Religion Dispatches is one of my favorite online journals. They publish religion-related essays daily. (Learn more about them.) As a contributing editor to Zeek, I have some understanding of how hard it is to come up with smart, thoughtful material, so I'm always impressed with RD. Which is why I'm delighted to be able to point to my first contribution to their digital pages: an essay about the Sara Hurwitz rabba controversy.

In early March, just six weeks after Sara Hurwitz was granted the title of "rabba" -- a feminized version of "rabbi" -- that title is in jeopardy. Hurwitz, an Orthodox Jew and one of three leaders of an Orthodox congregation in Riverdale, was ordained last year by Rabbi Avi Weiss. At the time the Jewish world took note, though it wasn’t until she was given the titular equivalent of rabbi that the controversy really began...

Read my whole essay: Sara Hurwitz’s ‘Rabba’ Title Sparks Orthodox Jewish Condemnation. And feel free to leave a comment either there or here if you have thoughts or questions.