JANUARY 23 • 2020 | 15
Jewish life to every student.
”
Although Rabbi Stein has
met people who have opposed
his ideology, he has never let
that get in the way of his goals
of providing girls with equal
opportunity to learn Gemara.
“I have three daughters
(including Sima) who are old
enough now to learn Gemara
and I couldn’
t imagine not
wanting to share this experience
with them,
” Rabbi Stein said.
Amy Stein, wife of Rabbi
Stein, mother of Sima and a
Judaic Studies faculty member
at Farber, accompanied the girls
to Israel and enjoyed watching
them take in every moment of
this momentous celebration.
“They were so dedicated
and committed while we were
there,
” she said. “They took
everything they could out of
this opportunity and, although
we didn’
t do anything really fun,
they had so much excitement
at all times and applied that to
their learning.
”
Rabbi Scot Berman, Farber’
s
head of school, shared his
enthusiasm for the girls partak-
ing in the trip but also expressed
how much of an impact this
siyum had on the Orthodox
community.
“We are delighted that some
of our high school girls were
able to take advantage of partic-
ipating in the first celebration
of completing the Talmud study
cycle featuring women that took
place in Jerusalem,
” Berman
said.
“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 unimag-
inable. Our girls can aspire to
be accomplished scholars in any
and every field of their choice,
including all areas of Jewish
studies. We believe the power
of this experience may be life
transforming for them, their
peers and the future genera-
tions.
”
All four girls expressed
their gratitude to Rabbi Stein
and Farber for providing the
opportunity to study Gemara
throughout their educational
careers. The girls hope their
experiences with their education
and attendance at the siyum will
continue to provide women the
opportunities to engage in the
study of Gemara.
“I didn’
t realize how impact-
ful this was for other women,
”
Sima Stein said. “I didn’
t truly
see how special this opportunity
was until I was actually at the
siyum. For so many women,
they never had the opportunity
to learn Gemara but now we’
re
participating in a groundbreak-
ing movement.
”
Yaffa Klausner
studies Talmud
with seminary
students studying
in Israel.
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