News

A Yeshiva Of Their Own

First feminist yeshiva in Israel
has opened at Kerem Institute.

MARLA COHEN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

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hen Rabbi Sarra
Levine was living in
upstate New York, she
encountered a fair
amount of anti-Semitism. As a
way of asserting herself in the
face of prejudice, she began to
wear a kippah.
But donning a Jewish symbol
usually associated with men had
an unexpected side effect.
Women began to approach her,
wondering why she wore some-
thing they thought only men
could wear. Over time, Jewish
women began to come to her in
the bookstore where she worked
with stories of how alienated
they felt from their religion.
"The more stories I heard the
more I felt there needed to be
some way for women to explore
what it meant for them to be
women and Jews," said Rabbi
Levine. "I decided to go to rab-
binical school so I could create
that space."
To that end, she and Rabbi
Rochelle Robins have created
Bat Kol, a feminist yeshiva in
Israel open to its first group of
students. The school's opening
arrives in what some see as a
transitional year for Jewish fem-
inists: Six months ago the first
International Conference on
Feminism and Orthodoxy was
held.
The founders of Bat Kol met
in Israel when Rabbi Levine —
whose title at the school is rosh
yeshiva — was a student at the
Reconstructionist Rabbinical
College in Wyncote, Pa., and
Rabbi Robins was a student at
Hebrew Union College. Later,
the two imagined creating a
school that would have intensive
Jewish instruction filtered
through a feminist lens.
"We are creating the school
we once sought in Israel but
could not find," said Rabbi
Robins, who serves as Bat Kol's
director.
Bat Kol students will study in
classic cheuruta style, where two
students analyze a text in pairs
with guidance from the faculty
when needed. The founders
have attempted to match the 10
students who will be attending
the session from June 29
through Aug. 10 according to
their levels of ability and knowl-
edge.
Chevruta study will be fol-
lowed up with shiurs, or class-
room lectures. Each week of
study will revolve around a spe-
cific theme designed to build an
overview of feminist and Jewish

issues. And while six hours each
day will be dedicated to study,
students will also participate in
workshops which examine the
study material through creative
writing, visual arts, music and
other nontraditional media.
Students will also have time
to travel on field trips that re-
late to the week's study topics,
And they will be required to
commit one day a week to coin-
munity service. Organizers will
attempt to match women with
an organization in Israel com-
mitted to grass-roots work in an
area that interests them.
The program is designed for
women ages 20 and older. Most
of the 10 attending the first ses-
sion are in their 40s, and their
level of Jewish knowledge and
education covers a broad spec-
trum, according to Rabbi Robins.
Tuition for the six weeks is
$1,560.

Studies are designed
to build an overview
of feminist and
Jewish issues.

One student attending is Ron-
me Selbst, a woman who grew
up Orthodox but found its stric-
tures too confining. Ms. Selbst
lived as a secular Jew until she
wanted her children to attend
Hebrew school. Since then she
has been attending a Recoil-
structionist synagogue in New
Jersey.
"I grew up Orthodox and went
to yeshiva for 12 years," said Ms.
Selbst, who most recently
worked as a trader on Wall
Street. "Basically I learned what
they told me I could learn the
way they wanted me to learn it
I never got to do the kind of
studying that I will be able to do
here, from a feminist viewpoint"
The scholars at Bat Kol .—
who will provide that viewpoint
— comprise a diverse group.
Among them is Susannah Hes-
chel, a professor of religion at
Case Western University 10
Ohio, best known for editing tke
book On Being a Jewish Femt•
nisi; Rabbi Einat Ramon, the
first Israeli woman ordained as
an
a rabbi; and Leah Shakdiel,
activist
to
educator and political
to.
Israel who is the first woman
Reit-
have been seated on the