line.  Judaism has always involved a mixture of adherence to halakhic criteria and the notion of mesora, of tradition.  The whole role that women play in society, which has radically changed in the last...hundred years, has caused a shift within the Orthodox community as well…There was a whole process of increase of education for women.”  In summarizing the historical process that shifted the entire direction and method of Jewish education, first in Europe and then in America, Rabbi Blau noted that this process has led to a percentage of women who “are taking it [learning] very seriously.” 
            Rabbi Blau raised the issue that “to have women who have had equivalent amount of [educational] background would mean an ongoing kind of program…”  “Frankly,” he stated, “if you talk about the program [Yeshivat Mahara”t], and not about women being rabbi’s per se, my concern is that it’s not on a higher level, and there is nothing about it that indicates that it really is…I don’t see major talmidei chachamim teaching there.”  He also noted that the program, “by starting something that is very controversial, not having the standards that one would hope they have, causes people to question the legitimate [women’s] programs that have shown they have high standards.”
            Rabbi Blau recognized the possible need for a proper title for learned women, discussing a few possibilities, including Rabbinit, which he did not think apt or sufficient.  “I know what it means to have women who are serious about learning,” he nonetheless stressed, mentioning his own daughter-in-law, a Yoetzet Halakha living in Israel, and the extensive study to which she dedicates herself.  “It is not clear that the community is looking for women rabbis, and it causes a split with more traditional segments, even if it is not a technical problem…If the community changes and needs change, then the halakha knows how to respond to change.
            After the event, Ms. Gadish suggested that, “It is important that Yeshiva University can have open forums that allow students to learn about and discuss topics that are at the forefront of the Modern Orthodox world.” She stated her hope that “our community continue to keep an open mind and doesn't allow this topic, or any topic for that matter, to create a divide within the community.” 
            “It is important,” she emphasized, “to continue to explore and delve into all types of relevant questions facing both the YU community as well as the Jewish community at large, and TEIQU hopes to provide more opportunities on both campuses for such exploration.”

            Wherever the debate will stand in years to come, it is certain that the questions posed by Mahara”t Sara Hurwitz, both implicitly in her controversial ordination and explicitly during her lecture itself, are still in a nascent stage.  They are sure to raise a great range of questions regarding the substance and direction of Orthodox women’s leadership in the future.