For a dose of girl power, 12-year-old Shayna Lopatin and her friends at Anshe Sholom B’nai Israel look to contemporary superstars like Hillary Rodham Clinton and Lady Gaga.
But unlike other Orthodox Jewish girls their age, those at Anshe Sholom have a trailblazer in their own lives: Rachel Finegold. At 32, Finegold is about to become the first ordained woman hired as clergy at an Orthodox synagogue. In June, she will leave Anshe Sholom, a modern Orthodox synagogue in Lakeview, to join the clergy at Congregation Shaar Hashomayim in Montreal.
Though she will go by the title maharat, a Hebrew term, like rabbi, that means “spiritual leader,” Finegold has shattered — or at least cracked — the glass ceiling that has barred Orthodox women from becoming clergy for centuries.
“There is no Jewish law on the books that says a woman cannot be a rabbi,” said Finegold, who serves as the director of ritual and programming at Anshe Sholom. “It simply hasn’t been done before.”
Finegold and two other women make up the first class to graduate from Yeshiva Maharat, a modern Orthodox seminary opened in New York City in 2009 to train and ordain women as clergy. As Finegold prepares to move closer to in-laws in Montreal, U.S. synagogues are courting two other women from the school.
But the traditional Orthodox Jewish establishment does not recognize the ordination of women. The Rabbinical Council of America has reiterated its duty to uphold Jewish law, thought, tradition and historical memory.
For that reason, the assembly said it could not “accept either the ordination of women or the recognition of women as members of the Orthodox rabbinate, regardless of the title.”
Finegold said there long has been a diversity of practice in Judaism. For example, the Reform movement in the U.S. ordained its first female rabbi in 1972, the Reconstructionists in 1974 and Conservatives in 1985. That spectrum holds true within the Orthodox community. Modern Orthodoxy teaches that there are elements of Jewish law that can develop and change, but not all of it. More traditional Orthodox Jews apply a stricter interpretation.
“I think the women’s issue tends to be the litmus test for some people in terms of where on the spectrum a particular community lies,” Finegold said.
The emphasis on semantics also can vary. Though the term rabbi or “rabba” bothers some, Finegold will serve the same function as a rabbi with a few small exceptions.
Orthodox Jewish prayer services require a minyan, or minimum, of 10 men. Though she may organize that service, even round up the 10th man, she cannot be counted as one of the 10. She also may not serve as a witness or judge in Jewish legal proceedings. So while she can officiate at a wedding, she may not sign the couple’s marriage contract.
“The more important conversation is about function, not about title,” she said. “I will be functioning as a full member of the religious leadership. Call me whatever you want. We’ll figure it out later. This is so new.”
Raised Orthodox in Brooklyn, Finegold graduated from Boston University with a bachelor’s degree in religion. She studied for three years at the Drisha Institute for Jewish Education, a program for women who want to deepen their knowledge of Torah and Talmud. Her twin brother graduated from Yeshiva University around the same time and became a rabbi.
“We learned a lot of the same stuff, and then he became a rabbi and I didn’t,” she said. “That was the very first time in my life that something struck me like, ‘Hmm, that’s unusual.’ There wasn’t any sort of anger or resentment. It was just an awareness I’d never had before.”
But even without ordination, Rabbi Asher Lopatin hired her at Anshe Sholom in 2007 to play a major role resembling clergy. She has delivered monthly sermons and regularly reads from the Torah. She also leads a women’s Shabbat service.
“The key thing is to recognize women that are religious spiritual leaders,” Lopatin said. “Women need the self-confidence in their leadership, and a clear clergy title I do think is very important.”
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