Malke Bina is an American rabbanit and the founder and first teacher of Matan Women's Institute for Torah Studies. She has a master's degree in Hebrew Bible from Yeshiva University. She is married to a rabbi (who serves on Matan's Council of Rabbis) and is called by the term Rabbanit, which is less common in Modern Orthodox circles. Malke Bina does not consider herself a Rabbi and, at a 2004 conference of Orthodox Jewish Feminists, emphasized her focus on Talmud study. She was interviewed by JOFA in 2006 and serves on its Council of Advisers. She also pioneered women's reading of Megillat Esther on Purim.
In 2022, Bar Ilan University awarded Bina with an honorary doctorate.
Rabbanit Bina attended a Bais Yaakov school in Baltimore where she did not study Mishna or Gemara.
Immediately after the Six Day War Bina went to Israel to attend the Jerusalem Michlala, where she studied Mishna, âÂÂand felt that it was a pity not to further expand my learning, now that I had been given a taste of the subject. I also thought that I would learn Gemara in the future. If it was available, why shouldnâÂÂt women do it?âÂÂ
After meeting her husband, Rabbi Aharon Bina and moving to America, Bina completed a Masters program in Bible and History at Revel at Yeshiva University in 1972. It was in this program that she learned various sugyot of Gemara.
Rabbanit Bina is the Founder and Director of MaTaN, an innovative institution dedicated to furthering women's Torah study, paving the way for them to learn Talmud, Tanakh and Halakha at the highest levels, in a vibrant atmosphere that is open to diverse spiritual and intellectual perspectives.
She says, âÂÂMy goal was to open up an institution BâÂÂH that would welcome any woman who wanted to come to study. The dream was not just to provide adult education for women, including high level Talmud studies, but to create a strong beit midrash that would be a wellspring for future female religious leaders...We wanted the learning at MaTaN to be a mainstream activity for post high school religious women who would devote themselves to Torah Lishma (Torah for its own sake), not necessarily for a degree. I consider that it took 10 years for MaTaN to become mainstream and no longer be peripheral. Originally there were 4 to 6 women in the beit midrash. Now we have 22 women in a three-year Talmud program, and 20 in the Tanakh program. These are women from other areas of study who spend between one to three years at MaTaN...The emphasis at MaTaN is on study as a religious act, but always combined with high intellectual goals...At MaTaN we try to stress that learning should be new and fresh and exciting every dayâÂÂthe stress on hayom (today).âÂÂ
On August 1 while 90,000 Jews celebrated Siyum HaShas, the completion of the daily learning of the entire Gemara, at New Jersey's MetLife Stadium âÂÂa significantly smaller, but just as intriguing group celebrated the event in skirts, scarves and a spirit of sisterhood in Jerusalem.â The group of women were from MaTaN and Rabbanit Bina told the Jewish Press, âÂÂBaruch Hashem, we were able to finish the Shas⦠There were 15 completers for Siyum HaShas from Matan, about 30 women from all over Israelâ¦some of the women were crying...It was beautiful. .âÂÂ
Rabbi Mike Feuer, Educational Director of Yeshivat Sulam Yaakov in Nachlaot, told the Jewish Press, âÂÂ[Teaching women Torah] is definitely not the definition of the issur (prohibition] any longerâ¦The world has shifted...This just needs to happen â itâÂÂs not forbidden even if it may not be recommended traditionally... I see a place like Matan as trying to carve out a space of respect for womenâÂÂs Torah⦠The playing field on which men win each otherâÂÂs respect is the Gemara, and this is the expression of old school feminism, which is that a woman ought to be able to do what a man does.âÂÂ
When asked why women should study Talmud Bina Responded, âÂÂWhy not? ItâÂÂs an integral part of what Torah is â the written law and the oral law. You write and you speak, why shouldnâÂÂt we be active participants in the oral law? ItâÂÂs not logical...In earlier times, when women were less educated, and socioeconomy didnâÂÂt permit, it wouldnâÂÂt fit in with what was happening in the big picture of the world. But the world is changing...Torah also wasnâÂÂt permitted, until Rav Shimshon Refael Hirsch and the Chofetz Chaim opened it up for women. That led to the opening of the Beis Yaakov movement⦠Now oral law has become available.âÂÂ
Bina is on the Advisory Council of JOFA, the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance, a grassroots non-profit organization established in 1997 to educate and advocate for women's increased participation in Orthodox Jewish life and to create a community for women and men dedicated to such change.
Bina was interviewed by Rachelle Isserow in an article entitled âÂÂCreating New Leaders: Interview with Malke Bina, Founder and Director of MaTaNâ which was published in The JOFA Journal of the Winter of 2006. In the interview Bina discussed how and why MaTaN was founded, its mission, and its plan for the future.
Bina attended JOFA's âÂÂSecond International Conference on Feminism and Orthodoxy: Exploring the Impact of Feminist Values on Traditional Jewish Lifeâ in In February 1998 and JOFA's âÂÂFifth International Conference on Feminism & Orthodoxy: Zachar uâÂÂNeqevah Bara Otam: Women and Men in Partnershipâ in February 2004.
Malke Bina has received the following awards: