Sara Hurwitz’s ‘Rabba’ Title Sparks Orthodox Jewish Condemnation | Sexuality & Gender | ReligionDispatches

h/t Jo Ann.

Sara Hurwitz’s ‘Rabba’ Title Sparks Orthodox Jewish Condemnation | Sexuality & Gender | ReligionDispatches

Because women aren’t permitted to be rabbis in the Orthodox Jewish tradition, Sara Hurwitz was given the made-up title Mahara”t upon her ordination. A little while later, after she was quietly given the title rabba, the Orthodox Jewish world responded with condemnations.

...In early March, just six weeks after Sara Hurwitz was granted the title of “rabba”—a feminized version of “rabbi”—that title is in jeopardy. Hurwitz, an Orthodox Jew and one of three leaders of an Orthodox congregation in Riverdale, was ordained last year by Rabbi Avi Weiss. At the time the Jewish world took note, though it wasn’t until she was given the titular equivalent of rabbi that the controversy really began.

...her mentor, Rabbi Avi Weiss, announced early this year that henceforth Hurwitz would be known as Rabba (It’s actually the term most Israeli women rabbis use for themselves, though it’s largely unknown outside of Israel.).

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