Sara's Story
Rabba Sara Hurwitz grew up in Johannesburg, South Africa before moving with her family to Boca Raton, Florida at the age of thirteen.
Since she was a child, Rabba Sara enjoyed being part of the Jewish community in synagogue and youth groups. Her ultimate goal became amusingly clear when, as a high school student, she was advised by a vocational counselor, based on a test, that she was best suited to be a member of the clergy!
After attending Midreshet Lindenbaum in Israel, she entered Barnard College in New York and quickly became involved in a student run organization called Lights in Action, connecting other Jewish students to Judaism by teaching topics relevant to their lives. Subsequently, she assumed leadership positions in various Jewish organizations, including Lights in Action, which she directed for several years. She also began to lecture and teach in different venues such as CLAL, JCC, and various synagogues around the country.
Rabba Sara studied in Drisha Institute’s Scholar Circle Program for three years during which she tried to start a professional development track with the goal of applying the knowledge she was gaining towards a practical, not only intellectual, outcome. After she graduated, she began to work with Rabbi Avi Weiss at the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale as a member of his rabbinic staff, albeit without the title held by her young male rabbi colleague. Over the seven years that she worked with Rabbi Weiss, she studied under his auspices, eventually gaining the necessary training to serve as a spiritual and halachic leader. Having mastered the texts in which all Orthodox rabbis are trained, having the knowledge of how to render a halachic (legal) opinion, applying traditional sources to contemporary situations, and being an effective counselor to her congregants during trying times, Rabba Sara was officially conferred in a public ceremony at the Hebrew Institute in March 2009. At the Hebrew Institute, she is a full member of the rabbinic staff, where she fulfills all functions of a rabbi, including teaching, speaking form the pulpit, officiating at life cycle events, including funerals and weddings, and addressing congregants’ halachic questions.
“At the conferral ceremony itself, women approached asking how to study towards the rabbinate. It was clear that there was a need for a formal institution to train women to be spiritual leaders. Because of my own experience, sense of fulfillment and excitement, I understood the desire and drive of others to serve in this capacity. I knew that with God’s help, and the help of the many people who also supported the Orthodox ordination of women, my dream could be dreamed, and the dream realized by others.”
Rabba Sara Hurwitz currently serves as the Dean of Yeshivat Maharat and on the rabbinic staff of the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale. She lives with her husband Josh Abraham and their three children, twins Yonah and Zacaharya and little brother Davidi.