Published: 5 June 2018
Last updated: 4 March 2024
“You come to understand that there are myriad opinions; there were major differences among schools of thought but they all spoke to each other. They all sat in the same room, they all learned together and challenged each other.”
This valuing of the exchange of ideas, of acceptance and accommodation is the bedrock of the Canadian-born rabbi’s emphasis on civil discourse – “engaging in conversation to enhance understanding” – as a guide to navigating the conflict in modern life, the political and the personal.
Rabbi Epstein, who was brought to Sydney by the Shalom Institute to speak last weekend ahead of her appearance at Limmud Oz in Melbourne this weekend, is the director of education, North America for the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies. She received rabbinic ordination from Yeshivat Maharat and holds a law degree from Bar-Ilan University.
Though she doesn’t want to be drawn into specific political issues and disputes, she believes that conducting discussions and disputes in a respectful way within the national and world arena can lead to a consensus, if not agreement. “One of the things I think texts can teach us is how to disagree but in a way that is building, in a way that creates community rather than [being] destructive,” she explains.
“We all can benefit from really trying to find the truth about where we disagree – to be really honest about that. We can build a world where there’s more space for more voices.”
Rabbi Epstein was among the first graduates of Yeshivat Maharat. Founded in 2009 in the Bronx in New York, it was the first yeshiva in North America to ordain women as Orthodox clergy. Epstein’s ordination was in 2015 and the next one to be held there, this month, will see 27 women graduating with credentials to lead Orthodox congregations.
One of the things I think that texts can teach us is how to really disagree but in a way that is building, in a way that creates community rather than [being] destructive.
It’s difficult to ascertain how many Orthodox female rabbis there are worldwide – particularly in Israel as their recognition there is disputed, but to quote a an Epsteinism: “When you choose the path less travelled, you can’t kvetch that your feet hurt!”
In addition to being a charismatic speaker, Rabbi Epstein is a prominent advocate in the debate to help “agunot” (Hebrew for “chained women”): Jewish women trapped in marriages because their husbands refuse to grant them a religious divorce (a “gett”).
“In Israel it’s a huge issue because the secular system, the civil system, only recognises marriages and divorces done [officiated] by the rabbinic courts for Jews,” Rabbi Epstein says.
Viewed by many as a form of domestic abuse, this issue is also causing mounting alarm in Australian Jewish communities. “As a woman, and as a woman rabbi, I feel very strongly about getting involved in and helping to solve such issues.”
On a more positive note about social trends in Israel, she points to a largely-ignored revival in text learning over the past 10-15 years, including within the secular community.
“[It’s] a huge renaissance of Jewish learning; there’s several yeshivot, several houses of study in Israel, particularly in Tel Aviv, which are about saying to all Jews – ‘you don’t have to be necessarily observant in the practice, but rather you have the capacity to learn; it’s your inheritance, your birthright’,” she explains.
“It’s shifting things in the country, in terms of having more people involved in conversations about the Jewish nature of the State of Israel. That is leading to real change in the community, in the political arena.”
And the best thing about being a female rabbi? “The young women, the young girls I meet, who are still in high school or the beginning of university – seeing that their desire to be learned, to be rabbis, to lead the Jewish people, has a real trajectory which they can look to – that’s been the best part for me,” she says.
“I’m trying to help the next generation of young women see that they have a place in the tradition.”
This forms part of her overall aim to inspire all Jewish people in learning, which she summarises with another of her ‘Epsteinisms’: “Judaism is not a spectator sport!”
Rabbi Yaffa Epstein will give four presentations at Limmud Oz this weekend
Photo: Shalom Institute
