Bayli Alter, the current president of Kedma, the Orthodox Jewish student group at the University of Maryland, acknowledged that she finds herself in a bit of a surprising place.

“It’s not a given that in an Orthodox context, women are going to have leadership positions,” said Alter.

The group, which has approximately 400 members in its group chat, provides Jewish learning opportunities, daily prayer services, holiday programming and social events for students on campus.   

When she first visited campus to see her older sister during a Maryland Hillel family weekend, Alter noticed a “gabbait” – a woman who helps run synagogue services – at the prayer services. 

Alter was pleasantly surprised to see a “gabbait” because they are not frequently found in an Orthodox service.

“In the sphere of prayer, specifically, women kind of get forgotten,” Alter said. 

Since that 2018 visit, even before becoming a student at this university, Alter knew she wanted to step into that role.

Finding a position that respected her values and stayed within the guidelines of Jewish law that she was comfortable with was an opportunity she couldn’t pass up, she said.

As a final semester senior, Alter, a human development and sociology major, has now served in Kedma positions for six consecutive semesters.

“I love Kedma and I love the Modern Orthodox community here from the bottom of my heart,” Alter said. “It is genuinely an honor to be able to do what I do for the community.”

Before being “gabbait” and later president, Alter decided to run for the Kedma education chair position, one of the various Kedma board jobs, as a freshman. 

“I was just really attracted to that role because of my love and passion for: a) Jewish study and learning, and b) empowering students,” Alter said.

Alter attended Jewish schools from preschool through 12th grade and went on a gap year seminary program in Israel between high school and college, where she developed her love for Jewish study. 

She maintained her dedication to Jewish learning through the Kedma community.

“There are a lot of students who are very passionate about Torah learning and about Jewish law and the Jewish community, and so that has helped me keep up that passion while I’m here,” Alter said.  

As education chair, Alter brought in scholars-in-residence to engage students in Jewish learning, collaborated closely with the OU-JLIC couple – a rabbi and his wife who serve as adult leaders for the Orthodox community on campus – and organized weekly Tuesday Night Torah “chaburot,” or student-led study sessions.

Alter enjoyed being able to “encourage and empower students and members of our community to prepare learning sessions.”

After two semesters as education chair, Alter moved on to the position she had been eying ever since visiting her sister – “gabbait.”

The “gabbait” is part of a three-member gabbinate that organizes and facilitates Orthodox Jewish prayer, including the regular three daily prayer services, Shabbat and holiday services.  

At most Orthodox prayer services, the Torah is not passed to the women’s section of the synagogue. In Kedma services, after Torah reading, the Torah is brought to the women’s section and carried back to the ark by a woman.

“I absolutely love that the Torah is passed to the women’s side,” Alter said. “I was very proud and very happy to have been able to facilitate that here.”

Kaylee Zaveduk, a junior majoring in kinesiology, was a freshman when Alter was “gabbait.”

“When I would go to [prayers] and would feel kind of shy and nervous being there, she would ask me if I wanted to hold the Torah and just make me feel really welcome in a new environment, especially when I was a freshman,” Zaveduk said about Alter. 

After serving  as “gabbait,” Alter decided to run for Kedma vice president, a role that automatically transitions to president after one semester. 

“I definitely have that leadership gene,” Alter said. “I like to be able to make change.” 

Alter took on the roles of vice president and then president during a time when the community was still grieving and processing the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led massacre in Israel, which sparked a wave of antisemitism on college campuses nationwide.

Alter said her job description did not change because of that.

“[The role of a leader] is to be there for your community when they’re going through tough times, and to sometimes have to put the community above yourself,” Alter said.  

When a divestment bill endorsing the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel was introduced to the student government association this semester, Alter, as Kedma president, felt it was crucial to support her community.

“I had to be supportive to freshmen who have never dealt with this before,” Alter said.

Reflecting on being the president, Alter remembers looking up to the Kedma president when she was a first-semester freshman.

“‘Wow, she’s so old, and she’s so cool, and she does this and that,’” Alter remembers thinking of the Kedma president from her first semester. “And now all of a sudden, I’m the president of Kedma.”

Alter views her role as president of an Orthodox Jewish group as significant, especially because she is a woman.

“My parents have asked me, and other adults have asked me, ‘Would Kedma ever have a female president?’ Because there’s not a lot of Orthodox synagogues that would not have a female president. So I think that women’s leadership opportunities are really important,” Alter said.

Daya Novich, a senior computer science major, who served as president while Alter was vice president, said Alter “throws her all into everything that she does.”

“She’s incredibly driven and motivated,” Novich said. “She cares so much about the community, and it’s very evident through everything she does. She’s very organized, meticulous; stays on top of things, and she just serves as a really good example as to what a president of an organization should be.”