Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Sara Hurwitz

The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was keep. This probably should have been closed as "nomination withdrawn" despite the outstanding delete !vote. In any case the consensus is clear, the AFD has been open for almost 7 days and it's obvious that no delete buttons are going to be pushed so let's say "keep". The issue of merging into Rabbi can be bought up on the article's talk page. (non-admin closure) Ron Ritzman (talk) 01:21, 28 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Sara Hurwitz

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She isn't all that notable by the looks of it. If decent notability is established, I will strike my vote but she seems to be just another female rabbi. If she's one of a few, I will also reconsider this. Kevin Rutherford (talk) 19:44, 21 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Notability has been established so I withdraw my nomination. Kevin Rutherford (talk) 16:17, 23 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Delete. Not notable - Title was rescinded right away. Without that, she is just an employee of a synagogue.--SuperHappyPerson (talk) 20:02, 21 March 2010 (UTC)SuperHappyPerson[reply]
Keep. She's not "just another female rabbi" - she's effectively a female orthodox rabbi, which makes her very notable. And even if she's no longer technically a rabbi, the controversy over her title makes her notable as it marks a significant development in the role of women in orthodox judaism. Sidefall (talk) 20:30, 21 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Update - according to one of the sources she is (or was) the first female orthodox rabbi, which again is notable. Sidefall (talk) 20:33, 21 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Comment 99% of the Orthodox world (Agudath Yisrael, Rabbinical Council of America, all of the Hasidic sects, etc) don't consider that there can exist an Orthodox Rabbi who is not a man. —Preceding unsigned comment added by SuperHappyPerson (talk • contribs) 20:44, 21 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Which makes her even more notable because she was granted semicha by a member of said orthodox world. Sidefall (talk) 09:21, 22 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Sidefall: She was granted rabbinic ordination by a Modern Orthodox rabbi, not an Orthodox one. They're not the same thing. Yoninah (talk) 21:58, 22 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Speedy keep As Sidefall wrote, Hurwitz is the only "rabbah" (female Orthodox Jewish rabbi). Her ordination and status have been tremendous news in Israel and abroad. — Malik Shabazz ^Talk/_Stalk 02:09, 22 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Note: This debate has been included in the list of Judaism-related deletion discussions. — Malik Shabazz ^Talk/_Stalk 02:11, 22 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

*Merge with Women_in_Judaism#Orthodox_Judaism. רח"ק | Talk | Contribs 08:03, 22 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Merge with Rabbi#Women, per below. רח"ק | Talk | Contribs 22:47, 22 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Merge with Rabbi#Women. She may be the first female Modern Orthodox rabbi, but her notability for one event ends there. There are enough references at the bottom of the page to rewrite the Rabbi#Women section quite nicely. Yoninah (talk) 21:58, 22 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The second part of BLP1E is frequently overlooked. It says:

"If the event is significant and the individual's role within it is substantial, a separate biography may be appropriate. Individuals notable for well-documented events, such as John Hinckley, Jr., fit into this category. The significance of an event or individual should be indicated by how persistent the coverage is in reliable sources."

Considering that Hurwitz and her ordination have been in the news for more than a year, I would say that she's had persistent coverage. — Malik Shabazz ^Talk/_Stalk 22:20, 22 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Malik, I did read that second paragraph before I quoted it. Of course there's going to be a buzz about the first "female orthodox rabbi". But I expect that the furor will eventually bubble down. New news reports say that she completed her rabbinic studies but probably will not be officially ordained; instead, she will be called "spiritual leader". That doesn't seem so noteworthy to me, considering there are dozens of female spiritual leaders at the head of Conservative and Reform temples. Yoninah (talk) 22:58, 22 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

First, that "new news report" is from March 4, 2009—indicating (as I wrote) that Hurwitz and her semikha have been in the news for more then a year. Second, and more important, there may be hundreds of Conservative and Reform female spiritual leaders, just as there are dozens of Conservative and Reform female rabbis. That doesn't detract from the notability of the first Orthodox female rabbi.

In other words, when the Catholic Church ordains a female priest, she will be notable despite the fact that the Episcopalians have had female priests for decades. — Malik Shabazz ^Talk/_Stalk 23:13, 22 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Keep. Her notability is that she is the first orthodox female to receive semicha and to hold a position as a rabbi in a orthodox community. She has been in the news regularly over the past year. She has gotten coverage from almost every major Jewish news outlet and most of the general ones as well. Joe407 (talk) 02:06, 23 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Keep per Malik and Joe407: the coverage of her continues, I just read another one from JTA referring to her "rock-star status"[1]. --Arxiloxos (talk) 05:15, 23 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Strong keep, for above reasons. Shmuel (talk) 14:41, 25 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.