Last year, I learned a new word from reading The CJN: “maharat.”
The term is an acronym of the Hebrew phrase “manhigah hilchatit ruchanit Toranit” – which translates as a teacher of Jewish law, spirituality and Torah. When he developed the title, Rabbi Avi Weiss, the founder of Yeshivat Maharat, the New York-based Orthodox yeshiva that has been ordaining women since 2009, meant it to be the female version of “rabbi.”
Yeshivat Maharat puts its graduates through four years of rigorous study that qualifies them to do everything a rabbi can do, so long as it is within the Orthodox understanding of Halachah – Jewish law. The yeshiva’s graduates – including Maharat Rachel Kohl Finegold, the director of education and spiritual enrichment at Congregation Shaar Hashomayim in Montreal, and Maharat Abby Brown Scheier, a CJN Parshah columnist and board member – teach Torah in public, officiate at life-cycle events, and provide spiritual and pastoral counselling.
I was honoured to be invited recently to witness the ordination of Ottawa-raised Lila Kagedan, a member of the third graduating class of Yeshivat Maharat. This year, for the first time, the ordination was called a smichah ceremony, in keeping with the phrase used for the ordination of male rabbis. Also for the first time this year, as urged by Lila, the yeshiva used the same language for the female graduates as it does on the male writ of smichah. The maharats are now conferred as yoreh yoreh – decisors of Jewish law.
In 2010, Rabbi Weiss changed the title conferred on his yeshiva’s graduates from maharat to rabba, so that they would be regarded as full members of the rabbinic staff. But rabba proved to be too controversial – it sounded too much like “rabbi” – and the term’s use was soon discontinued. Now, it appears rabba is back in vogue.
Six women were ordained in the 2015 graduating class. In keeping with Yeshivat Maharat’s new policy of encouraging graduates to use the professional title most appropriate to them, in consultation with the communities they serve, one took the title maharat, while four assumed the title rabba. Lila, meanwhile, thrilled me to the point of goosebumps when she accepted the title of “rabbi” (“rav” in Hebrew), becoming the first Orthodox woman in North America to do so.
As I sat in the auditorium, packed with proud families, colleagues and friends who had travelled from as far as Poland, England, Israel and Australia to attend the ceremony, I thought about the trailblazers Lila has joined and on whose shoulders she stands.
Sally Preisand was ordained as the first Reform woman rabbi in 1972; Sandy Eisenberg Sasso became the first female Reconstructionist rabbi in 1974; and Amy Ellberg was ordained as the first Conservative woman rabbi in 1985. Now, Orthodoxy has joined the other Jewish denominations in beginning to break down what the Forward recently called “the conception of Jewish leadership as exclusive men’s clubs.”
Words and titles matter. As I sang and danced and celebrated with Lila and her family, I was moved to tears imagining her beloved abba, Ian. I could picture him kvelling at her courage and outstanding achievement. He had encouraged her to pursue this path, and would have been so proud. A man steeped in Torah, Ian Kagedan lived his life in the pursuit of justice. He instilled in Lila a love of text and study, as well as the importance of standing up for what is right.
Mazel tov, Rabbi Lila Kagedan! You do honour to your father’s memory, to your family, and to all who know you and will benefit from your teaching, guidance and leadership. May you go from strength to strength.
Karen Mock is a human rights consultant.
