Publication and Publicity

Publish or perish. A rule that my professor-parents live by. In the world of academia, if you cannot publish, you cannot get a job. You can barely get a lecture gig. You might have a PhD, but you cannot prove that you have contributed to the trove of human knowledge—and that’s what matters.

The rule does not apply to Orthodox clergypeople. Jewish clergy, ideally, serve a number of different roles. They must be able to provide pastoral care and spiritual guidance. We ask them to teach our children, lead community service initiatives, and fundraise. They manage shul politics, balance the budget, and more.

However, we also ask our clergypeople to be scholars. And inasmuch as they are scholars, they must abide by the scholarly rules: publish or perish. Publish because that is what it means to be a scholar, charged with promoting and preserving the Torah.

Of course, not every member of our clergy needs to be an excellent scholar. A great communal leader may very well be a totally mediocre scholar. But the royalty of Orthodox clergy are outstanding scholars to boot, and it’s high time that women joined those ranks.

The Jerusalem Post article announcing the new book of responsa by women ordained at Midreshet Lindenbaum seemed to me pretty off point when it veered into a discussion about the importance of this book. They quoted Rabbi Riskin in saying that:

“Women naturally bring to halacha an emotional sensitivity which is a very important aspect of our oral law,” he said.

“The oral law was given within the context of God’s revelation of Himself as a God of love and loving kindness and compassion and patience,” he continued, emphasizing the importance of bringing such attitudes into the modern conversation on Jewish law by empowering women in the realm of halacha.

First off– I have found that men can be plenty emotionally sensitive. The publication of this work is not novel because it brings a compassionate voice to the world of Halachic literature. That voice is there in the literature already, and if we can’t find it, that reflects poorly on us as readers.

This publication is momentous because of what it means for the standing of these ordained Orthodox women. Primarily, it means that these women are published scholars. They have joined the world of creative, productive and glossy-bound Torah scholarship in a way that other ordained Orthodox women have not. This is ordained Orthodox women achieving new heights– and that alone is cause for celebration.

And of course, the content of the work might be important too, but the Jerusalem Post decided not to tell us much of anything about that.