Congregation Sha’arei Orah installed its first spiritual leader late last month, with Rabbanit Leah Sarna taking over as one of five women serving as solo spiritual leaders of Orthodox synagogues around the world.
Synagogue President Susie Ratner said that, though it sends a positive message to Orthodox women, that wasn’t why Sarna was chosen.
“Her hiring is in some ways unremarkable because she is so talented and experienced and was the most qualified candidate,” Ratner said.
Sarna previously served as director of religious engagement at Anshe Sholom B’nai Israel Congregation in Chicago, where she was recognized by the Jewish United Fund as one of Chicago’s 36-under-36 honorees.
Sha’arei Orah, which is less than a decade old, started with around 20 families and grew slowly until 2023, when the community decided that it wanted to find a spiritual leader. At that point, members looked at what kind of leader would be best for them and began the search process, said Roseanne Lesack, the vice president of the congregation and the chair of the spiritual leader search committee.
“Our community was looking for an inspirational leader to teach Torah, support our members throughout the Jewish life cycle and serve as the halachic authority for our community,” she said.
The answer would turn out to be right in front of them.
“Rabbanit Sarna and her family moved to our community during COVID and joined our synagogue, and she quickly became a valued member of our community,” Ratner said. “She volunteered in various ways: She joined our education committee, she helped with planning a couple holiday celebrations and she got to know many of us in the community. So when she applied for the position, many of us already knew her, which was wonderful.”
Sarna is from Newton, Massachusetts. She attended the Maimonides School and Yale University. At the latter, she earned a cum laude degree in philosophy, with honors. She has earned the Covenant Foundation’s Pomegranate Prize in Jewish Education, Hadar’s Ateret Zvi Prize in Hiddushei Torah and the Wexner Graduate Fellowship. Her works have been published in The Atlantic, The Washington Post and the Jewish Review of Books. She also serves as a member of the faculty at the Drisha Institute for Jewish Education and as the director of public education for the International Beit Din.
Sarna has been ordained but serves under the title of rabbanit as an homage to Rebecca of Tiktin, a legendary figure in Jewish feminism who is the first Jewish woman to have a book published while living in Prague in the 1500s. She used the title rabbanit.
“It is a reminder that scholarly Orthodox women have been serving our communities for a very long time, even though the formal ordination of Orthodox women is quite new,” Sarna said. “Growing up in the Orthodox community, I did not know of Rebecca of Tiktin and I did not know her style of leadership was possible. As a child I dreamed of spiritual leadership within my community but, like many, did not imagine I would see this change in my lifetime.”
The other four rabbanits serve in Riverdale, New York; London; and Efrat, Israel; as well as at the South Philadelphia Shtiebel, which is led by Rabbanit Dasi Fruchter. Since their start in 2016 with not even two dozen families, Sha’arei Orah has grown into a thriving shul. It regularly sees more than 85 families at its home on the campus of Gratz College.
“We just moved into the new building a few months ago and I expect that we will continue to fill this space,” Ratner said. “We’re just going to become more and more established in the community and we’ll just continue to be a great place where our community can live very spiritually fulfilling lives.”
The community is a varied one, but Ratner imagines a future where no matter what life event you commemorate at Sha’arei Orah, you do so with Sarna.
“Our community is diverse in terms of our ages. There are many young families, and as the children grow, it’s very beautiful to have Rabbanit Sarna as our spiritual leader to facilitate all the milestones. We know that she will be there to support our families to [any] stage of the life cycle,” Ratner said.
