Published: 1 June 2020
Last updated: 4 March 2024
RABBANIT JUDITH LEVITAN RECENTLY became the first Orthodox Sydney woman to receive smicha (rabbinic ordination). She joins a select club that includes Rabbanit Ellyse Borghi in Melbourne (also ordained only a few months ago) and Rabba Dr Melanie Landau, who is now based in Israel. They are part of a handful of Reform and Conservative female rabbis in Australia, some originally from overseas and others Australian-born.
As a community, Australian Jews are not known for their progressive views, yet both Levitan and Borghi have met no formal objections to their newly received qualifications. In fact, they have had overwhelmingly positive reactions from their Orthodox communities. Levitan even received a call from her Chabad rabbi wishing her mazel tov and praising her achievements.
However, another Melbourne-based woman studying for her smicha is not ready to reveal her identity as she is unsure how it would be received by her community.
In interviews with The Jewish Independent, Levitan, Borghi and the woman who is still studying all emphasised their love of learning Torah and welcomed the developments in Orthodoxy that have made these previously unavailable opportunities open to them. Getting smicha was not something any of them aspired to when they were growing up, as it didn’t exist as an option for women within the Orthodox community until recently.
The first woman to receive Orthodox ordination was Rabba Sara Hurwitz in 2009 in the US. In 2015, Canadian-born Lila Kagedan became the first to take on the title of rabbi. Both women studied at the Maharat Institute, and today Hurwitz is the dean there. To put this in perspective, the first Conservative woman rabbi, American Amy Ellberg, was ordained in 1985 and the first Reform rabbi, German woman Regina Jones, was ordained in Berlin in 1935.
However, it wasn’t until 1981 that Australia (Temple Beth Israel in Melbourne) had its first female rabbi, Karen Soria, who was born and ordained in the US. In 2005, in an event that was reported in the mainstream media, Rosalind Fischl was elected as the first woman president of an Orthodox Sydney synagogue, the Great Synagogue in Sydney.
[gallery columns="1" size="large" ids="35862"]
To be a woman rabbi is the same as any other profession - you have to balance career and family - ELLYSE BORGHI
Times have changed significantly in less than a generation. “It is already a different world for my daughter,” Levitan says. “Female Orthodox Jewish women rabbis are a reality … even in my wildest dreams, when I had my bat mitzvah, this didn’t exist, and I hope that she can benefit from the many opportunities that Jewish Orthodox women have today.
“It doesn’t matter if Australia is ready or not; we are here.”
Although neither Borghi nor Levitan were actively seeking to get ordination, both relished the opportunities to study in depth and with the rigour that their programs allowed.
Getting smicha is not easy. All three women are lawyers, juggling work and family commitments on top of the several years of study required. For Levitan this involved getting up very early most mornings to participate in classes run by the Maharat Institute in New York, followed by a full day at work, looking after the family, then preparing for her classes at night. She also travelled back and forth to New York several times to complete her studies.
Last year, Borghi received her ordination from the Har’el Institute in Israel, the world’s first Orthodox co-educational rabbinical program. She spoke of her longstanding enjoyment of learning Torah that propelled her to enrol in the program. “It was the ultimate learning opportunity,” she says.
Borghi has another degree in Jewish Studies, has studied in a number of yeshivot (religious seminaries) in Israel and wanted to learn in Hebrew. Her three-year program involved one year of study in Israel and two learning online.
It is already a different world for my daughter. Female Orthodox Jewish women rabbis are a reality … I hope that she can benefit from the many opportunities that Jewish Orthodox women have today - JUDITH LEVITAN
She has a toddler and a baby due any day. She admits that “to be a woman rabbi is the same as any other profession - you have to balance career and family.” Borghi hopes that in the longer term she will be able to do more teaching and contribute more to the community.
But she remains undecided about pursuing a rabbinical career. She notes that many men who have qualified as rabbis don’t work as one.
She adds that, conversely, there are many women in the Australian Jewish community who have not been ordained but are highly educated in Torah and offer shiurim (classes) as well as pastoral care, and also serve as spiritual role models.
For now, both newly qualified rabbanits intend to continue teaching within the community and working as lawyers. While Levitan, whose Jewish feminist roots date back to her long involvement in the Sydney Women’s Tefillah Group that was established in the early 1990s, doesn’t know what the future holds, she plans to “work with the rabbis to explore what possibilities there are to serve the community”.
This attitude, rather than focusing on the political battle around women’s equality and lack of representation in Orthodoxy, has made it easier for some male rabbis to embrace the change that they represent as they are not looking to change the halacha, but rather to work within it. Rabbi Dr Benjamin Elton, Chief Minister of The Great Synagogue in Sydney, stresses that this move to modern Orthodox women taking greater and greater roles is not “Reform lite but needs to be understood on its own terms”.
“Orthodoxy is not egalitarian, but it doesn’t mean women should be excluded more than necessary,” Rabbi Elton says. He welcomes Levitan’s recent ordination and notes that although women still won’t be able to count in a minyan or as witnesses, female clergy are not defined by these roles, which involve much more, including preaching, advice, and pastoral support.
The response has been overwhelmingly positive, particularly from women who thought it was a great idea to have someone they could talk to and answer their halachic questions - JUDITH LEVITAN
While admitting that there will always be some who are opposed, Rabbi Elton is glad to be removed from the politics abroad. In 2015, the Rabbinical Council of America (RCA) became alarmed by the growing number of Orthodox women receiving ordination and passed a resolution forbidding Orthodox institutions from ordaining women into the Orthodox rabbinate, or hiring them in a rabbinic position, or even allowing them “a title implying rabbinic ordination to be used by a teacher of Limudei Kodesh (religious studies) in an Orthodox institution”.
The woman studying for her smicha has a different view of the Australian landscape. She doesn’t “think that the mainstream will shift,” and says that ”unlike in the US where there are larger cohorts of women studying and working as rabbis, it won’t happen in Melbourne any time soon.” “Melbourne is a really big shtetl, admittedly one that punches above its weight, but it is still very conservative.”
One could argue that Sydney also has a certain small town mentality and that’s why it has been so inspiring to see Levitan’s ordination embraced by so many people, particularly women, who now have a different view of what’s possible in Orthodoxy.
It was in the late 1990s that women first became certified yoetzet halachot (Jewish Law advisors), answering women’s questions around taharat hamishpacha (family purity) and niddah (menstruation). At the time this was hugely controversial and revolutionary. Today it is widely accepted.
One of the primary arguments used then was that it was easier for a woman to approach another woman to discuss these matters, rather than having to go to her rabbi. Both rabbanits agree with this view and believe there is a need for the community to have different rabbis and community leaders, in order for people to feel engaged.
“The response has been overwhelmingly positive, particularly from women who thought it was a great idea to have someone they could talk to and answer their halachic questions,” Levitan says.
She speaks of her desire to “be a resource for the community and an additional point of access to Judaism" and sees her role "to inspire people to connect to Jewish heritage and tradition.”
While we shouldn’t anticipate an overnight revolution in Australia, the groundbreaking work by Levitan and Borghi is an important step in the right direction. I am impressed by their commitment and dedication to make it happen and look forward to seeing them shatter new ceilings for all of us.
Photo: Rabbanit Judith Levitan
