 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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