A stained-glass ceiling has been cracked.

Women no longer learn Torah solely in order to be talmidot chachamot (learned scholars), but are actualizing their halachic and spiritual skills as they take on official communal roles. An exciting development in this trend is Jennie Rosenfeld’s recent official appointment as the spiritual leader of the city of Efrat in Israel.

This is big news in Israel. For the first time in the country, women are publicly acknowledged as religious and spiritual authorities, acting as clergy alongside their male rabbinic counterparts. 

The process for modern Orthodox women to take leadership roles has been gradual. Step by step, the early toanot rabaniyot (halachic advocates) broke down the doors of the Israeli rabbinate as they supported women in the often convoluted and arcane divorce courts (batei din). Yoatzot halachah (halachic advisers) were the next generation, and they were granted the authority to use their knowledge of the laws of niddah (menstrual purity laws) to advise on halachic questions brought to them by women. Another step was the ability of women to take on roles as supervisors of mashgichot kashrut (kashrut supervisors). Now comes the next stage: women are using their knowledge to take on public roles in communal, religious, spiritual and halachic leadership. 

In the past few years, several women in the United States and Canada were ordained by Yeshivat Maharat (N.Y.), and now serve as full and equal leaders of Orthodox congregations. Rabba Sara Hurwitz, the dean of Yeshivat Maharat, has been leading at the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale. More recently ordained are Maharat Ruth Balinsky-Freidman at Ohev Shalom in Washington D.C., Maharat Rori Picker-Neiss at Bais Abraham in St. Louis, Maharat Victoria Sutton-Brelow at Congregation Beit Israel in Berkeley, California and Maharat  Rachel Kohl-Feingold at Congregation Shaar Hashomayim in Montreal, joining Maharat Abby Brown Scheier.

These developments mark a clear need that exists within modern Orthodox communities in Israel, as well as in the Diaspora – the need for women to lead in communities, not just for the sake of women, but for the strength of the entire congregation. 

The Diaspora and Israel face different challenges, however. In North America, a single synagogue will look to rabbinic leadership for pastoral care and spiritual guidance. The model in Israel is slightly different;  rabbis anchor particular geographic locales, not just one place of worship. Synagogues led by a single rabbi or a clergy team, serving only a segment of the local community, are much less common. The appointment of Rosenfeld as spiritual leader of the city of Efrat is an important choice, because she adapts to the model of rabbinic leadership in Israel serving everyone in the community. 

Since religion and state are not separate in Israel, it is important to note that Rosenfeld will not be paid by the Israeli government. Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, the founding chief rabbi of Efrat, has chosen to sustain and support the role, and I hope that it will become the seed for other communities to invest in female leadership. 

In order for the glass ceiling to truly shatter, women in Israel must be recognized by the state through the payment of salaries to women in positions of spiritual and halachic leadership. This is the next step. 

Rosenfeld’s appointment is a sign that the movements in North America and Israel are nourished by one another and are constantly in dialogue. 

As it says in Ecclesiastes, “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil.”

I believe that Rosenfeld’s appointment makes strides not only for women, but for the strength and health of our community as a whole. n

Anat Sharbat has a doctorate in Talmud from Bar-Ilan University and will receive smichah this year from Yeshivat Maharat.