Yeshiva University in New York is awarding a doctorate in Talmud to a woman in an unprecedented move, according to a report by JTA.

Shana Strauch Schick, a 30-year-old New Jersey native currently living in Detroit, successfully defended her dissertation on August 4, 2011, and will formally graduate from YU’s Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies in September.

Open gallery view Page from Talmud. Credit: Limor Adari

“Orthodoxy has long emphasized the value of the study of Talmud,” Schick told JTA in an interview. “But Talmud study, which in yeshivot is the central focus of the religious duty to learn Torah, is still rarely emphasized as a vital part of women’s education.”

Schick, who holds a master’s degree in Bible from Revel and a bachelor's degree in Judaic studies from YU’s Stern College for Women, plans to come to Israel for upcoming academic year, the JTA report said. She will do post-doctoral studies at Bar-Ilan University.

Although Stern College also has a master's program in biblical and Talmudic interpretation, as well as a graduate program for women in advanced Talmudic studies, it does not award doctorates.