Karen Treiger stands behind a reading table at the front of the sanctuary expertly folding the scroll of Megillat Esther. She confidently explains the ground rules of the women’s kriyah to the community she has assembled for this annual Purim-day event. As a young teenage girl chants megillah for the first time, Treiger’s face lights up, and she beams with pride. 

Karen Treiger is a lawyer and author by profession, but in the Seattle Jewish community, she is better known for exercising leadership in the Orthodox Seward Park neighborhood, for pushing boundaries to maximize women’s involvement in Jewish ritual, and for building bridges.

Treiger was raised in Seattle—the child of one Orthodox and one Reform parent—and attended Jewish day school at Seattle Hebrew Academy. I interviewed Treiger in March 2025, and she recounted that during her childhood, Seattle was a “sleepy” place in terms of observant Jewish community: not particularly robust, vibrant, or innovative. Her first taste of the type of Judaism she desired came when she moved across the country to attend Barnard College in New York. She told me: “When I was at Barnard, I was exposed to a world where women were pushing for their own voices. We started a women’s tefillah group before it was even a ‘thing.’ I just jumped right in.”

While in New York, Treiger also studied at the Drisha Institute (a yeshiva where women study Talmud) with Rabbi David Silber, a mentor and inspiration in the world of Orthodox feminism. In Treiger’s words: “The modern Orthodox community was starting to really focus on what can we do? In this envelope of Orthodox halacha… how can we create our own women's community of daveners, leyners, and megillah readers?” This setting sparked Treiger’s interest in fostering community and empowering others, particularly young women.

After a number of years on the East Coast, Treiger eventually returned to Seattle, bringing with her the motivation to create spaces where Jewish women could learn and engage in ritual life more actively. Treiger told me: “Women in Orthodox spaces are often taught—implicitly or explicitly—not to use their voices. I wanted to do the opposite work. I wanted my daughters and other young girls to see that their voices matter.” Treiger initially worked to start a women’s prayer service and Torah discussion. By New York standards, this was not particularly radical at the time. In Seattle, though, she received so much push-back from one rabbi that she ended up making it happen in a different shul. 

Treiger loved attending synagogue services and was eager to be in community on Friday nights. However, few women attended Kabbalat Shabbat at shul; they would ordinarily be busy preparing a beautiful Shabbat meal at home. She solved this problem by organizing a monthly Friday evening service for women in her home, followed by a kosher potluck dinner which men could join. As Treiger explained, “I felt like in my religious experience and in my Jewish life, I wanted to be able to do the things that would bring me more meaning. I wanted to stay within the confines of left-leaning halakha... but I also wanted to create my own space where women could take leadership roles.” 

At the same time, Treiger began her involvement in Limmud Seattle, a pluralistic Jewish cultural and learning Festival  that brings  together teachers and learners from across the whole Seattle Jewish community. “I felt like that was really missing in this community, a place where it doesn't matter how you observe or who you are. It doesn't matter what you choose to do in your Jewish life… There's something here for everyone, and that's part of the beauty of Limmud.” Eight  years later, Treiger continues organizing and leading Limmud events, representing the Orthodox Jewish community in this broader endeavor.

In her work to create a more inclusive community, Treiger often faced pushback. “When I first started the women’s Megillah reading, there was a public campaign against it. People were handing out flyers comparing it to a ‘non-Kohen pretending to be a Kohen.’ It was so disgusting. But I called Rabbi Silber, and he told me: ‘If you don’t do it now, they win. If you do it, next year the screaming will be quieter. And the year after that, it will be normal.’ And he was right. I knew that if I kept doing it, over time, it would just become part of the community. That’s exactly what happened.” 

Once the women’s Megillah reading was firmly established as an annual tradition in her community, Treiger pushed the next boundary: adding a shacharit (morning) service with Torah reading. Using this “slow-drip” approach to change-making—pushing the bounds of women’s ritual leadership in small, incremental steps—Treiger has made incredible strides over decades, normalizing women’s participation in the Orthodox Jewish neighborhood of Seward Park while still adhering to the halakhic principles she holds true. 

As a member of an egalitarian Jewish community myself—where women’s equal participation has never felt like a question to me—I appreciate the challenges she has faced and the ways she has exercised effective leadership. In addition, I marvel at how she herself regularly acts as a bridge, forging relationships and strengthening ties between the Orthodox and non-Orthodox pockets of the Seattle Jewish community.

Treiger is keenly aware that there is more work to be done. At the moment, she reports that the new hat she’s wearing of bubbe (grandmother) is the most meaningful one of all. At this new life-stage, she seeks to pass down traditions and instill the joy of Judaism in the lives of her family’s youngest generation. Perhaps in a few years, one of her granddaughters will be chanting Megillah or Torah! In her family and beyond, she will continue to be a source of inspiration for change-makers and boundary-pushers for years to come.