DEAR EDITOR,
I read with interest the article in the recent JOFA Journal on Congregation Interns. As a Rabbi of a Synagogue (United Orthodox Synagogues) with a female intern (Sara Wolkenfeld) I would like to share some thoughts with you.
Our internship program is unique in that we are in Houston, so Sara has to fly here from New York once a month to be with us. Despite the distance, this program has been a resounding success.
Sara’s main focus is in teaching taharat hamishpacha at monthly classes held on Sunday morning. Some of these classes were specifically for our mikvah attendants and others were open to the entire community (women only). Sara is articulate, well prepared and passionate when it comes to her teaching. Some of the obvious results are that there is more talmud torah going on and that more women now have a better understanding of taharat hamishpacha. Sara (together with me) has also been able to revamp mikvah procedures. An unknown benefit has been an increase in the questions regarding taharat hamishpacha that I am receiving. I attribute this increase directly to Sara’s classes and the greater emphasis put on serious study of this subject in our community.
In addition, Sara has also made her telephone number and email address available to the entire community in case there are women who would rather ask her questions directly.
Aside from taharat hamishpacha, Sara serves as a teacher to prospective converts. She has also given shiurim and led discussions for the entire shul community (men and women).
Sara serves as a wonderful role model for the women and young women in our community of the level of knowledge and mastery of primary halakhic sources that a woman can achieve. Giving Sara a position of honor in our community serves to highlight the fact that she has achieved a certain level of knowledge allowing her to be a teacher of torah.
In terms of understanding of expectations, both the community and Sara were very clear on this and I think this is why we have had such a wonderful experience.
All the best,
Rabbi Barry Gelman
United Orthodox Synagogues
Houston,Texas
DEAR FRIENDS OF JOFA,
Last December, I sent you a translation into Spanish of the JOFA Hanukah d’var Torah. Several friends met in my home for Hanukah, and we read and commented on the d’var Torah. Some women after the discussion decided to have their own Hanukah lights at home from now on.
Last February, I finished the tractate Berakhot. As far as I know no other woman in Catalonia, and probably in Spain, has ever done this. I felt very happy and told the rabbi, but he did not say a word about a seudah or congratulate me. He just asked: “What tractate are you doing next?”
I answered, “Tractate Shabbat.”
“When?”
“Now I feel I need a rest. I shall start in a few months.”
“People who love Torah don’t stop.”
That was all.
I met the President of the Community Board and explained to him that I had finished Berakhot and I was having nahala (sephardic word for yahrtzeit) for my mother so I would like to have a seudah and give a shiur.
The President congratulated me, agreed and approached the rabbi and the gabbai and requested the seudah and the shiur. The answer was:
“She can speak only to women.”
The President was very upset, but felt it was not the right time to fight the rabbi and the gabbai. He offered me the opportunity to give a lecture on the hall of the third floor, but I did not accept because I wanted a seudah and a shiur. So I invited some friends to my home on a Sunday afternoon, we ate and I gave my shiur on Berakhot 15a.
If any man (as far as I know since year 1492 no man, except the rabbi, in Barcelona and all Catalonia has ever finished a Talmud tractate) would achieve such a thing, he would receive an aliyah, all the community would sing and praise him in the synagogue and he would get, of course, a seudah and he would give a shiur to all Jews, men and women. I got just silence. Every Shabbat morning, the rabbi says the prayer for the congregation including a blessing for the members, their wives and children. I am excluded-I have no husband, and all women without a husband are in the same position.
Yesterday, I spoke with the man in charge of Talmud Torah who is very angry with the rabbi’s behavior to me. He told me that he will devise a way for me to give a shiur and asked me to start a bat mitzvah program with him. So, let’s go on…
To read JOFA Journal is a need and a pleasure for me. I don’t feel so isolated. Sharing is so good. Thank you for all you are doing.
Miriam Massons
Barcelona, Spain
DEAR EDITOR,
I was very excited to see Malke Bina and Matan given such a prominent place in the last JOFA Journal about Women in New Roles in the Jewish Community. My mother, Judy Hurwich, z”l, took great pride in the fact that its beginnings saw fruit in classes that Malke led around our dining room table. As Matan got its name and grew, my family were all partners in the excitement that it generated.
Allow me to comment that, since the article is appearing in a primarily American publication, I am sorry that it did not reflect the warm ties Matan has always had with Drisha in NY. I remember my mother saying that before any program was started she would call David Silber to ask his advice. She said that the school, the scholars’ programs, adult learning, and other initiatives were modeled on Drisha.
It is a great tribute to my grandparents, and to my grandmother in particular, that their three daughters enthusiastically exercised their deep commitment to learning by taking active roles in the foundation of what would become trail blazing institutions in the study of Torah le’shma for women on both sides of the Atlantic.
As women possess a special creative power, I pray that such fruitful cooperation will continue to rise and flourish for many years to come.
Yeshar Koach to Matan and to Drisha on the exciting work they have accomplished and the dreams they still seek to fulfill.
Sincerely yours,
Ariel Braun
Jerusalem, Israel