Mazal tov to MaHaRa'T Sara Hurwitz
Congratulations to MaHaRa'T Hurwitz, and to Rabbi Avi Weiss (who "ordained" her) and the entire Modern Orthodox community. If I understood the audio portion of the linked video correctly, the title is an acronym for Manhigah Hilchatit, Ruchanit, v'Toranit, Leader in Jewish Religious Law, Spiritual Matters, and Torah. This "ordination" is a major step in welcoming Orthodox women into the world of Jewish learning and leadership. Thanks to DovBear for spreading the news.
April 2, 2009 correction, thanks to commenter Jon: Hilchatit (not Halachit). Done. Thanks. Again, Mazal to Maharat Hurwitz.
April 2, 2009 correction, thanks to commenter Jon: Hilchatit (not Halachit). Done. Thanks. Again, Mazal to Maharat Hurwitz.
posted by Shira Salamone at 8:54 AM
13 Comments:
It's hilchatit, not halachit.
Thanks, Jon. I've made the correction.
I wouldn't congratulate the entire Modern Orthodox community. There are many of us in the MO community, including myself, who are pretty LW MO, and think that this was a mistake. Avi Weiss, while a true ohev yisrael, is not the halachic leader of the Modern Orthodox 'movement' such as it is. So I claim neither credit, congratulations, nor blame for this decision. It was the decision of a single MO rabbi, who is an outlier IMO.
I also think he just halved the possibility that a YCT musmakh will get a job in an MO community, particularly outside of NY. Out in the sticks (such as Washington, DC metro area where I live), we're not as into the shtick he pulls.
JDub, I have two questions:
1) Is there currently a broadly acknowledged and accepted "halachic leader of the Modern Orthodox 'movement' such as it is"?
2) Why do you consider the public acknowledgement of a woman's learning by the conferral of a title to be "shtick"?
"I also think he just halved the possibility that a YCT musmakh will get a job in an MO community, particularly outside of NY." If you're right, I'm very sorry to hear that.
Shira:
1) Is there currently a broadly acknowledged and accepted "halachic leader of the Modern Orthodox 'movement' such as it is"?
JDUB: Not really, we're pretty disorganized! But I can tell you, it ain't R. Weiss. He's a great man, don't get me wrong, but nobody has ever called him a great halachist.
2) Why do you consider the public acknowledgement of a woman's learning by the conferral of a title to be "shtick"?
JDUB: Because it is shtick. He ordained her. Full stop. Coming up with a fancy title to avoid calling her rabbi is shtick. Either have the intestinal fortitude to call her rabbi (thereby acknowledging that you've danced outside of Modern Orthodoxy) or leave it be. She did the same program as the men at YCT, call her a rabbi, or don't do anything.
"I also think he just halved the possibility that a YCT musmakh will get a job in an MO community, particularly outside of NY." If you're right, I'm very sorry to hear that.
JDUB: Let's put it this way: Prior to this stunt, I'd have been inclined to consider one of the better YCT rabbis. (We're one of the most prominent non-NY MO shuls). I'd be willing to bet that no more than 1/2 of my congregation would have been willing to consider one BEFORE this event. If Avi Weiss had thought about YCT and its alumni, he wouldn't have done this.
JDub, I'd love to respond to your comment, but I just finished reformatting a document (a 6-hour project!), my hands are killing me, & I still have to do some Pesach shopping & prep, not to mention bedikat chametz. Maybe I'll have a min. tomorrow. Otherwise, I'll try to reply this weekend. Pesach kasher v'sameach. I'm outta here!
chag kasher v'sameach. L'shana ha'ba b'yerushalayim ha'b'nuyah.
There are some advantages to working for a Jewish organization. They're kicking us out at noon, the boss took the day off (which means that my hands are getting a much-needed rest), and the place is so deserted, you could practically roll a bowling ball down the hall without hitting anyone.
Rabbi Weiss is between a rock and a hard place. Yes, it's true that he could either have done nothing--many people study Talmud lishma, for its own sake, and never seek ordination--or called Maharat Hurwitz a rabbi and gotten himself into even more trouble with the Orthodox community than he did. But you're not taking into account the "resume factor." You can study physics all you want, but without a PhD, you'll never get that job with NASA. Many people go to rabbinical school not just to acquire knowledge, but to acquire (or advance) a career. It appears to me that Maharat Hurwitz wanted a career credential.
ok, so it's a career credential, but for what purpose? Give her a certificate in advanced halachic study or something. The fact is, there are about three ortho shuls in the entire world that would hire for a quasi-rabbinic position, and they're all in NYC (and she already works at one of them).
Drisha has a certificate program. Stern has a program for advanced Talmud study. Heck, YU has an academic program.
But she wants to be, and Avi Weiss made her, a quasi-rabbi. That deserves to get him into hot water. And it's unfair to those folks who went to YCT saying "I want to be an Orthodox rabbi, but YU has gone way too far to the right." Because the head of YCT has just gone way too far to the left.
I don't even have a problem giving her a certificate that says she's completed the YCT course work. What a shul does with that thereafter I could care less. But Orthodox Judaism will not accept women rabbis, and it's sad that this will be what YCT becomes known for, and not for talented young Modern Orthodox rabbis.
There's actually three shuls in NYC, an independent minyan in NYC, and a shul in Chicago.
And if you ask any of the graduates of the Drisha Scholars Circle or of GPATS at YU, they'll tell you that their wonderful "i can't believe it's not semikha" mean diddly-squat in most places where it matters. A GPATS grad and a man with semikha get the same job teaching in a high school, who gets paid more? the RABBI. Even if they have the same knowledge and the same experience. People just don't count it the same. Whether maharat will end up being what it's supposed to be is a big question, but hopefully it'll actually mean something.
If you are referring to parsonage, then it's not that they're making more, it's that the rabbi can get some portion of his salary tax free. That's a problem with the tax code, not halacha. And the solution is to gross up Orthodox women's salaries for limudei kodesh teachers, not give them faux-ordination.
And while you are stuck in a NYC bubble, I don't think that (1) talented women teachers are paid less than rabbis outside of NY (at least in my community) and (2) the shtick isn't going to fly. All that Avi Weiss has done is further marginalize himself, and that is the shame to me.
This is so old I can't believe I'm commenting, but just for other people who google the new word maharat:
people who don't have smicha can get parsonage. Men without smicha, women without smicha, various Jewish educators and youth directors can all get parsonage. The fact is that is is very very difficult to get a job, and then get paid for doing a job, by writing that you studied for two or three years in a women's yeshiva, which job interviewers will keep calling seminary. There is a need for titles for women. I wish it weren't so, but it's tough.
Anon, I think you have a point. A person who gets an advanced degree in Jewish studies in a university setting gets the letters M.A. after his or her name, or the honorific Dr. before his or her name. A person who gets ordained gets the title Rabbi. But an Orthodox woman can go to such excellent institutions of higher Jewish studies as Drisha (in New York City) or Midreshet Lindenbaum in Israel for years and come out with neither "letters" nor title. "Maharat" (or Rabbah, if the Israeli Orthodox feminists have their way) is a title that would give Orthodox female Higher Yeshiva graduates recognition for their learning, just as men get recognition by title for their own learning.
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