14 | JANUARY 23 • 2020

grow our education.
”
Klausner said, “The trip gave us
time to learn with other girls in
the seminaries. It was interesting
to see how they spend hours every
day learning Gemara — and it
gets us excited to be able to partic-
ipate in that as well.
”
Although Schon did not attend
the siyum in Jerusalem, she was
able to teach a shiur (Talmudic
study session) here to 25 adult
attendees and share her learning
of Gemara with others in the com-
munity.
“It was really impactful to see
how what I was saying was educat-
ing the people in the room,
” Schon
said. “
A lot of people came up to
me who didn’
t have the opportu-
nity to learn Gemara as women
when they were children, includ-
ing a Judaic teacher of mine. It was
crazy to experience that because
it was a like a flip — she’
s always
been my teacher and someone I
have looked up to, but now it was
my moment to share my knowl-
edge with her.
“It truly made me feel blessed
to be able to have this opportunity
and it is something I do love. I’
m
so grateful for Rabbi Stein and my
school for providing me with this
opportunity.
”

FOR ALL STUDENTS
Rabbi Noam Stein, Farber’
s high
school principal, started the Girls

Beit Midrash Program at Farber
four years ago.
“The Gemara program for girls
started a number of years ago but,
for many years, their program
was fewer hours a week and less
intense than the boys’
program,
”
Rabbi Stein said. “We changed
the program around four years
ago and opened this more intense
Gemara option for girls where
they were learning not just the
same hours as boys in school, but
also the same extra additional
hours of outside-of-class learning.
”
Through this program, the four
girls have written articles that have
been produced into four journals
about Talmud topics. The journals
include articles from boys and
girls.
While many Orthodox schools
throughout the U.S. still have
strong differences on what girls
and boys learn, Rabbi Stein says he
never could wrap his head around
the idea of not allowing girls to
learn Gemara at the highest level.
“The main thing for me was
that the Talmud is the central
text of Judaism and it is the way
in which generations of people’
s
minds have become connected to
Jewish ideas and to a deep love of
God by diving deeply into God’
s
word,
” Rabbi Stein said. “For me, it
always seemed it didn’
t make any
sense not to give that amazing gift
to connect deeply to Judaism and

We live in a generation where
Orthodox women now have the
opportunity to study Torah at the
most advanced levels, something
that in the not-so-distant past
was unimaginable.

— RABBI SCOT A. BERMAN, FARBER HEAD OF SCHOOL

FACING: Farber Hebrew Day School students Cara Lopatin, Yaffa Klausner and
Sima Stein at the Western Wall in Jerusalem
TOP TO BOTTOM: The Farber contingent at the siyum: Sima Stein, Yaffa
Klausner, teacher Amy Stein and Cara Lopatin. At the siyum, a speaker calls
attention to Farber students in attendance.

continued from page 12