Orthodox Women Leaders, Who Needs Them? We do.
Orthodox Women Leaders, Who Needs Them? We do.

“You’ve come a long way, baby” is the slogan coined by the Leo Burnett Agency in 1968 for a thinner more feminine smoke produced by the Phillip Morris Company for the Virginia Slims brand cigarette. The campaign was unusually successful in marketing cigarettes by tickling a soft spot on the American psyche that was celebrating the advent of feminism.

The Jewish world in general and the Orthodox Jewish world in particular often follow the leads of its host society, albeit at a much slower pace.  It is not by accident that 300 years later and 380 kilometers away from Martin Luther’s Reformation came forth Israel Jacobson’s Reformed Judaism. It is also not surprising that 100 years after the French Revolution that paved the way for Nationalism to sweep through Europe that  Theodor Herzl published Der Judenstaat exclaiming that Jews should return to their National Homeland, Israel. In our time, taking the lead from the Episcopal Church, Jehovah’s Witnesses and the liberal streams of Judaism, a fringe element of the Orthodox community has announced the long time coming and arrival of female Orthodox clergy. This is the latest example of absorbing the ways of our surroundings.

This is the latest example of absorbing the ways of our surroundings.
The Jewish world has always had female leaders from Sarah, Rebecca Rachel, Leah and Devorah the Prophetess until today. Some of the outstanding representatives of true Orthodox Jewish Leadership - out of many - in modern times have been Sarah Schnirer z”l’, Nechama Liebowitz z”l, Rabbanit Bracha Kapach z"l and Y”LT Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis, Rabbanit Chana Henkin.

Long before modern day clerical feminist aspirations took root, Sarah Schnirer established 300 Torah learning schools in pre Holocaust Europe which blossomed into a network that teaches tens of thousands of Jewish girls today who will undoubtedly be the wholesome future mothers of Israel of tomorrow. In 1930 Professor Liebowitz attained her doctorate, in 1956 she was awarded the Israel Prize for furthering our understanding of Tanach and in 1983 she received the Bialik Proze for Jewish Thought. She was a scholar par excellence who taught men and women a method of analysis and insights into Torah. Finally, Rebbetzin Jungreis is a current modern day Orthodox woman leader (may she have a Refuah Shelaymah). She mothered the outreach organization Hineni  in 1973 that has brought thousands closer to Torah Judaism, she has spoken and written on Torah and Judaism for decades influencing Jews and non- Jews worldwide.

The common denominator between all of them is that they studied, taught, lectured or created charity organizations and led our nation as proud orthodox Jewish women without great controversy or riding the isms of the day.

Orthodox Jews crave true Jewish leadership, male and female. In America today there are hundreds and hundreds of outstanding Orthodox rebbetzins (rabbaniyot) who already lead, counsel, teach and inspire. There are also hundreds if not thousands of outstanding Orthodox female educators, administrators and writers on Jewish themes. The current cry for parity and equality in religious titles is just the latest echo from our host culture seeping into the less fortified souls of our people. I wonder what will be next?     

Not many women are smoking Virginia Slims cigarettes these days. Herzl’s Der Judenstaat is rarely if ever quoted on the Knesset floor. History has always and will certainly continue to filter out untruths. Our Torah and its teachings are eternal and transcend any and all isms throughout the ages.

Who needs Orthodox women leaders? We do; but those who proudly celebrated and celebrate Torah and  Orthodox Judaism the way they received it from their fathers and mothers, and have done everything in their power to inspire us to carry the true torch of Torah forward. Let’s learn from our true leaders.