Congregation Etz Chaim in Livingston will host Rabba Sara Hurwitz as scholar-in-residence for Shabbat parshat Shemot, January 9 and 10, 2015. Rabba Sara, considered by some to be the first female Orthodox rabbi, was ordained by Rabbi Avi Weiss and Rabbi Daniel Sperber amidst much controversy in 2009. Since that time, no other woman has received the title “Rabba,” instead receiving the more universally accepted “Maharat.” Rabba Sara is currently on the rabbinic staff of the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale and serves as the Dean of Yeshivat Maharat, the first Orthodox program to ordain women as clergy.

The program at the synagogue will begin with davening and a special women’s Kabbalat Shabbat, followed by a family dinner. Rabba Sara will speak twice over the course of Shabbat. Her Friday night lecture, entitled “Yalta: Agent of Change or Disruption, A Talmudic Case Study,” will focus on Yalta, the wife of Rav Nachman, a third generation Babylonian Amora. The Shabbat afternoon lecture, “The Space in the Middle,” will address the challenges and rewards of living a modern Orthodox lifestyle.

All are welcome to attend part or all of this revolutionary Shabbat experience.

By Jill Kirsch