As a little girl and a rabbi’s daughter, Ruth Balinsky Friedman loved seeing her father teach Talmud classes, officiate at weddings and counsel community members. But she never imagined that she might herself have a future as a spiritual leader within the Orthodox Jewish world.

“I didn’t see women in these positions in the community, so it never occurred to me that it was something I could do,” Ms. Friedman, 28, said recently.

But in 2009, while Ms. Friedman was studying Torah and contemplating her future, she heard about Yeshivat Maharat, a seminary opening to train and ordain women as Orthodox clergy members. She applied to join its first class.

After four years of intense study nearly identical to what men complete to become rabbis, her education came to a momentous conclusion last Sunday. At an emotional ceremony on the Upper East Side, she and two other women, Rachel Kohl Finegold and Abby Brown Scheier, were given the title “Maharat.” The term derives from a Hebrew acronym that means a guide to spiritual values, and was coined by the yeshiva to describe a unique new position within Orthodoxy.

As their accomplishments were celebrated — all three women have secured jobs at Orthodox institutions — many in the crowded room beamed with pride and grew teary at what was regarded as a watershed moment.

“Until now, Orthodox women have been left out of spiritual leadership,” said Sara Hurwitz, the yeshiva’s dean, who was ordained in a groundbreaking and controversial ceremony in 2009. “Now there’s a momentum with people realizing it makes the community more dynamic for women to serve in leadership roles. We’re changing the landscape of what the Jewish community looks like.”

N.Y. / Region

Published: June 20, 2013

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