WASHINGTON - It’s been only a month since one of
America’s first female Orthodox clergy members joined Congregation Ohev
Shalom/The National Synagogue in Washington, DC and, already, the synagogue’s
senior rabbi can’t understand how they ever managed without her.
“It’s just been amazing having Maharat Ruth [Balinsky
Friedman] on staff with us this past month,” says Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld. “You
don’t really know how much something is needed until you start it and then you
realize, wow, what an unbelievable thing it is.”
Herzfeld says he’s had nearly two dozen new member
applications since Balinsky Friedman began in August and describes her arrival
as a “jolt of electricity” that energized the community, especially women and
girls.
“A 6-year-old girl came up to me and asked how one becomes a
maharat,” he said. “A few families have approached us and asked if Maharat Ruth
can study with their daughters, who go to a public school, and would be more
comfortable learning with a woman. It’s inspiring, because it means our young
women can now connect with the Torah in more than a passive way and be active
leaders in the community.”
So how does Maharat Ruth, 28, feel about her new job?
“I’m thrilled and deeply honored to be in a position to help
other people grow in their Jewish identity,” she said. “I grew up in an
Orthodox Jewish community in Chicago, where women weren’t in positions of
leadership. It never crossed my mind that I could be in such a role, but now
that I’m here, I hope to do my best to show young women that there’s a place of
leadership possible for them in the Orthodox Jewish community.”
Friedman is one of the three-member first graduating class
of New York City’s Yeshivat Maharat, run by controversial Rabbi Avi
Weiss-ordained Rabba Sara Hurwitz, Maharat’s dean, who also works on the
rabbinical staff of the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale (HIR).
The school rents
space from the Drisha Institute, a well-established Jewish educational center
where many of Maharat’s students first began studying.
Friedman’s official title is not “rabbi” (or, unlike
Hurwitz, the feminine form, “rabba”). Rather, maharat is an acronym that stands
for “manhiga hilchatit ruchanit toranit,” which means a female teacher, legal
scholar and spiritual leader.
Nevertheless, Maharat Ruth, as she’s known at Ohev Shalom,
has a 16-point job description that includes everything from officiating at
weddings, bar mitzvahs and funerals, to leading study groups, conducting
community outreach and giving weekly sermons.
On Rosh Hashanah, Rabbi Herzfeld gave the sermon on the
first day and Maharat Ruth delivered one on the following day. In fact, Maharat
Ruth got some tips for her Rosh Hashanah speech from another member of the
Orthodox clergy: her father.
“My Dad is an Orthodox rabbi,” she said. “When I was growing
up, he was the director of the Northwestern University Hillel in Chicago.
Thanks to him, I grew up immersed in the world of Jewish communal leadership.”
And how does he feel about his daughter following in the
“family business”?
“He’s excited. My father has been very supportive of me and
has been a great mentor.”
Of course, not all members of the Orthodox community are as
supportive of female clergy as Rabbi Michael Balinsky in Chicago. For now, the
phenomenon of maharats seems limited only to the most liberal end of the
Orthodox spectrum.
The centrist Orthodox Rabbinical Council of America released
a statement in May, one month before Maharat Ruth, Rachel Kohl Feingold and
Abby Brown Schier were ordained, declaring, “We cannot accept either the
ordination of women or the recognition of women as members of the rabbinate,
regardless of title.”
During their ordination ceremony, one observer told The
Jewish Week that “it was like graduating medical school, but not being allowed
to call yourself a doctor.”
But Maharat Ruth stresses that she doesn’t seek to have an identical role to
that of Rabbi Herzfeld.
“I’m an Orthodox Jew and Orthodox Jewish law dictates
differences in the roles between the sexes,” she said. “The maharat is an
important step that sends the message to women and girls that you can get a
really good Jewish education and be sufficiently recognized for it. It also
signals that, as long as you’re acting within the confines of halacha, you can
empower people.”
Count Julie Silverstein as impressed with Maharat Ruth’s
first month on the pulpit. The Harvard-educated young mother and public
relations executive is a regular at Ohev Shalom and says there’s a palpable
buzz in the pews.
“She’s injected a strong and articulate voice to our
explorations around the world of women in our synagogue — an issue which is
dear to many of our congregants as well as the rabbi,” she said.
Silverstein said the number of offerings of classes and
programs has increased dramatically in the past month and credits Maharat Ruth
with attracting women (and men) who have previously been less engaged in
learning.
“She’s also a knowledgeable and kind person who, I believe,
will touch many people during her time here,” said Silverstein.
Nobody seems happier to have the extra help than Rabbi
Herzfeld.
“On a scale of 1 to 10 of how happy I am, I’m at 15,” he
said.
Herzfeld, a charismatic and outspoken progressive Orthodox
voice, clearly hopes that his synagogue’s experience will encourage other
Orthodox communities to embrace female clergy members.
“Washington, DC is a city on a hill,” he said. “By nature of
the fact that what people do in Washington is seen by a wider audience, it’s
important to use our geography to help other congregations interested in hiring
a maharat to overcome their concerns about doing something new.”
In five or 10 years down the road, Maharat Ruth believes
there will be many more women like her. As to where she thinks her career might
be at that time, she says she’s not sure.
“I don’t have one specific career path,” she said. “I just want
to keep doing what I’m doing — making Judaism accessible to those who seek
meaning in it and who want to learn more.”
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