Women have won the right to sit for Israel’s rabbinical exams. It’s a victory — but to what end?

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by Rabba Sara Hurwitz

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In this JTA article Rabba Sara Hurwitz expounds on the Israeli court’s decision to allow women to sit for the rabbinical exams, describing it as a landmark recognition of women’s scholarship, leadership, and equal access to professional and economic opportunities.

However, she tempers the victory with concern that ongoing resistance and bureaucratic delays by the Chief Rabbinate may limit the ruling’s real-world impact and leave true equality still uncertain.

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Rabba Sara Hurwitz Headshot

Rabba Sara Hurwitz is the President and Co-founder of Maharat. She is the first woman to be publicly ordained as an Orthodox rabbi, after which she founded Maharat, growing it from three students in 2009 to 100 graduates in 2025. She also serves on the rabbinic staff at the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale – The Bayit. Born in Johannesburg, South Africa, Rabba Sara immigrated to Florida at the age of 12. She attended Midreshet Lindenbaum, Barnard College, Drisha Institute’s Scholar Circle, after which she worked with Rabbi Weiss at The Bayit and studied under his auspices for ordination. Rabba Sara is a sought out speaker throughout the country and her writing has been featured in many Jewish publications. She was awarded the Hadassah Foundation Bernice S. Tannenbaum prize, the Trailblazer Award Recipient at UJA Federation of New York, and the Rabbi Israel and Libby Mowshowitz award by the New York Board of Rabbis, and she was named as one of the Forward50 most influential Jewish leaders and to Newsweek’s 50 most influential rabbis. Rabba Sara lives in Riverdale, New York with husband and four sons.