Four Orthodox women will be ordained as clergy members in New York in a groundbreaking ceremony on June 16.
The women studied at Yeshivat Maharat, an institution set up by Rabbi Avi Weiss to train Orthodox women as spiritual leaders and halachic (Jewish law) authorities. They are the first graduates of the new program and will receive the title of “maharat,” a Hebrew acronym for manhiga hilchatit ruchanit toranit, one who is teacher of Jewish law and spirituality.
The four graduates will receive diplomas testifying to their “ordination as clergy.” The language will note that they have been ordained as “decisor of Jewish law for the community,” indicating they have the authority to be poskot (legal arbiters).
Yeshivat Maharat said in a statement that the women have undergone the same rigorous training as male rabbinic students and are now “full spiritual, communal, halakhic authorities, just like their male counterparts.”
All four have jobs in Orthodox synagogues and institutions for the coming year.
In January 2010, Weiss created a furor in the Orthodox world when he bestowed the title “rabba” — a feminized form of
“rabbi” — on Sara Hurwitz, whom he had ordained the previous spring as a maharat. He later backed down under pressure from the Rabbinical Council of America and said he would no longer use the title “rabba” for his graduates. — j. staff