Rabbi backs off move to ordain women as Orthodox rabbis

NEW YORK — Rabbi Avi Weiss has backed away from the idea of ordaining women as Orthodox rabbis under the term “rabba.” Rabbi Weiss, the founder and leader of the Yeshivat Chovevei Torah rabbinical school, had taken heat from the Orthodox community since he made the announcement in January he would use the feminized version of rabbi for his student, Sara Hurwitz, who now has the title “maharat.”

The Rabbinical Council of America, an umbrella organization consisting mostly of Modern Orthodox rabbis, reportedly considered revoking his ordination.

But Weiss and the RCA have come to an agreement, issuing concurring statements.

“It is not my intention or the intention of Yeshivat Maharat to confer the title of ‘Rabba’ upon its graduates,” Weiss said. “Each student who completes its course of study in Tanach, Talmud, Halacha and Jewish Thought, and is deemed fit by her faith, knowledge of our Mesoret, ethical integrity and temperament to assume positions of religious leadership in Orthodox institutions will be confirmed as manhigah hilkhatit, ruhanit, toranit (Maharat).”

Hurwitz has served seven years at the Hebrew Institute, performing some rabbinic duties but not others because of her gender.

Weiss already had been censured by the staunchly Orthodox Agudath Israel of America, which declared that by taking such a step and insisting it was tantamount to rabbinic ordination, Weiss had placed himself outside the bounds of Orthodoxy.