Texas Jewish Post (Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 67, No. 25, Ed. 1 Thursday, June 20, 2013 Page: 10 of 28
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By Ben Harris
NEW YORK (JTA)- More than
three years ago, following a broad
Orthodox backlash to his decision
to ordain a woman with the title
“rabba,” Rabbi Avi Weiss made a
promise: He wouldn’t do it again.
So when Yeshivat Maharat, the
school founded in 2009 by the New
York activist rabbi to “ordain Or-
thodox women as spiritual lead-
ers and halachic authorities,” held
its Erst graduation ceremony on
Sunday in Manhattan, the three
women who received ordination
did not receive any formal title.
If Weiss thought that would
mollify his Orthodox critics, he
was wrong.
Weeks before the ceremony, the
ordination was condemned by the
Rabbinical Council of America,
the main Modern Orthodox rab-
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Seventeen years ago, I was a
baby crawling around the class-
room at Temple Shalom day care.
Although I don’t have specific
memories of that, it was there that
I began to form my Jewish identity,
pushing around chal-
lah-shaped blocks and
falling asleep to Jewish
lullaby tapes.
Soon it was time to
move on to Solomon
Schechter, now Levine
Academy. There, I fi-
nally began to End my
so much more, even with such a
Jam-packed schedule. Commu-
nity service stood at the forefront
of that education, as evidenced
by the number of service proj-
ects Yavneh’s students take upon
themselves. In addition, Yavneh
gave me the opportunity to travel
to the concentration camps of Po-
land followed by the land of Israel
on the March of the Living this
year, where I grew more as a per-
son in two weeks than I thought
possible.
Jewish day school has been ex-
pensive and perhaps caused me
to miss out on more common
childhood experiences, but I can-
not thank my parents enough for
making it possible. It has given me
the chance to feel comfortable in
my own skin, to know right from
wrong, to understand the impor-
tance of tzedakah and to possess
the ability to go out into the secu-
lar world sure of my identity.
Just over two and a half weeks
ago, I graduated from Yavneh
Academy. Walking across that
stage, even in heels, I took the most
confident steps I have ever taken
before, and it is all due to my Jew-
ish education.
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steps at Erst, my teach-
ers guided me physi-
cally, emotionally and
spiritually. The oldest
memory I have is of my Pre-K class
preparing to sing the Shabbat song
at Friday morning services. I can
remember making my way up the
steps to the bimah, a little nervous,
but excited to show my parents and
siblings in the audience what I had
learned. Even at such a young age, I
had so much pride in my Judaism.
Levine was a great school that
taught me how to read Hebrew and
write persuasive essays, among
many other things, but most im-
portantly it taught me how to be
a mensch. It gave me an opportu-
nity to learn from the past, apply
it to my future and see the world
through a Jewish lens. Levine al-
r" ’J
1 I
But while Weiss sees ordination
as a vital and historic step, to the
RCA and its 1,000 members the
move represents a dramatic and
potentially dangerous break from
tradition, if not a violation of Jew-
ish law.
“In many ways, I believe it sets
back the slow progress that we
have made in giving women posi-
tions of leadership,” Goldin told
JTA. “When something is done
sort of arbitrarily, that there is
no consensus for, that creates a
counter-reaction on the other
side. I believe that’s what’s hap-
pening.”
For years, Weiss has been agi-
tating for women to assume lead-
ership roles in Orthodoxy that are
more or less comparable to men.
lowed me to travel to Israel and
create a connection to my people
that I would not likely have dis-
covered alone.
Graduating from Levine, I
thought I wanted to branch out
and have the true “high
school experience,” so I left
Jewish day school behind
me and entered a secular
school for 9th grade. The
football games and school
dances were fun, the classes
were challenging, but I felt
like something was missing.
iU1
Day school dynamics prepare
grad for future endeavors
FIRST
footing. Unsure of my PERSON I could not identify with
many of my classmates be-
cause they did not share the
strong values and ethics that
I grew up with. At the end of
my freshman year, I transfered to
Yavneh Academy. I definitely had
an atypical high school experience
there, but it is one that I would not
trade for the world.
At Yavneh I learned in a deeper
sense — intellectually and philo-
sophically, by studying texts and
learning about our ancestors —
how to take these lessons and put
them into action. It created an
environment where teachers are
more like friends, where both fac-
ulty and fellow peers can guide a
struggling student to success, sans
Judgment.
It gave me an above-par edu-
cation, but managed to teach me
For graduates of Avi Weiss* academy,
ordination comes with controversy
binic association, of which Weiss
himself is a member.
“We cannot accept the ordina-
tion of women as members of the
Orthodox rabbinate, regardless
of their title,” said Rabbi Shmuel
Goldin, the RCA’s president.
For the RCA, the problem hing-
es on one word: ordination.
The RCA says it supports ad-
vanced Torah study for women
and their assumption of ap-
propriate leadership roles in the
Orthodox community, goals to
which Weiss also subscribes. The
RCA has never objected to female
graduates of an advanced Talmud
program at Yeshiva University,
several of whom have served in
quasi-rabbinic roles at Orthodox
synagogues similar to those that
Yeshivat Maharat graduates will
fill.
■
OmE
I
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Wisch-Ray, Sharon. Texas Jewish Post (Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 67, No. 25, Ed. 1 Thursday, June 20, 2013, newspaper, June 20, 2013; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1305225/m1/10/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .