Sara Hurwitz is anOrthodoxJewish spiritual leader aligned with the "Open Orthodox" faction of Modern Orthodox Judaism in the United States. She is considered by some to be the first female Orthodox rabbi.^[2][3][4][5] She serves at theHebrew Institute of Riverdale as rabba,^[6][7] and she is the president and co-founder ofYeshivat Maharat, both inRiverdale,New York.^[8]

Hurwitz was born in Johannesburg,South Africa, on March 15, 1977, to relatively secular parents Melanie and Mervyn Hurwitz.^[2][9][10] Seeing the violence in apartheid South African and not wanting to raise a family there, the Hurwitz family moved toBoca Raton, Florida in 1989. Due to the lack of Jewish day schools in Boca Raton at the time, Hurwitz chose to attend the local public school. Her Jewish education came from her synagogue life, youth groups, and her aunt, who introduced her to Orthodox Judaism.^[2][10] As a teenager, she was interested in teaching Torah and Jewish text to adults.^[2]

Hurwitz graduated from high school in 1994 and then studied for a year atMidreshet Lindenbaum. She attendedBarnard College, where she majored in psychology, graduating in 1999. While at Barnard, she joined a group of women who created Lights in Action, a student-run organization that connected Jewish students to Judaism by organizing conferences and producing teaching materials. Hurwitz continued as the director of Lights in Action after graduating, serving for a total of six years.^[2]

In 2000, Hurwitz entered theDrisha Institute for Women in the Drisha Scholars Circle Program.^[11] During her time at Drisha, Hurwitz began teaching and lecturing around the country with programs such as theJewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance,CLAL, andJewish Community Centers. After graduating in 2003, she worked for JOFA's Gender and Orthodoxy project for three years and developed a gender-sensitive biblical curriculum for Orthodox day schools.^[2]

In 2003, Hurwitz began working with RabbiAvi Weiss of theHebrew Institute of Riverdale. She became the congregational intern for ten years. In this position, she taught, spoke from the pulpit, officiated at life-cycle events, helped lead the women's prayer group, answeredhalakhic (Jewish legal) questions, and provided counseling. However, although she conducted all of the rabbinical functions except for those in theminyan (as an Orthodox minyan requires ten men), she was not able to be included in the congregation's rabbinic staff due to her gender. While her male counterparts were assistant rabbi and moved on to their own pulpits, she was unable to advance in a similar way.

Hurwitz studied halakha under Weiss for eight years, culminating in her completing her oral and written exams in 2008. Weiss and two colleagues, including Daniel Sperber agreed to ordain her in the near future, and Weiss and Sperber publicly gave her the title "Maharat" in a public ceremony at HIR in March 2009 (the third colleague withdrew due to public criticism).^[2] Although groups hosted byBlu Greenberg had determined that she should take the title "rabbi" or "rabba," Weiss decided to use the title "MaHaRaT", an acronym for Manhiga Hilchatit Ruchanit Toranit (Hebrew:מנהיגה הלכתית רוחנית תורנית), denoting a female "leader ofJewish law spirituality andTorah".^[2][12][13]

In February 2010, Weiss announced that he was changing the title to "rabba",^[4] a move criticised by bothAgudath Yisrael and theRabbinical Council of America.^[14][15] While this change has remained controversial, other women have taken the title following Rabba Hurwitz.^[2]

In conversations with other women surrounding and at her ordination, Hurwitz and Weiss realized the need for an institution to support the Orthodox ordination of women. They announced the creation of such an institution, and in September 2009 openedMaharat. Within several years of Hurwitz's ordination, subsequent Orthodox women also received ordination as well as positions within Orthodox synagogues. This development indicated that Hurwitz was no longer an exception within Orthodox Judaism.^[16]

On Dec. 6th, 2010, at Conservative Temple Reyim inNewton, MA, Sara Hurwitz met withAmy Eilberg, the first Conservative rabbi,Sally Priesand, the first Reform female rabbi, andSandy Eisenberg Sasso, the first Reconstructionist female rabbi.^[17][18] They and approximately 30 other women rabbis lit Chanukah candles and spoke about their experiences in an open forum.^[17][18]

On June 3, 2012, Priesand, Sasso, Eilberg, and Hurwitz met again, this time at Monmouth Reform Temple at a celebration honoring the four first women rabbis to be ordained in their respective denominations, and the 40th anniversary of Priesand's ordination.^[19]

In 2001, Hurwitz married lawyer Joshua Abraham, with whom she has four sons.^[2]

• 2010: Listed inNewsweek's 50 most influential rabbis^[20]
• 2013:Bernice S. Tannenbaum prize, the Hadassah Foundation^[21][22]
• 2014: Myrtle Wreath Award, the Southern New Jersey Region ofHadassah^[23]
• 2016: Trailblazer Award,UJA Federation of New York^[2]
• 2016:The Jewish Week's 36 Under 36^[2]
• 2016:Forward's 50 most influential Jewish leaders^[2]
• 2016:Newsweek's 50 most influential rabbis^[2]
• 2017: Wexner Foundation Field Fellows, inaugural class^[2][24]
• 2020: Auburn Seminary Lives of Commitment honoree^[25]
• 2023: Rabbi Israel & Libby Mowshowitz Award, New York Board of Rabbis^[26]

The 2022 art exhibit “Holy Sparks”, shown among other places at theDr. Bernard Heller Museum, featured art about twenty-four female rabbis who were firsts in some way;^[27][28] Kathryn Jacobi created the artwork about Hurwitz that was in that exhibit.^[29]

• Regina Jonas
• Dina Najman
• Dina Brawer
• Shira Marili Mirvis
• Timeline of women rabbis

• Living people
• American Modern Orthodox rabbis
• Barnard College alumni
• Clergy from Johannesburg
• South African emigrants to the United States
• South African Orthodox rabbis
• People from Boca Raton, Florida
• Open Orthodox Jews
• 2010 in Judaism
• Modern Orthodox Jewish feminists
• 21st-century American rabbis
• Orthodox women rabbis
• 1977 births
• 20th-century South African rabbis
• 21st-century South African rabbis

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Articles containing Hebrew-language text