Malke Bina

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. She was interviewed by JOFA in 2006 and serves on its Council of Advisers. She is known for advocating for women's reading and study of Jewish texts.

In 2022, Bar Ilan University awarded Bina with an honorary doctorate.

Education Rabbanit Bina attended a Bais Yaakov school in Baltimore where she did not study Mishna or Gemara. It was in this program that she learned various sugyot of Gemara.

Rabbi Mike Feuer, Educational Director of Yeshivat Sulam Yaakov in Nachlaot, told the Jewish Press, “[Teaching women Torah] is definitely not the definition of the issur (prohibition] any longer…The world has shifted...This just needs to happen – it’s 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 women’s Torah… The playing field on which men win each other’s 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.”

JOFA 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 “Creating New Leaders: Interview with Malke Bina, Founder and Director of MaTaN” 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. and JOFA's “Fifth International Conference on Feminism & Orthodoxy: Zachar u’Neqevah Bara Otam: Women and Men in Partnership” in February 2004.

Honors and awards Bina has received the following awards:

In 2002 the Hadassah Women's prize for her important work, along with Shoshana Damari and Orah Namir.