Maharat’s mission is to educate, ordain, and invest in passionate and committed Orthodox women who model a dynamic Judaism to inspire and support individuals and communities.
Brooke Pollak has co-chaired her synagogue’s Women’s Tefillah group and has been a frequent Gaba’it for their services. She has also worked with families to plan for, practice, and facilitate meaningful s’machot for numerous B’not Mitzvah. Brooke has also been active in her community’s partnership minyan. Brooke earned her bachelor’s degree in Judaic Studies from Yale and her law degree from NYU School of Law. During and after her undergraduate years, Brooke studied at Drisha and Pardes.
Our students and graduates teach, give divrei Torah, officiate at life-cycle events, counsel couples, and visit patients and families. More than 50 communities, including shuls, schools, Hillels, and communal organizations, have benefited from our leadership.
Maharat grants women semikha to serve as fully credentialed spiritual and halakhic leaders. Ordination follows a rigorous program of study and proven mastery of Jewish law, Talmud, Torah, Jewish thought, leadership, and pastoral counseling.
Graduates of Maharat are conferred with “toreh toreh”—a decisor of Jewish law, giving psak halakha. We encourage our graduates to use the professional title most appropriate to them, in consultation with the communities they serve.
Maharat was founded as the first yeshiva to ordain women to serve as Orthodox clergy, after the ordination of Rabba Sara Hurwitz by Rabbi Avi Weiss and Rabbi Daniel Sperber.
Maharat was founded as the first yeshiva to ordain women to serve as Orthodox clergy, after the ordination of Rabba Sara Hurwitz by Rabbi Avi Weiss and Rabbi Daniel Sperber.
Maharat was founded as the first yeshiva to ordain women to serve as Orthodox clergy, after the ordination of Rabba Sara Hurwitz by Rabbi Avi Weiss and Rabbi Daniel Sperber.
Maharat was founded as the first yeshiva to ordain women to serve as Orthodox clergy, after the ordination of Rabba Sara Hurwitz by Rabbi Avi Weiss and Rabbi Daniel Sperber.
Rabba Amy Newman teaches middle school Jewish Studies at Schechter Boston in Newton, Massachusetts, where she also coaches teachers and coordinates the Jewish Studies curriculum. Previously, Rabba Amy taught at Gann Academy: The New Jewish High School of Greater Boston, and at The Ramaz School. During her 16 years teaching in Jewish day schools, Rabba Amy has taught every grade from kindergarten
April 28, 2026
Parshat Emor is one of those parshiot that is full of mitzvot. In fact, 63 commandments are spelled out in our parsha. We are taught the laws of kohanim, sacrifices, holidays, justice and sanctity of the Land of Israel. Among other mitzvot, we also learn about three distinct features of the Temple service that are...
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April 21, 2026
After the death of his two eldest sons, did Aharon feel like a failure as a father for not having properly taught his sons the priestly duties? Did he feel guilt? To what extent was he responsible for the actions of Nadav and Avihu? The Torah tells us nothing about his guilt, nothing about his...
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April 20, 2026
In October 2023, three weeks after the October 7th attack on Israel, I landed at Ben Gurion Airport with a suitcase full of chocolate treats and a list of 30 addresses for Yeshivat Maharat students and alumnae. The airport and the streets were eerily quiet. The country was still in shock. No one knew yet...
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April 14, 2026
Yom Hashoah evokes traumatic and heartbreaking sounds of the darkest chapter in our people's history. If I close my eyes, I can almost hear the broken windows of storefronts on Kristallnacht. The shattering of glass in synagogues and in homes. I can hear the crackling of paper, the reams of holy words burning in shuls,...
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