Rabba Sara Hurwitz
1977 CE · Modern · Riverdale (Bronx, NYC)
Rabba Sara Hurwitz (b. 1977) is the first woman to receive Orthodox rabbinic ordination — a step so contested it sparked a fight over what to even call her. R. Avi Weiss and R. Daniel Sperber conferred it in March 2009, first titling her 'Maharat' (a Hebrew acronym for 'Jewish-legal, spiritual, and Torah leader') before granting her the title 'Rabba' (the feminine of Rav) in January 2010. The decision drew intense condemnation from the Agudath Israel and the RCA (the Rabbinical Council of America), and remains controversial in centrist and right-Orthodox circles to this day.
Born in South Africa and raised in Florida, she serves as senior Rabba of the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale (HIR) alongside its founder, R. Avi Weiss. In 2009 she co-founded Yeshivat Maharat, the first Orthodox yeshiva to ordain women, where she serves as President and Dean. Yeshivat Maharat has now ordained dozens of women rabbis serving congregations across the Open Orthodox world.
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Riverdale (Bronx, NYC)American Orthodoxy
What they did here
Senior Rabba of the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale and Dean of Yeshivat Maharat, both in Riverdale (Bronx), NY.
In Riverdale (Bronx, NYC) at the same time
In the same place & time
Sages whose lives overlapped with Rabba Sara Hurwitz’s in the same cities, drawn from their recorded journeys.
In the same tradition
The world in their lifetime
Thinkers, teachers, and rulers whose lives overlapped with Rabba Sara Hurwitz’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn purely from recorded birth and death years.
Jewish world
- R. Gershon Edelstein· 1923 CE–2023 CE
- Rabbi Menachem Mendel Taub· 1923 CE–2019 CE
- Rabbi Nota Tzvi Greenblatt· 1925 CE–2022 CE
- R. Norman (Nachum) Lamm· 1927 CE–2020 CE
- Chaim Kanievsky (Bnei Brak)· 1928 CE–2022 CE
- David Hartman· 1931 CE–2013 CE
- Aharon Lichtenstein (Yeshivat Har Etzion)· 1933 CE–2015 CE
- Esther Jungreis· 1936 CE–2016 CE
- Adin Steinsaltz· 1937 CE–2020 CE
- Yisrael Meir Lau· 1937 CE–
- Yisroel Belsky· 1938 CE–2016 CE
- R. Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron· 1941 CE–2020 CE
- R. Hershel Schachter (YU/RIETS)· 1941 CE–
- R. Nosson Tzvi Finkel (Mir)· 1943 CE–2011 CE
- Chana Henkin· 1944 CE–
- Rabbi Shimshon Dovid Pincus· 1944 CE–2001 CE
- R. Yaakov Moshe Hillel· 1945 CE–
- Moshe Idel· 1947 CE–
- R. Aaron Teitelbaum (Satmar — Aroni faction)· 1947 CE–
- Jonathan Henry Sacks (UK Chief Rabbi)· 1948 CE–2020 CE
- R. Shlomo Moshe Amar· 1948 CE–
- R. Zalman Leib Teitelbaum (Satmar — Zali faction)· 1951 CE–
- Yitzchak Yosef· 1952 CE–
- R. Asher Weiss (Minchas Asher)· 1953 CE–
Christian world
Buddhist world
Scientists
Hindu world
Luminaries & Explorers world
Rulers world
- Barack Obama· 1961 CE–
- Bill Clinton· 1946 CE–
- George W. Bush· 1946 CE–
- Donald Trump· 1946 CE–
- Mikhail Gorbachev· 1931 CE–2022 CE
- Boris Yeltsin· 1931 CE–2007 CE
- Nelson Mandela· 1918 CE–2013 CE
- Julius Nyerere· 1922 CE–1999 CE
- Deng Xiaoping· 1904 CE–1997 CE
- Mohammad Reza Pahlavi· 1919 CE–1980 CE
- Yuri Andropov· 1914 CE–1984 CE
- Konstantin Chernenko· 1911 CE–1985 CE
- Emperor Hirohito (Showa)· 1901 CE–1989 CE
- Jomo Kenyatta· 1894 CE–1978 CE
Works
No works attributed in the corpus yet.