Role of women in Judaism
Encyclopedia
The role of women in Judaism is determined by the Hebrew Bible
, the Oral Law
(the corpus of rabbinic literature), by custom
, and by non-religious cultural factors. Although the Hebrew Bible and rabbinic literature mention various female role models, religious law treats women differently in various circumstances.
, Rebecca
, Rachel
, and Leah
, Miriam the prophetess, Deborah
the Judge, Huldah
the prophetess, Abigail
who married David
, and Esther
. In the Biblical account these women did not meet with opposition for the relatively public presence they had.
According to Jewish tradition, a covenant was formed between the Israelites and the God of Abraham at Mount Sinai. The Torah relates that both Israelite men and Israelite women were present at Sinai, however, the covenant was worded in such a way that it bound men to act upon its requirements and to ensure that the members of their household (wives, children, and slaves) met these requirements as well. In this sense, the covenant bound women as well, though indirectly.
Marriage and family law in biblical times favored men over women. For example, a husband could divorce a wife if he chose to, but a wife could not divorce a husband without his consent. The practice of levirate marriage
applied to widows of childless deceased husbands, but not to widowers of childless deceased wives. Laws concerning the loss of female virginity have no male equivalent. These and other gender inequalities found in the Torah suggest that women were subordinate to men during biblical times, however, they also suggest that biblical society viewed continuity, property, and family unity as paramount. However, men had specific obligations they were required to perform for their wives. These included the provision of clothing, food, and sexual relations to their wives.
Women also had a role in ritual life. Women (as well as men) were required to make a pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem
once a year and offer the Passover
sacrifice
. They would also do so on special occasions in their lives such as giving a todah ("thanksgiving") offering after childbirth. Hence, they participated in many of the major public religious roles that non-levitical men could, albeit less often and on a somewhat smaller and generally more discreet scale.
Women depended on men economically. Women generally did not own property except in the rare case of inheriting land from a father who didn't bear sons. Even "in such cases, women would be required to remarry within the tribe so as not to reduce its land holdings."
While few women are mentioned by name in rabbinic literature, and none are known to have authored a rabbinic work, those who are mentioned are portrayed as having a strong influence on their husbands, and occasionally having a public persona. Examples are Bruriah
, the wife of the Tanna
Rabbi Meir
; Rachel, the wife of Rabbi Akiva; and Yalta, the wife of Rabbi Nachman
. Rabbi Eliezer's wife (of Mishnaic times) counselled her husband in assuming leadership over the Sanhedrin
.
is filled with correspondences written (sometimes dictated) between family members and spouses. Many of these letters are pious and poetic and express a desire to be in closer or more frequent contact with a loved one that is far enough away to only be reached by written correspondence. There are also records of wills and other personal legal documents as well as written petitions to officials in cases of spouse abuse or other conflicts between family members written or dictated by women.
After the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492
, women became virtually the only source of Jewish ritual and tradition in the Catholic world in a phenomenon known as crypto-Judaism
. Crypto-Jewish women would slaughter their own animals and made sure to keep as many of the Jewish dietary laws and life cycle rituals as possible without raising suspicion. Occasionally, these women were prosecuted by Inquisition officials for suspicious behavior such as lighting candles to honor the Sabbath or refusing to eat pork when it was offered to them. The Inquisition targeted crypto-Jewish women at least as much as it targeted crypto-Jewish men because women were accused of perpetuating Jewish tradition while men were merely permitting their wives and daughters to organize the household in this manner.
ruled that a woman who found her husband "repugnant" could compel a divorce, "because she is not like a captive, to be subjected to intercourse with one who is hateful to her."
The rabbis also instituted and tightened prohibitions on domestic violence. Rabbi Peretz ben Elijah ruled, "The cry of the daughters of our people has been heard concerning the sons of Israel who raise their hands to strike their wives. Yet who has given a husband the authority to beat his wife?" Rabbi Rothberg ruled that "For it is the way of the Gentiles to behave thus, but Heaven forbid that any Jew should do so. And one who beats his wife is to be excommunicated and banned and beaten." Rabbi Rothenberg also ruled that a battered wife could petition a rabbinical court to compel a husband to grant a divorce, with a monetary fine owed her on top of the regular ketubah money. These rulings occurred in the midst of societies where wife-beating was legally sanctioned and routine.
. The rise and increasing popularity of Kabbalah
, which emphasized the shechinah and female aspects of the divine presence and human-divine relationship, and which saw marriage as a holy covenant between partners rather than a civil contract, had great influence. At the same time, there was a rise in philosophical and midrashic interpretations depicting women in a negative light, emphasizing a duality between matter and spirit in which femininity was associated, negatively, with earth and matter.
sometimes prescribes different roles and religious obligations for men and women. There are different opinions among Orthodox Jews concerning these differences. Apologists claim that men and women have complementary, yet fundamentally different roles in religious life, resulting in different religious obligations. Reformers within the Orthodox tradition believe that some of these differences are not a reflection of religious law, but rather of cultural, social, and historical causes. In the area of education, women were historically exempted from any study beyond an understanding of the practical aspects of Torah
, and the rules necessary in running a Jewish household both of which they have an obligation to learn. Until the twentieth century, women were often discouraged from learning Talmud
and other advanced Jewish texts. In the past 100 years, Orthodox Jewish education for women has advanced tremendously.
Some Orthodox rabbis view contemporary efforts at change as motivated by sociological reasons and not by true religious motivation. They also view these suggested changes as a break with the accepted norms of observance, and strongly discourage women from engaging in many activities traditionally reserved for men. For example, Orthodox, Haredi
, and Hasidic
rabbis discourage women from wearing a yarmulke, tallit
or tefillin
.
Most Orthodox synagogues do not allow a woman to give the customary d'var Torah (brief discourse, generally on the weekly Torah portion) after or between services, both of which are technically permitted under Jewish Law. However, some synagogues do allow women to give a d'var Torah, as well as to participate in other ways that they believe does not violate Halakha
. A few Modern Orthodox synagogues include greater ritual participation for women as well, such as all-women's prayer groups and women's Torah-reading. Furthermore, a few Modern Orthodox synagogues have mechitzot dividing the left and right sides of the synagogue (rather than the usual division between the front and back of the synagogue, with women sitting in the back), with the women's section on one side and the men's section on the other. This is often seen as more equal since the women are not farther away from the service than the men.
, and for a period of 7 clean days after menstruating, and after the birth of a child. The Israeli Rabbinate has recently approved women acting as yoatzot, halakhic advisers on sensitive personal matters such as family purity.
founded the Beis Yaakov ("House of Jacob") network of Orthodox Torah schools for women in Kraków
. This break with the traditional exemption of women from formal Torah education was backed by the Chofetz Chaim Rabbi Yisroel Meir HaKohen (1838–1933). In order to combat the rampant assimilation of the nineteenth to early twentieth century, he overruled the traditional prohibitions against advanced Jewish education of women and supported what had previously been a minority view in earlier responsa
, on the basis that "at a time of danger [to Judaism], extreme measures are taken", and that in a modern world of assimilation it is important for women to have an advanced Jewish education.
(commandments) traditionally performed by males exclusively, such as wearing a tallit
or tefillin
. Soloveitchik wrote that while women do not lack the capability to perform such acts, there is no mesorah
(Jewish tradition) that permits it. In making his decision, he relied upon Jewish oral law, including a mishnah
in Chulin 2a and a Beit Yoseph in the Tur Yoreh Deah stating that a woman can perform a specific official communal service for her own needs but not those of others.
Women's issues garnered more interest with the advent of feminism
. Many Modern Orthodox Jewish women and Modern Orthodox rabbis sought to provide greater and more advanced Jewish education for women. Since most Modern Orthodox women attend college, and many receive advanced degrees in a variety of fields, Modern Orthodoxy generally believes that their Jewish education should equal their secular education. An entire genre of Orthodox feminist literature now exists, and has caused changes within some Orthodox synagogues and communities (The Status of Women in Halakhic Judaism, Berman, Tradition, 14:2, 1973.). Orthodox girls' and women's Jewish education has expanded tremendously in the past 30 years. Of some controversy are the questions of whether girls and women should or may learn Talmud
. While all segments of Modern Orthodoxy strongly support women's education, the permissibility of Talmud study for women is still not accepted among most of Modern Orthodoxy.
. The Kol Bo provides, in the laws for Tisha B'Av
:
In Germany, in the 12th and 13th centuries, women's prayer groups were led by female cantors. Rabbi Eliezar of Worms, in his elegy for his wife Dulca, praised her for teaching the other women how to pray and embellishing the prayer with music. The gravestone of Urania of Worms, who died in 1275, contains the inscription "who sang piyyutim for the women with musical voice." In the Nurnberg Memorial Book, one Richenza was inscribed with the title "prayer leader of the women."
Orthodox women more recently began holding organized women's tefila (prayer) groups beginning in the 1970s. While no Orthodox legal authorities agree that women can form a minyan
(prayer quorum) for the purpose of regular services
, women in these groups read the prayers and study Torah. A number of leaders from all segments of Orthodox Judaism have commented on this issue, but it has had little impact on Haredi
and Sephardi Judaism
. However, the emergence of this phenomenon has enmeshed Modern Orthodox Judaism
in a debate which still continues today. There are two schools of thought on this issue:
The recent case of Rabbi Mordecai Tendler, the first rabbi to be expelled from the Rabbinical Council of America
following allegations of sexual harassment, illustrated the importance of clarification of Orthodox
halakha
in this area. Rabbi Tendler claimed that the tradition of exclusion of women's testimony should compel the RCA to disregard the allegations. He argued that since the testimony of a woman could not be admitted in Rabbinical court, there were no valid witnesses against him, and hence the case for his expulsion had to be thrown out for lack of evidence. In a ruling of importance for Orthodox women's capacity for legal self-protection under Jewish law
, Haredi Rabbi Benzion Wosner, writing on behalf of the Shevet Levi Beit Din (Rabbinical court) of Monsey, New York
, identified sexual harassment cases as coming under a class of exceptions to the traditional exclusion, under which "even children or women" have not only a right but an obligation to testify, and can be relied upon by a rabbinical court as valid witnesses:
The Rabbinical Council of America
, while initially relying on its own investigation, chose to rely on the Halakhic ruling of the Haredi
Rabbinical body as authoritative in the situation.
community have been steadfast in their opposition to a change in the role of women, arguing that the religious and social constraints on women, as dictated by traditional Jewish texts, are timeless and are not affected by contemporary social change. Many also argue that giving traditionally male roles to women will only detract from both women's and men's ability to lead truly fulfilling lives. Haredim have also sometimes perceived arguments for liberalization as in reality stemming from antagonism to Jewish law and beliefs generally, arguing that preserving faith requires resisting secular and "un-Jewish" ideas.
Modern Orthodox Judaism, particularly in its more liberal variants, has tended to look at proposed changes in the role of women on a specific, case-by-case basis, focusing on arguments regarding the religious and legal role of specific prayers, rituals, and activities individually. Such arguments have tended to focus on cases where the Talmud and other traditional sources express multiple or more liberal viewpoints, particularly where the role of women in the past was arguably broader than in more recent times. Feminist advocates within Orthodoxy have tended to stay within the traditional legal process of argumentation, seeking a gradualist approach, and avoiding wholesale arguments against the religious tradition as such.
toward women originally differed little from the Orthodox position, it has in recent years minimized legal and ritual differences between men and women. The Committee on Jewish Law and Standards
(CJLS) of the Rabbinical Assembly
has approved a number of decisions and responsa
on this topic. These provide for women's active participation in areas such as:
A rabbi may or may not decide to adopt particular rulings for the congregation; thus, some Conservative congregations will be more or less egalitarian than others. However, there are other areas where legal differences remain between men and women, including:
The CJLS recently reaffirmed the obligation of Conservative women to observe niddah
(sexual abstinence during and after menstruation) and mikvah
(ritual immersion) following menstruation, although somewhat liberalizing certain details. Such practices, while requirements of Conservative Judaism, are not to be widely observed among Conservative laity.
voted, without issuing an opinion, that women could count in a minyan, although it continued to hold that women could not serve as rabbis or cantors. In 1983, the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
(JTSA) faculty voted, also without accompanying opinion, to ordain women as rabbis and as cantors.
In 2002, the CJLS adapted a responsum by Rabbi David Fine, Women and the Minyan, which provides an official religious-law foundation for these actions and explains the current Conservative approach to the role of women in prayer.
In 2006, the CJLS adopted three responsa on the subject of niddah
, which reaffirmed an obligation of Conservative women to abstain from sexual relations during and following menstruation
and to immerse in a mikvah
prior to resumption, while liberalizing observance requirements including shortening the length of the niddah
period, lifting restrictions on non-sexual contact during niddah, and reducing the circumstances under which spotting and similar conditions would mandate abstinence.
In all cases continuing the Orthodox approach was also upheld as an option. Individual Conservative rabbis and synagogues are not required to adopt any of these changes, and a small number have adopted none of them.
In 1973, 1983, and 1993, individual rabbis and professors issued six major opinions which influenced change in the Conservative approach, the first and second Sigal, Blumenthal, Rabinowitz, and Roth
responsa, and the Hauptman
article. These opinions sought to provide for a wholesale shift in women's public roles through a single, comprehensive legal justification. Most such opinions based their positions on an argument that Jewish women always were, or have become, legally obligated to perform the same mitzvot as men and to do so in the same manner.
The first Sigal and the Blumenthal responsa were considered by the CJLS as part of its decision on prayer roles in 1973. They argued that women have always had the same obligations as men. The first Sigal responsum used the Talmud's general prayer obligation and examples of cases in which women were traditionally obligated to say specific prayers and inferred from them a public prayer obligation identical to that of men. The Blumenthal responsum extrapolated from a minority authority that a minyan could be formed with nine men and one woman in an emergency. The Committee on Jewish Law and Standards
(CJLS) declined to adopt either responsum. Rabbi Siegel reported to the Rabbinical Assembly
membership that many on the CJLS, while agreeing with the result, found the arguments unconvincing.
The Rabinowitz, Roth
, and second Sigal responsa were considered by the JTSA faculty as part of its decision to ordain women as rabbis in 1983. The Rabbinowitz responsum sidestepped the issue of obligation, arguing that there is no longer a religious need for a community representative in prayer and hence there is no need to decide whether a woman can halakhically serve as one. The CJLS felt that an argument potentially undermining the value of community and clergy was unconvincing: "We should not be afraid to recognize that the function of clergy is to help our people connect with the holy." The Roth and second Sigal responsa accepted that time-bound mitzvot were traditionally optional for women, but argued that women in modern times could change their traditional roles. The Roth responsum argued that women could individually voluntarily assume the same obligations as men, and that women who do so (e.g. pray three times a day regularly) could count in a minyan and serve as agents. The JTSA accordingly required female rabbinical students wishing to train as rabbis to personally obligate themselves, but synagogue rabbis, unwilling to inquire into individual religiosity, found it impractical. The second Sigal responsum called for a takkanah, or rabbinical edict, "that would serve as a halakhic ERA," overruling all non-egalitarian provisions in law or, in the alternative, a new approach to halakhic interpretation independent of legal precedents. The CJLS, unwilling to use either an intrusive approach or a repudiation of the traditional legal process as bases for action, did not adopt either and let the JTS faculty vote stand unexplained.
In 1993, Professor Judith Hauptman
of JTS issued an influential paper http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0411/is_n1_v42/ai_13796427 arguing that women had historically always been obligated in prayer, using more detailed arguments than the Blumenthal and first Sigal responsa. The paper suggested that women who followed traditional practices were failing to meet their obligations. Rabbi Roth argued that Conservative Judaism should think twice before adopting a viewpoint labeling its most traditional and often most committed members as sinners. The issue was again dropped.
In 2002, the CJLS returned to the issue of justifying its actions regarding women's status, and adopted a single authoritative approach, the Fine responsum, as the definitive Conservative halakha
on role-of-women issues. This responsum holds that although Jewish women do not traditionally have the same obligations as men, Conservative women have, as a collective whole, voluntarily undertaken them. Because of this collective undertaking, the Fine responsum holds that Conservative women are eligible to serve as agents and decision-makers for others. The Responsum also held that traditionally-minded communities and individual women could opt out without being regarded by the Conservative movement as sinning. By adopting this Responsum, the CJLS found itself in a position to provide a considered Jewish-law justification for its egalitarian practices, without having to rely on potentially unconvincing arguments, undermine the religious importance of community and clergy, ask individual women intrusive questions, repudiate the halakhic tradition, or label women following traditional practices as sinners.
believes in the equality of men and women. The Reform movement rejects the idea that halakha
(Jewish law) is the sole legitimate form of Jewish decision making, and holds that Jews can and must consider their conscience and ethical principles inherent in the Jewish tradition when deciding upon a right course of action. There is widespread consensus among Reform Jews that traditional distinctions between the role of men and women are antithetical to the deeper ethical principles of Judaism. This has enabled Reform communities to allow women to perform many rituals traditionally reserved for men, such as:
Concerns about intermarriage have also influenced the Reform Jewish position on gender. In 1983, the Central Conference of American Rabbis
passed a resolution waiving the need for formal conversion for anyone with at least one Jewish parent who has made affirmative acts of Jewish identity. This departed from the traditional position requiring formal conversion to Judaism
for children without a Jewish mother.
The 1983 resolution of the American Reform movement has had a mixed reception in Reform Jewish communities outside of the United States. Most notably, the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism
has rejected patrilineal descent and requires formal conversion for anyone without a Jewish mother.
. From the beginning, Reconstructionist Jewish ritual allowed men and women to pray together — a decision based on egalitarian philosophy. The halakhah had to be changed to rid Judaism of these inequities. It was on this basis that Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan
called for the full equality of women, despite the obvious difficulties reconciling this stance with norms of traditional Jewish practice. The Reconstructionist Movement ordained women Rabbi from the start. In 1968, women were accepted into the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, under the leadership of Ira Eisenstein
. The first ordained female Reconstructionist rabbi, Sandy Eisenberg Sasso
, served as rabbi of the Manhattan Reconstructionist Congregation in 1976 and gained a pulpit in 1977 at Beth El Zedeck congregation in Indianapolis. Sandy Eisenberg Sasso was accepted without debate or subsequent controversy. In 2005, 24 out of the movement's 106 synagogues in the US had women as senior or assistant rabbis.
The Reconstructionist Community began including women in the minyan
and allowing them to come up to the Torah
for aliyot
. They also continued the practice of bat mitzvah. But other changes in the role of women, such as serving as witnesses, leading services, public Torah reading, and wearing ritual prayer garments like kippot and tallitot. Reconstructionist women rabbis have been instrumental in the creation of rituals, stories, music, that have begun to give women's experience a voice in Judaism. Most of the focus has been on rituals for life-cycle events. New ceremonies have been created for births, weddings, divorces, conversions, weaning, and the onset of menarche and menopause. The Recontructionist movement as a whole has been committed to creating liturgy that is in consonance with equality ideas and practices and that reflects a new role for women's celebration. Another major step: The Federation of Reconstructionist Congregations has also developed educational programs that lead toward the full acceptance of lesbians, as well as rituals that affirm lesbian relationships. In Canada, the reconstructionist Rabbis does officiate at same-sex wedding.
The reconstructionist Judaism will a big importance for the community implication of her members.
Several members of the Reconstructionist community have focused on issues like domestic violence. Others have devoted energy to helping women gain the right of divorce in traditional communities. Many have spoken out for the right of Jewish women to pray aloud and read from the Torah at the Western Wall
in Jerusalem, the Women of the Wall
group.
When the roles of women in religion change, there may also be changed roles for men. With their advocacy of patrilineal descent in the 1970s, the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association supported the principle that a man who takes responsibility for raising a Jewish child can pass Judaism on to the next generation as well as a woman. The children who receive a Jewish education are allowed whatever is the sex of their Jewish parent.
Publications
Particular issues
Tanakh
The Tanakh is a name used in Judaism for the canon of the Hebrew Bible. The Tanakh is also known as the Masoretic Text or the Miqra. The name is an acronym formed from the initial Hebrew letters of the Masoretic Text's three traditional subdivisions: The Torah , Nevi'im and Ketuvim —hence...
, the Oral Law
Oral Torah
The Oral Torah comprises the legal and interpretative traditions that, according to tradition, were transmitted orally from Mount Sinai, and were not written in the Torah...
(the corpus of rabbinic literature), by custom
Minhag
Minhag is an accepted tradition or group of traditions in Judaism. A related concept, Nusach , refers to the traditional order and form of the prayers...
, and by non-religious cultural factors. Although the Hebrew Bible and rabbinic literature mention various female role models, religious law treats women differently in various circumstances.
Biblical times
Relatively few women are mentioned in the Bible by name and role, suggesting that they were rarely in the forefront of public life. There are a number of exceptions to this rule, including the Matriarchs SarahSarah
Sarah or Sara was the wife of Abraham and the mother of Isaac as described in the Hebrew Bible and the Quran. Her name was originally Sarai...
, Rebecca
Rebecca
Rebecca a biblical matriarch from the Book of Genesis and a common first name. In this book Rebecca was said to be a beautiful girl. As a name it is often shortened to Becky, Becki or Becca; see Rebecca ....
, Rachel
Rachel
Rachel , as described in the Hebrew Bible, is a prophet and the favorite wife of Jacob, one of the three Biblical Patriarchs, and mother of Joseph and Benjamin. She was the daughter of Laban and the younger sister of Leah, Jacob's first wife...
, and Leah
Leah
Leah , as described in the Hebrew Bible, is the first of the two concurrent wives of the Hebrew patriarch Jacob and mother of six of sons whose descendants became the Twelve Tribes of Israel, along with at least one daughter, Dinah. She is the daughter of Laban and the older sister of Rachel, whom...
, Miriam the prophetess, Deborah
Deborah
Deborah was a prophetess of Yahweh the God of the Israelites, the fourth Judge of pre-monarchic Israel, counselor, warrior, and the wife of Lapidoth according to the Book of Judges chapters 4 and 5....
the Judge, Huldah
Huldah
Huldah was a prophetess mentioned briefly in , and . After the discovery of a book of the Law during renovations at Solomon's Temple, on the order of King Josiah, Hilkiah together with Ahikam, Acbor, Shaphan and Asaiah approach her to get the Lord's opinion....
the prophetess, Abigail
Abigail
Abigail was the wife of Nabal; she became a wife of David after Nabal's death .In the passage, Nabal demonstrates ingratitude towards David, and Abigail attempts to placate David in order to stop him taking revenge...
who married David
David
David was the second king of the united Kingdom of Israel according to the Hebrew Bible and, according to the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, an ancestor of Jesus Christ through both Saint Joseph and Mary...
, and Esther
Esther
Esther , born Hadassah, is the eponymous heroine of the Biblical Book of Esther.According to the Bible, she was a Jewish queen of the Persian king Ahasuerus...
. In the Biblical account these women did not meet with opposition for the relatively public presence they had.
According to Jewish tradition, a covenant was formed between the Israelites and the God of Abraham at Mount Sinai. The Torah relates that both Israelite men and Israelite women were present at Sinai, however, the covenant was worded in such a way that it bound men to act upon its requirements and to ensure that the members of their household (wives, children, and slaves) met these requirements as well. In this sense, the covenant bound women as well, though indirectly.
Marriage and family law in biblical times favored men over women. For example, a husband could divorce a wife if he chose to, but a wife could not divorce a husband without his consent. The practice of levirate marriage
Levirate marriage
Levirate marriage is a type of marriage in which the brother of a deceased man is obligated to marry his brother's widow, and the widow is obligated to marry her deceased husband's brother....
applied to widows of childless deceased husbands, but not to widowers of childless deceased wives. Laws concerning the loss of female virginity have no male equivalent. These and other gender inequalities found in the Torah suggest that women were subordinate to men during biblical times, however, they also suggest that biblical society viewed continuity, property, and family unity as paramount. However, men had specific obligations they were required to perform for their wives. These included the provision of clothing, food, and sexual relations to their wives.
Women also had a role in ritual life. Women (as well as men) were required to make a pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem
Temple in Jerusalem
The Temple in Jerusalem or Holy Temple , refers to one of a series of structures which were historically located on the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem, the current site of the Dome of the Rock. Historically, these successive temples stood at this location and functioned as the centre of...
once a year and offer the Passover
Passover
Passover is a Jewish holiday and festival. It commemorates the story of the Exodus, in which the ancient Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt...
sacrifice
Korban
The term offering as found in the Hebrew Bible in relation to the worship of Ancient Israel is mainly represented by the Hebrew noun korban whether for an animal or other offering...
. They would also do so on special occasions in their lives such as giving a todah ("thanksgiving") offering after childbirth. Hence, they participated in many of the major public religious roles that non-levitical men could, albeit less often and on a somewhat smaller and generally more discreet scale.
Women depended on men economically. Women generally did not own property except in the rare case of inheriting land from a father who didn't bear sons. Even "in such cases, women would be required to remarry within the tribe so as not to reduce its land holdings."
Talmudic times
Classical Jewish rabbinical literature contains quotes that may be seen as both laudatory and derogatory of women. The Talmud states that:- Greater is the reward to be given by the All-Mighty to the (righteous) women than to (righteous) men
- Ten measures of speech descended to the world; women took nine
- Women are light on raw knowledge — i.e. they possess more intuition
- A man without a wife lives without joy, blessing, and good; a man should love his wife as himself and respect her more than himself
- When Rav Joseph heard his mother's footsteps he would say: Let me arise before the approach of the divine presenceShekhinahShekinah is the English spelling of a grammatically feminine Hebrew word that means the dwelling or settling, and is used to denote the dwelling or settling divine presence of God, especially in the Temple in Jerusalem.-Etymology:Shekinah is derived...
- Israel was redeemed from Egypt by virtue of its (Israel's) righteous women
- A man must be careful never to speak slightingly to his wife because women are prone to tears and sensitive to wrong
- Women have greater faith than men
- Women have greater powers of discernment
- Women are especially tenderhearted
While few women are mentioned by name in rabbinic literature, and none are known to have authored a rabbinic work, those who are mentioned are portrayed as having a strong influence on their husbands, and occasionally having a public persona. Examples are Bruriah
Bruriah
Bruriah is one of several women quoted as a sage in the Talmud. She was the wife of the Tanna Rabbi Meir and the daughter of Rabbi Hananiah Ben Teradion, who is listed as one of the "Ten Martyrs." She is greatly admired for her breadth of knowledge in matters pertaining to both halachah and...
, the wife of the Tanna
Tannaim
The Tannaim were the Rabbinic sages whose views are recorded in the Mishnah, from approximately 70-200 CE. The period of the Tannaim, also referred to as the Mishnaic period, lasted about 130 years...
Rabbi Meir
Rabbi Meir
Rabbi Meir or Rabbi Meir Baal Hanes was a Jewish sage who lived in the time of the Mishna. He was considered one of the greatest of the Tannaim of the fourth generation . According to legend , his father was a descendant of the Roman Emperor Nero who had converted to Judaism. His wife Bruriah is...
; Rachel, the wife of Rabbi Akiva; and Yalta, the wife of Rabbi Nachman
Rav Nachman
Rav Nachman bar Yaakov was a Jewish Talmudist who lived in Babylonia, known as an Amora of the third generation, and pupil of Samuel of Nehardea. He was chief justice of the Jews who were subject to the exilarch , and was also head of the school of Nehardea...
. Rabbi Eliezer's wife (of Mishnaic times) counselled her husband in assuming leadership over the Sanhedrin
Sanhedrin
The Sanhedrin was an assembly of twenty-three judges appointed in every city in the Biblical Land of Israel.The Great Sanhedrin was the supreme court of ancient Israel made of 71 members...
.
Middle Ages
Like most women in Europe, Jewish women in the Middle Ages had exclusively household roles and arranged marriages; child brides were common. Jewish women were generally prohibited from holding formal leadership roles with authority over men. Regarding European Jewry, Avraham Grossman wrote, "Throughout the Middle Ages, which continued for about a thousand years, we do not find so much as a single women of importance among the sages of Israel... Moreover, over a period of a thousand years, not a single Jewish woman wrote a halakhic, literary, theoretical, mystical, or poetic work, with the exception of a handful of poems written by Jewish women in Spain." Middle Eastern Jewry, on the other hand, had an abundance of female literates. The Cairo GenizaCairo Geniza
The Cairo Geniza is a collection of almost 280,000 Jewish manuscript fragments found in the Genizah or storeroom of the Ben Ezra Synagogue in Fustat, presently Old Cairo, Egypt. Some additional fragments were found in the Basatin cemetery east of Old Cairo, and the collection includes a number of...
is filled with correspondences written (sometimes dictated) between family members and spouses. Many of these letters are pious and poetic and express a desire to be in closer or more frequent contact with a loved one that is far enough away to only be reached by written correspondence. There are also records of wills and other personal legal documents as well as written petitions to officials in cases of spouse abuse or other conflicts between family members written or dictated by women.
After the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492
Alhambra decree
The Alhambra Decree was an edict issued on 31 March 1492 by the joint Catholic Monarchs of Spain ordering the expulsion of Jews from the Kingdom of Spain and its territories and possessions by 31 July of that year.The edict was formally revoked on 16 December 1968, following the Second...
, women became virtually the only source of Jewish ritual and tradition in the Catholic world in a phenomenon known as crypto-Judaism
Crypto-Judaism
Crypto-Judaism is the secret adherence to Judaism while publicly professing to be of another faith; practitioners are referred to as "crypto-Jews"...
. Crypto-Jewish women would slaughter their own animals and made sure to keep as many of the Jewish dietary laws and life cycle rituals as possible without raising suspicion. Occasionally, these women were prosecuted by Inquisition officials for suspicious behavior such as lighting candles to honor the Sabbath or refusing to eat pork when it was offered to them. The Inquisition targeted crypto-Jewish women at least as much as it targeted crypto-Jewish men because women were accused of perpetuating Jewish tradition while men were merely permitting their wives and daughters to organize the household in this manner.
Domestic law
Rabbeinu Gershom instituted a rabbinic decree (takhanah) prohibiting polygamy among Ashkenazic Jews. The rabbis instituted legal methods to enable women to petition a rabbinical court to compel a divorce. MaimonidesMaimonides
Moses ben-Maimon, called Maimonides and also known as Mūsā ibn Maymūn in Arabic, or Rambam , was a preeminent medieval Jewish philosopher and one of the greatest Torah scholars and physicians of the Middle Ages...
ruled that a woman who found her husband "repugnant" could compel a divorce, "because she is not like a captive, to be subjected to intercourse with one who is hateful to her."
The rabbis also instituted and tightened prohibitions on domestic violence. Rabbi Peretz ben Elijah ruled, "The cry of the daughters of our people has been heard concerning the sons of Israel who raise their hands to strike their wives. Yet who has given a husband the authority to beat his wife?" Rabbi Rothberg ruled that "For it is the way of the Gentiles to behave thus, but Heaven forbid that any Jew should do so. And one who beats his wife is to be excommunicated and banned and beaten." Rabbi Rothenberg also ruled that a battered wife could petition a rabbinical court to compel a husband to grant a divorce, with a monetary fine owed her on top of the regular ketubah money. These rulings occurred in the midst of societies where wife-beating was legally sanctioned and routine.
Religious developments
Religious developments included relaxation on prohibitions against teaching women Torah, and the rise of women's prayer groups in France and Germany. These changes were accompanied by increased pietistic strictures, including greater requirements for modest dress, and greater strictures during the period of menstruationNiddah
Niddah is a Hebrew term describing a woman during menstruation, or a woman who has menstruated and not yet completed the associated requirement of immersion in a mikveh ....
. The rise and increasing popularity of Kabbalah
Kabbalah
Kabbalah/Kabala is a discipline and school of thought concerned with the esoteric aspect of Rabbinic Judaism. It was systematized in 11th-13th century Hachmei Provence and Spain, and again after the Expulsion from Spain, in 16th century Ottoman Palestine...
, which emphasized the shechinah and female aspects of the divine presence and human-divine relationship, and which saw marriage as a holy covenant between partners rather than a civil contract, had great influence. At the same time, there was a rise in philosophical and midrashic interpretations depicting women in a negative light, emphasizing a duality between matter and spirit in which femininity was associated, negatively, with earth and matter.
Orthodox Judaism
Orthodox JudaismOrthodox Judaism
Orthodox Judaism , is the approach to Judaism which adheres to the traditional interpretation and application of the laws and ethics of the Torah as legislated in the Talmudic texts by the Sanhedrin and subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and...
sometimes prescribes different roles and religious obligations for men and women. There are different opinions among Orthodox Jews concerning these differences. Apologists claim that men and women have complementary, yet fundamentally different roles in religious life, resulting in different religious obligations. Reformers within the Orthodox tradition believe that some of these differences are not a reflection of religious law, but rather of cultural, social, and historical causes. In the area of education, women were historically exempted from any study beyond an understanding of the practical aspects of Torah
Torah
Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five books of the bible—Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers and Deuteronomy Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five...
, and the rules necessary in running a Jewish household both of which they have an obligation to learn. Until the twentieth century, women were often discouraged from learning Talmud
Talmud
The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....
and other advanced Jewish texts. In the past 100 years, Orthodox Jewish education for women has advanced tremendously.
Some Orthodox rabbis view contemporary efforts at change as motivated by sociological reasons and not by true religious motivation. They also view these suggested changes as a break with the accepted norms of observance, and strongly discourage women from engaging in many activities traditionally reserved for men. For example, Orthodox, Haredi
Haredi Judaism
Haredi or Charedi/Chareidi Judaism is the most conservative form of Orthodox Judaism, often referred to as ultra-Orthodox. A follower of Haredi Judaism is called a Haredi ....
, and Hasidic
Hasidic Judaism
Hasidic Judaism or Hasidism, from the Hebrew —Ḥasidut in Sephardi, Chasidus in Ashkenazi, meaning "piety" , is a branch of Orthodox Judaism that promotes spirituality and joy through the popularisation and internalisation of Jewish mysticism as the fundamental aspects of the Jewish faith...
rabbis discourage women from wearing a yarmulke, tallit
Tallit
A tallit pl. tallitot is a Jewish prayer shawl. The tallit is worn over the outer clothes during the morning prayers on weekdays, Shabbat and holidays...
or tefillin
Tefillin
Tefillin also called phylacteries are a set of small black leather boxes containing scrolls of parchment inscribed with verses from the Torah, which are worn by observant Jews during weekday morning prayers. Although "tefillin" is technically the plural form , it is loosely used as a singular as...
.
Most Orthodox synagogues do not allow a woman to give the customary d'var Torah (brief discourse, generally on the weekly Torah portion) after or between services, both of which are technically permitted under Jewish Law. However, some synagogues do allow women to give a d'var Torah, as well as to participate in other ways that they believe does not violate Halakha
Halakha
Halakha — also transliterated Halocho , or Halacha — is the collective body of Jewish law, including biblical law and later talmudic and rabbinic law, as well as customs and traditions.Judaism classically draws no distinction in its laws between religious and ostensibly non-religious life; Jewish...
. A few Modern Orthodox synagogues include greater ritual participation for women as well, such as all-women's prayer groups and women's Torah-reading. Furthermore, a few Modern Orthodox synagogues have mechitzot dividing the left and right sides of the synagogue (rather than the usual division between the front and back of the synagogue, with women sitting in the back), with the women's section on one side and the men's section on the other. This is often seen as more equal since the women are not farther away from the service than the men.
Rules of modesty
The importance of modesty in dress and conduct is particularly stressed among girls and women in Orthodox society. Many Orthodox women only wear skirts and avoid wearing trousers, and some married Orthodox women cover their hair with a wig, hat, or scarf. Judaism prescribes modesty for both men and women.Rules of family purity
In accordance with Jewish Law, Orthodox Jewish women refrain from contact with their husbands while they are menstruatingNiddah
Niddah is a Hebrew term describing a woman during menstruation, or a woman who has menstruated and not yet completed the associated requirement of immersion in a mikveh ....
, and for a period of 7 clean days after menstruating, and after the birth of a child. The Israeli Rabbinate has recently approved women acting as yoatzot, halakhic advisers on sensitive personal matters such as family purity.
Beis Yaakov
In 1917 Sarah SchenirerSarah Schenirer
Sarah Schenirer was a pioneer of Jewish education for girls. In 1917, she established the Beis Yaakov school network in Poland.-Biography:...
founded the Beis Yaakov ("House of Jacob") network of Orthodox Torah schools for women in Kraków
Kraków
Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...
. This break with the traditional exemption of women from formal Torah education was backed by the Chofetz Chaim Rabbi Yisroel Meir HaKohen (1838–1933). In order to combat the rampant assimilation of the nineteenth to early twentieth century, he overruled the traditional prohibitions against advanced Jewish education of women and supported what had previously been a minority view in earlier responsa
Responsa
Responsa comprise a body of written decisions and rulings given by legal scholars in response to questions addressed to them.-In the Roman Empire:Roman law recognised responsa prudentium, i.e...
, on the basis that "at a time of danger [to Judaism], extreme measures are taken", and that in a modern world of assimilation it is important for women to have an advanced Jewish education.
Modern Orthodox Judaism
Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, a leader of profound influence in modern Orthodoxy in the United States, forbade women from serving as presidents of synagogues or any other official positions of leadership, and from performing other mitzvotMitzvah
The primary meaning of the Hebrew word refers to precepts and commandments as commanded by God...
(commandments) traditionally performed by males exclusively, such as wearing a tallit
Tallit
A tallit pl. tallitot is a Jewish prayer shawl. The tallit is worn over the outer clothes during the morning prayers on weekdays, Shabbat and holidays...
or tefillin
Tefillin
Tefillin also called phylacteries are a set of small black leather boxes containing scrolls of parchment inscribed with verses from the Torah, which are worn by observant Jews during weekday morning prayers. Although "tefillin" is technically the plural form , it is loosely used as a singular as...
. Soloveitchik wrote that while women do not lack the capability to perform such acts, there is no mesorah
Tradition
A tradition is a ritual, belief or object passed down within a society, still maintained in the present, with origins in the past. Common examples include holidays or impractical but socially meaningful clothes , but the idea has also been applied to social norms such as greetings...
(Jewish tradition) that permits it. In making his decision, he relied upon Jewish oral law, including a mishnah
Mishnah
The Mishnah or Mishna is the first major written redaction of the Jewish oral traditions called the "Oral Torah". It is also the first major work of Rabbinic Judaism. It was redacted c...
in Chulin 2a and a Beit Yoseph in the Tur Yoreh Deah stating that a woman can perform a specific official communal service for her own needs but not those of others.
Women's issues garnered more interest with the advent of feminism
Feminism
Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...
. Many Modern Orthodox Jewish women and Modern Orthodox rabbis sought to provide greater and more advanced Jewish education for women. Since most Modern Orthodox women attend college, and many receive advanced degrees in a variety of fields, Modern Orthodoxy generally believes that their Jewish education should equal their secular education. An entire genre of Orthodox feminist literature now exists, and has caused changes within some Orthodox synagogues and communities (The Status of Women in Halakhic Judaism, Berman, Tradition, 14:2, 1973.). Orthodox girls' and women's Jewish education has expanded tremendously in the past 30 years. Of some controversy are the questions of whether girls and women should or may learn Talmud
Talmud
The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....
. While all segments of Modern Orthodoxy strongly support women's education, the permissibility of Talmud study for women is still not accepted among most of Modern Orthodoxy.
Women's prayer groups
Separate Jewish women's prayer groups were a sanctioned custom among German Jews in the Middle AgesMiddle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
. The Kol Bo provides, in the laws for Tisha B'Av
Tisha B'Av
|Av]],") is an annual fast day in Judaism, named for the ninth day of the month of Av in the Hebrew calendar. The fast commemorates the destruction of both the First Temple and Second Temple in Jerusalem, which occurred about 655 years apart, but on the same Hebrew calendar date...
:
- And they recite dirges there for about a quarter of the night, the men in their synagogue and the women in their synagogue. And likewise during the day the men recite dirges by themselves and the women by themselves, until about a third of the day has passed.
In Germany, in the 12th and 13th centuries, women's prayer groups were led by female cantors. Rabbi Eliezar of Worms, in his elegy for his wife Dulca, praised her for teaching the other women how to pray and embellishing the prayer with music. The gravestone of Urania of Worms, who died in 1275, contains the inscription "who sang piyyutim for the women with musical voice." In the Nurnberg Memorial Book, one Richenza was inscribed with the title "prayer leader of the women."
Orthodox women more recently began holding organized women's tefila (prayer) groups beginning in the 1970s. While no Orthodox legal authorities agree that women can form a minyan
Minyan
A minyan in Judaism refers to the quorum of ten Jewish adults required for certain religious obligations. According to many non-Orthodox streams of Judaism adult females count in the minyan....
(prayer quorum) for the purpose of regular services
Jewish services
Jewish prayer are the prayer recitations that form part of the observance of Judaism. These prayers, often with instructions and commentary, are found in the siddur, the traditional Jewish prayer book....
, women in these groups read the prayers and study Torah. A number of leaders from all segments of Orthodox Judaism have commented on this issue, but it has had little impact on Haredi
Haredi Judaism
Haredi or Charedi/Chareidi Judaism is the most conservative form of Orthodox Judaism, often referred to as ultra-Orthodox. A follower of Haredi Judaism is called a Haredi ....
and Sephardi Judaism
Sephardi Jews
Sephardi Jews is a general term referring to the descendants of the Jews who lived in the Iberian Peninsula before their expulsion in the Spanish Inquisition. It can also refer to those who use a Sephardic style of liturgy or would otherwise define themselves in terms of the Jewish customs and...
. However, the emergence of this phenomenon has enmeshed Modern Orthodox Judaism
Modern Orthodox Judaism
Modern Orthodox Judaism is a movement within Orthodox Judaism that attempts to synthesize Jewish values and the observance of Jewish law, with the secular, modern world....
in a debate which still continues today. There are two schools of thought on this issue:
- The most common view, held by some Modern Orthodox authorities, and most Haredi Rabbis, rules that all women's prayer groups are absolutely forbidden by halakhaHalakhaHalakha — also transliterated Halocho , or Halacha — is the collective body of Jewish law, including biblical law and later talmudic and rabbinic law, as well as customs and traditions.Judaism classically draws no distinction in its laws between religious and ostensibly non-religious life; Jewish...
(Jewish law). - A second view maintains that women's prayer groups can be compatible with halakha, but only if they do not carry out a full prayer service (i.e. do not include certain parts of the service known as devarim she-bi-kdusha), and only if services are spiritually and sincerely motivated; they cannot be sanctioned if they are inspired by a desire to rebel against halakha. People in this group include Rabbi Avraham Elkana Shapiro, former British Chief Rabbi Immanuel JakobovitsImmanuel JakobovitsImmanuel Jakobovits, Baron Jakobovits, Kt was the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth from 1967 to 1991. His successor is the present Chief Rabbi, Jonathan Sacks.-Biography:...
, and Rabbi Avi WeissAvi WeissAvraham Weiss is an American Modern Orthodox rabbi who heads the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale in The Bronx, New York. He is an author, teacher, lecturer, and activist...
. - A third view maintains argues in favor of the acceptability of calling women to the Torah in mixed services, and leading certain parts of the service which do not require a minyanMinyanA minyan in Judaism refers to the quorum of ten Jewish adults required for certain religious obligations. According to many non-Orthodox streams of Judaism adult females count in the minyan....
, under certain conditions.
Women as witnesses
Traditionally, women are not generally permitted to serve as witnesses in an Orthodox Beit Din (rabbinical court), although they have recently been permitted to serve as toanot (advocates) in those courts. This limitation has exceptions which have required exploration under rabbinic law as the role of women in society, and the obligations of religious groups under external civil law, have been subject to increasing recent scrutiny.The recent case of Rabbi Mordecai Tendler, the first rabbi to be expelled from the Rabbinical Council of America
Rabbinical Council of America
The Rabbinical Council of America is one of the world's largest organizations of Orthodox rabbis; it is affiliated with The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, more commonly known as the Orthodox Union, or OU...
following allegations of sexual harassment, illustrated the importance of clarification of Orthodox
Orthodox Judaism
Orthodox Judaism , is the approach to Judaism which adheres to the traditional interpretation and application of the laws and ethics of the Torah as legislated in the Talmudic texts by the Sanhedrin and subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and...
halakha
Halakha
Halakha — also transliterated Halocho , or Halacha — is the collective body of Jewish law, including biblical law and later talmudic and rabbinic law, as well as customs and traditions.Judaism classically draws no distinction in its laws between religious and ostensibly non-religious life; Jewish...
in this area. Rabbi Tendler claimed that the tradition of exclusion of women's testimony should compel the RCA to disregard the allegations. He argued that since the testimony of a woman could not be admitted in Rabbinical court, there were no valid witnesses against him, and hence the case for his expulsion had to be thrown out for lack of evidence. In a ruling of importance for Orthodox women's capacity for legal self-protection under Jewish law
Halakha
Halakha — also transliterated Halocho , or Halacha — is the collective body of Jewish law, including biblical law and later talmudic and rabbinic law, as well as customs and traditions.Judaism classically draws no distinction in its laws between religious and ostensibly non-religious life; Jewish...
, Haredi Rabbi Benzion Wosner, writing on behalf of the Shevet Levi Beit Din (Rabbinical court) of Monsey, New York
Monsey, New York
Monsey is a hamlet , in the Town of Ramapo, Rockland County, New York, United States located north of the state of New Jersey; east of Suffern; south of Airmont and west of Nanuet...
, identified sexual harassment cases as coming under a class of exceptions to the traditional exclusion, under which "even children or women" have not only a right but an obligation to testify, and can be relied upon by a rabbinical court as valid witnesses:
- The RamahMeir AbulafiaMeir ben Todros HaLevi Abulafia , also known as the Ramah , was a major Sephardic Talmudist and Halachic authority in medieval Spain...
in Choshen Mishpat (Siman 35, 14) rules that in a case where only women congregate or in a case where only women could possibly testify, (in this case the alleged harassment occurred behind closed doors) they can and should certainly testify. (Terumas Hadeshen Siman 353 and Agudah Perek 10, Yochasin)
- This is also the ruling of the MaharikJoseph Colon TrabottoJoseph Colon ben Solomon Trabotto, also known as Maharik, was a 15th century rabbi who is considered Italy's foremost Judaic scholar and Talmudist of his era.-Early years:...
, RadvazDavid ben Solomon ibn Abi ZimraRabbi David ben Solomon ibn Zimra , also called Radbaz after the initials of his name, Rabbi David iBn Zimra, was an early Acharon of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries who was a leading posek, rosh yeshiva, chief rabbi, and author of more than 3,000 responsa as well as several scholarly...
, and the Mahar"i of MinzJudah ben Eliezer ha-Levi MinzJudah ben Eliezer ha-Levi Minz , also known as Mahari Minz, was the most prominent Italian rabbi of his time. He officiated as rabbi of Padua for forty-seven years, during which time he had a great number of pupils, among whom were his son Abraham Minz, and the latter's son-in-law Meir...
. Even those "PoskimPosekPosek is the term in Jewish law for "decider"—a legal scholar who decides the Halakha in cases of law where previous authorities are inconclusive or in those situations where no halakhic precedent exists....
" that would normally not rely on women witnesses, they would certainly agree that in our case ... where there is ample evidence that this Rabbi violated TorahTorahTorah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five books of the bible—Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers and Deuteronomy Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five...
precepts, then even children or women can certainly be kosher as witnesses, as the Chasam Sofer pointed out in his sefer (monograph) (Orach Chaim T'shuvah 11)
The Rabbinical Council of America
Rabbinical Council of America
The Rabbinical Council of America is one of the world's largest organizations of Orthodox rabbis; it is affiliated with The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, more commonly known as the Orthodox Union, or OU...
, while initially relying on its own investigation, chose to rely on the Halakhic ruling of the Haredi
Haredi Judaism
Haredi or Charedi/Chareidi Judaism is the most conservative form of Orthodox Judaism, often referred to as ultra-Orthodox. A follower of Haredi Judaism is called a Haredi ....
Rabbinical body as authoritative in the situation.
Orthodox approaches to change
Leaders of the HarediHaredi Judaism
Haredi or Charedi/Chareidi Judaism is the most conservative form of Orthodox Judaism, often referred to as ultra-Orthodox. A follower of Haredi Judaism is called a Haredi ....
community have been steadfast in their opposition to a change in the role of women, arguing that the religious and social constraints on women, as dictated by traditional Jewish texts, are timeless and are not affected by contemporary social change. Many also argue that giving traditionally male roles to women will only detract from both women's and men's ability to lead truly fulfilling lives. Haredim have also sometimes perceived arguments for liberalization as in reality stemming from antagonism to Jewish law and beliefs generally, arguing that preserving faith requires resisting secular and "un-Jewish" ideas.
Modern Orthodox Judaism, particularly in its more liberal variants, has tended to look at proposed changes in the role of women on a specific, case-by-case basis, focusing on arguments regarding the religious and legal role of specific prayers, rituals, and activities individually. Such arguments have tended to focus on cases where the Talmud and other traditional sources express multiple or more liberal viewpoints, particularly where the role of women in the past was arguably broader than in more recent times. Feminist advocates within Orthodoxy have tended to stay within the traditional legal process of argumentation, seeking a gradualist approach, and avoiding wholesale arguments against the religious tradition as such.
Conservative Judaism
Although the position of Conservative JudaismConservative Judaism
Conservative Judaism is a modern stream of Judaism that arose out of intellectual currents in Germany in the mid-19th century and took institutional form in the United States in the early 1900s.Conservative Judaism has its roots in the school of thought known as Positive-Historical Judaism,...
toward women originally differed little from the Orthodox position, it has in recent years minimized legal and ritual differences between men and women. The Committee on Jewish Law and Standards
Committee on Jewish Law and Standards
The Committee on Jewish Law and Standards is the central authority on halakha within Conservative Judaism; it is one of the most active and widely known committees on the Conservative movement's Rabbinical Assembly. Within the movement it is known as the CJLS...
(CJLS) of the Rabbinical Assembly
Rabbinical Assembly
The Rabbinical Assembly is the international association of Conservative rabbis. The RA was founded in 1901 to shape the ideology, programs, and practices of the Conservative movement. It publishes prayerbooks and books of Jewish interest, and oversees the work of the Committee on Jewish Law and...
has approved a number of decisions and responsa
Responsa
Responsa comprise a body of written decisions and rulings given by legal scholars in response to questions addressed to them.-In the Roman Empire:Roman law recognised responsa prudentium, i.e...
on this topic. These provide for women's active participation in areas such as:
- Publicly reading the TorahTorahTorah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five books of the bible—Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers and Deuteronomy Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five...
(ba'al kriah) - Being counted as part of a minyan
- Being called for an aliyah to read the Torah
- Serving as a cantor (shalich tzibbur)
- Serving as rabbiRabbiIn Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
and halakhic decisor (posek - an arbiter in matters of religious law) - Wearing a tallitTallitA tallit pl. tallitot is a Jewish prayer shawl. The tallit is worn over the outer clothes during the morning prayers on weekdays, Shabbat and holidays...
and tefillinTefillinTefillin also called phylacteries are a set of small black leather boxes containing scrolls of parchment inscribed with verses from the Torah, which are worn by observant Jews during weekday morning prayers. Although "tefillin" is technically the plural form , it is loosely used as a singular as...
A rabbi may or may not decide to adopt particular rulings for the congregation; thus, some Conservative congregations will be more or less egalitarian than others. However, there are other areas where legal differences remain between men and women, including:
- Matrilineal descentMatrilineality in JudaismMatrilineality in Judaism is the view that people born of a Jewish mother are themselves Jewish. The Torah does not explicitly discuss the conferring of Jewish status through matrilineality, and in apparent contrast to this position, the Tanakh provides many examples of Israelite men whose...
. The child of a Jewish mother is born Jewish; the child of a Jewish father is born Jewish if and only if the mother is Jewish. - Pidyon Ha-Bat, a proposed ceremony based on the biblical redemption of the eldest newborn son (Pidyon Ha-BenPidyon HaBenThe Pidyon HaBen, or Redemption of the first born son, is a mitzvah in Judaism whereby a Jewish firstborn son is redeemed by use of silver coins from his birth-state of sanctity....
). The CJLS has stated that this particular ceremony should not be performed. Other ceremonies, such as a Simchat BatZeved habatZeved habat , is a Jewish naming ceremony for newborn girls.-Ashkenazi custom:In the Ashkenazi community, namegiving ceremonies for newborn girls were not widespread and often limited to the father announcing the baby's name in the synagogue on the Shabbat, Monday, Thursday or other occasion when...
(welcoming a newborn daughter), should instead be used to mark the special status of a new born daughter. [CJLS teshuvah by Rabbi Gerald C. Skolnik, 1993]
The CJLS recently reaffirmed the obligation of Conservative women to observe niddah
Niddah
Niddah is a Hebrew term describing a woman during menstruation, or a woman who has menstruated and not yet completed the associated requirement of immersion in a mikveh ....
(sexual abstinence during and after menstruation) and mikvah
Mikvah
Mikveh is a bath used for the purpose of ritual immersion in Judaism...
(ritual immersion) following menstruation, although somewhat liberalizing certain details. Such practices, while requirements of Conservative Judaism, are not to be widely observed among Conservative laity.
Changes in the Conservative position
Prior to 1973, Conservative Judaism had more limited roles for women and was more similar to current Modern Orthodoxy, with changes on issues including mixed seating, synagogue corporate leadership, and permitting women to be called to the Torah. In 1973, the CJLS of the Rabbinical AssemblyRabbinical Assembly
The Rabbinical Assembly is the international association of Conservative rabbis. The RA was founded in 1901 to shape the ideology, programs, and practices of the Conservative movement. It publishes prayerbooks and books of Jewish interest, and oversees the work of the Committee on Jewish Law and...
voted, without issuing an opinion, that women could count in a minyan, although it continued to hold that women could not serve as rabbis or cantors. In 1983, the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
Jewish Theological Seminary of America
The Jewish Theological Seminary of America is one of the academic and spiritual centers of Conservative Judaism, and a major center for academic scholarship in Jewish studies.JTS operates five schools: Albert A...
(JTSA) faculty voted, also without accompanying opinion, to ordain women as rabbis and as cantors.
In 2002, the CJLS adapted a responsum by Rabbi David Fine, Women and the Minyan, which provides an official religious-law foundation for these actions and explains the current Conservative approach to the role of women in prayer.
In 2006, the CJLS adopted three responsa on the subject of niddah
Niddah
Niddah is a Hebrew term describing a woman during menstruation, or a woman who has menstruated and not yet completed the associated requirement of immersion in a mikveh ....
, which reaffirmed an obligation of Conservative women to abstain from sexual relations during and following menstruation
Menstruation
Menstruation is the shedding of the uterine lining . It occurs on a regular basis in sexually reproductive-age females of certain mammal species. This article focuses on human menstruation.-Overview:...
and to immerse in a mikvah
Mikvah
Mikveh is a bath used for the purpose of ritual immersion in Judaism...
prior to resumption, while liberalizing observance requirements including shortening the length of the niddah
Niddah
Niddah is a Hebrew term describing a woman during menstruation, or a woman who has menstruated and not yet completed the associated requirement of immersion in a mikveh ....
period, lifting restrictions on non-sexual contact during niddah, and reducing the circumstances under which spotting and similar conditions would mandate abstinence.
In all cases continuing the Orthodox approach was also upheld as an option. Individual Conservative rabbis and synagogues are not required to adopt any of these changes, and a small number have adopted none of them.
Conservative approaches to change
Prior to 1973, Conservative approaches to change were generally on an individual, case-by-case basis. Between 1973 and 2002, the Conservative movement adapted changes through its official organizations, but without issuing explanatory opinions. Since 2002, the Conservative movement has coalesced around a single across-the board approach to the role of women in Jewish law.In 1973, 1983, and 1993, individual rabbis and professors issued six major opinions which influenced change in the Conservative approach, the first and second Sigal, Blumenthal, Rabinowitz, and Roth
Joel Roth
Joel Roth is a prominent American rabbi in the Rabbinical Assembly, which is the rabbinical body of Conservative Judaism. He is a former member and chair of the assembly's Committee on Jewish Law and Standards which deals with questions of Jewish law and tradition, and serves as the Louis...
responsa, and the Hauptman
Judith Hauptman
Judith Rebecca Hauptman is a feminist Jewish Talmudic scholar. She grew up in the Brooklyn borough of New York City, New York, United States....
article. These opinions sought to provide for a wholesale shift in women's public roles through a single, comprehensive legal justification. Most such opinions based their positions on an argument that Jewish women always were, or have become, legally obligated to perform the same mitzvot as men and to do so in the same manner.
The first Sigal and the Blumenthal responsa were considered by the CJLS as part of its decision on prayer roles in 1973. They argued that women have always had the same obligations as men. The first Sigal responsum used the Talmud's general prayer obligation and examples of cases in which women were traditionally obligated to say specific prayers and inferred from them a public prayer obligation identical to that of men. The Blumenthal responsum extrapolated from a minority authority that a minyan could be formed with nine men and one woman in an emergency. The Committee on Jewish Law and Standards
Committee on Jewish Law and Standards
The Committee on Jewish Law and Standards is the central authority on halakha within Conservative Judaism; it is one of the most active and widely known committees on the Conservative movement's Rabbinical Assembly. Within the movement it is known as the CJLS...
(CJLS) declined to adopt either responsum. Rabbi Siegel reported to the Rabbinical Assembly
Rabbinical Assembly
The Rabbinical Assembly is the international association of Conservative rabbis. The RA was founded in 1901 to shape the ideology, programs, and practices of the Conservative movement. It publishes prayerbooks and books of Jewish interest, and oversees the work of the Committee on Jewish Law and...
membership that many on the CJLS, while agreeing with the result, found the arguments unconvincing.
The Rabinowitz, Roth
Joel Roth
Joel Roth is a prominent American rabbi in the Rabbinical Assembly, which is the rabbinical body of Conservative Judaism. He is a former member and chair of the assembly's Committee on Jewish Law and Standards which deals with questions of Jewish law and tradition, and serves as the Louis...
, and second Sigal responsa were considered by the JTSA faculty as part of its decision to ordain women as rabbis in 1983. The Rabbinowitz responsum sidestepped the issue of obligation, arguing that there is no longer a religious need for a community representative in prayer and hence there is no need to decide whether a woman can halakhically serve as one. The CJLS felt that an argument potentially undermining the value of community and clergy was unconvincing: "We should not be afraid to recognize that the function of clergy is to help our people connect with the holy." The Roth and second Sigal responsa accepted that time-bound mitzvot were traditionally optional for women, but argued that women in modern times could change their traditional roles. The Roth responsum argued that women could individually voluntarily assume the same obligations as men, and that women who do so (e.g. pray three times a day regularly) could count in a minyan and serve as agents. The JTSA accordingly required female rabbinical students wishing to train as rabbis to personally obligate themselves, but synagogue rabbis, unwilling to inquire into individual religiosity, found it impractical. The second Sigal responsum called for a takkanah, or rabbinical edict, "that would serve as a halakhic ERA," overruling all non-egalitarian provisions in law or, in the alternative, a new approach to halakhic interpretation independent of legal precedents. The CJLS, unwilling to use either an intrusive approach or a repudiation of the traditional legal process as bases for action, did not adopt either and let the JTS faculty vote stand unexplained.
In 1993, Professor Judith Hauptman
Judith Hauptman
Judith Rebecca Hauptman is a feminist Jewish Talmudic scholar. She grew up in the Brooklyn borough of New York City, New York, United States....
of JTS issued an influential paper http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0411/is_n1_v42/ai_13796427 arguing that women had historically always been obligated in prayer, using more detailed arguments than the Blumenthal and first Sigal responsa. The paper suggested that women who followed traditional practices were failing to meet their obligations. Rabbi Roth argued that Conservative Judaism should think twice before adopting a viewpoint labeling its most traditional and often most committed members as sinners. The issue was again dropped.
In 2002, the CJLS returned to the issue of justifying its actions regarding women's status, and adopted a single authoritative approach, the Fine responsum, as the definitive Conservative halakha
Halakha
Halakha — also transliterated Halocho , or Halacha — is the collective body of Jewish law, including biblical law and later talmudic and rabbinic law, as well as customs and traditions.Judaism classically draws no distinction in its laws between religious and ostensibly non-religious life; Jewish...
on role-of-women issues. This responsum holds that although Jewish women do not traditionally have the same obligations as men, Conservative women have, as a collective whole, voluntarily undertaken them. Because of this collective undertaking, the Fine responsum holds that Conservative women are eligible to serve as agents and decision-makers for others. The Responsum also held that traditionally-minded communities and individual women could opt out without being regarded by the Conservative movement as sinning. By adopting this Responsum, the CJLS found itself in a position to provide a considered Jewish-law justification for its egalitarian practices, without having to rely on potentially unconvincing arguments, undermine the religious importance of community and clergy, ask individual women intrusive questions, repudiate the halakhic tradition, or label women following traditional practices as sinners.
Reform Judaism
Reform JudaismReform Judaism
Reform Judaism refers to various beliefs, practices and organizations associated with the Reform Jewish movement in North America, the United Kingdom and elsewhere. In general, it maintains that Judaism and Jewish traditions should be modernized and should be compatible with participation in the...
believes in the equality of men and women. The Reform movement rejects the idea that halakha
Halakha
Halakha — also transliterated Halocho , or Halacha — is the collective body of Jewish law, including biblical law and later talmudic and rabbinic law, as well as customs and traditions.Judaism classically draws no distinction in its laws between religious and ostensibly non-religious life; Jewish...
(Jewish law) is the sole legitimate form of Jewish decision making, and holds that Jews can and must consider their conscience and ethical principles inherent in the Jewish tradition when deciding upon a right course of action. There is widespread consensus among Reform Jews that traditional distinctions between the role of men and women are antithetical to the deeper ethical principles of Judaism. This has enabled Reform communities to allow women to perform many rituals traditionally reserved for men, such as:
- Publicly reading the Torah (ba'al kriah)
- Being part of the minyan
- Being called for an aliyah to read the Torah
- Serving as a cantor (shalich tzibbur)
- Serving as rabbiRabbiIn Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
and halakhic decisor (posek) - Wearing a tallitTallitA tallit pl. tallitot is a Jewish prayer shawl. The tallit is worn over the outer clothes during the morning prayers on weekdays, Shabbat and holidays...
and tefillin
Concerns about intermarriage have also influenced the Reform Jewish position on gender. In 1983, the Central Conference of American Rabbis
Central Conference of American Rabbis
The Central Conference of American Rabbis , founded in 1889 by Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, is the principal organization of Reform rabbis in the United States and Canada, the CCAR is the largest and oldest rabbinical organization in the world....
passed a resolution waiving the need for formal conversion for anyone with at least one Jewish parent who has made affirmative acts of Jewish identity. This departed from the traditional position requiring formal conversion to Judaism
Conversion to Judaism
Conversion to Judaism is a formal act undertaken by a non-Jewish person who wishes to be recognised as a full member of the Jewish community. A Jewish conversion is both a religious act and an expression of association with the Jewish people...
for children without a Jewish mother.
The 1983 resolution of the American Reform movement has had a mixed reception in Reform Jewish communities outside of the United States. Most notably, the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism
Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism
The Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism is the organizational branch of Progressive Judaism in Israel. It currently has around 30 communities around the state of Israel including two kibbutzim, Yahel and Lotan, Israel....
has rejected patrilineal descent and requires formal conversion for anyone without a Jewish mother.
Reform approaches to change
Reform Judaism generally holds that the various differences between the roles of men and women in traditional Jewish law are not relevant to modern conditions and not applicable today. Accordingly, there has been no need to develop legal arguments analogous to those made within the Orthodox and Conservative movements.Reconstructionist Judaism
The equality of women is a central tenet and hallmark of Reconstructionist JudaismReconstructionist Judaism
Reconstructionist Judaism is a modern American-based Jewish movement based on the ideas of Mordecai Kaplan . The movement views Judaism as a progressively evolving civilization. It originated as a branch of Conservative Judaism, before it splintered...
. From the beginning, Reconstructionist Jewish ritual allowed men and women to pray together — a decision based on egalitarian philosophy. The halakhah had to be changed to rid Judaism of these inequities. It was on this basis that Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan
Mordecai Kaplan
Mordecai Menahem Kaplan , was a rabbi, essayist and Jewish educator and the co-founder of Reconstructionist Judaism along with his son-in-law Ira Eisenstein.-Life and work:...
called for the full equality of women, despite the obvious difficulties reconciling this stance with norms of traditional Jewish practice. The Reconstructionist Movement ordained women Rabbi from the start. In 1968, women were accepted into the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, under the leadership of Ira Eisenstein
Ira Eisenstein
Rabbi Ira Eisenstein founded Reconstructionist Judaism, along with Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan, his teacher and, later, father-in-law through his marriage to Judith Kaplan, over a period of time spanning from the late 1920s to the 1940s...
. The first ordained female Reconstructionist rabbi, Sandy Eisenberg Sasso
Sandy Eisenberg Sasso
Sandy Eisenberg Sasso is the first woman to have been ordained a rabbi in the Reconstructionist movement of Judaism. She was ordained by the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Philadelphia, on May 19, 1974. She is also an author of many children's book on religious topics.-Youth and Early...
, served as rabbi of the Manhattan Reconstructionist Congregation in 1976 and gained a pulpit in 1977 at Beth El Zedeck congregation in Indianapolis. Sandy Eisenberg Sasso was accepted without debate or subsequent controversy. In 2005, 24 out of the movement's 106 synagogues in the US had women as senior or assistant rabbis.
The Reconstructionist Community began including women in the minyan
Minyan
A minyan in Judaism refers to the quorum of ten Jewish adults required for certain religious obligations. According to many non-Orthodox streams of Judaism adult females count in the minyan....
and allowing them to come up to the Torah
Torah
Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five books of the bible—Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers and Deuteronomy Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five...
for aliyot
Aliyah (Torah)
An aliyah is the calling of a member of a Jewish congregation to the bimah for a segment of reading from the Torah. The person who receives the aliyah goes up to the bimah before the reading and recites a blessing. After the reading, the recipient then recites another concluding blessing...
. They also continued the practice of bat mitzvah. But other changes in the role of women, such as serving as witnesses, leading services, public Torah reading, and wearing ritual prayer garments like kippot and tallitot. Reconstructionist women rabbis have been instrumental in the creation of rituals, stories, music, that have begun to give women's experience a voice in Judaism. Most of the focus has been on rituals for life-cycle events. New ceremonies have been created for births, weddings, divorces, conversions, weaning, and the onset of menarche and menopause. The Recontructionist movement as a whole has been committed to creating liturgy that is in consonance with equality ideas and practices and that reflects a new role for women's celebration. Another major step: The Federation of Reconstructionist Congregations has also developed educational programs that lead toward the full acceptance of lesbians, as well as rituals that affirm lesbian relationships. In Canada, the reconstructionist Rabbis does officiate at same-sex wedding.
The reconstructionist Judaism will a big importance for the community implication of her members.
Several members of the Reconstructionist community have focused on issues like domestic violence. Others have devoted energy to helping women gain the right of divorce in traditional communities. Many have spoken out for the right of Jewish women to pray aloud and read from the Torah at the Western Wall
Western Wall
The Western Wall, Wailing Wall or Kotel is located in the Old City of Jerusalem at the foot of the western side of the Temple Mount...
in Jerusalem, the Women of the Wall
Women Of The Wall
Women of the Wall is an organization based in Israel, whose goal is to secure women's right to hold and read the Torah and to wear religious garments at the Western Wall. They have organized a series of Women's prayer groups at the Kotel each month on Rosh Hodesh...
group.
When the roles of women in religion change, there may also be changed roles for men. With their advocacy of patrilineal descent in the 1970s, the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association supported the principle that a man who takes responsibility for raising a Jewish child can pass Judaism on to the next generation as well as a woman. The children who receive a Jewish education are allowed whatever is the sex of their Jewish parent.
See also
- Jewish feminismJewish feminismJewish feminism is a movement that seeks to improve the religious, legal, and social status of women within Judaism and to open up new opportunities for religious experience and leadership for Jewish women...
- Women as theological figuresWomen as theological figuresWomen as theological figures have played a significant role in the development of various religions and religious hierarchies.-Bahá'í Faith:In Bahá'i writings, the Holy Spirit is often described as the "Maid of Heaven"....
- Women as rabbis
- RebbetzinRebbetzinRebbitzin or Rabbanit is the title used for the wife of a rabbi, typically from the Orthodox, or Haredi, and Hasidic Jewish groups...
(rabbi's wife) - List of women in the Bible
- Beis Yaakov (schools for Haredi girls)
- NiddahNiddahNiddah is a Hebrew term describing a woman during menstruation, or a woman who has menstruated and not yet completed the associated requirement of immersion in a mikveh ....
(menstruation laws) - Soferet
- Gender and JudaismGender and JudaismGender and Judaism is an emerging subfield at the intersection of gender studies and Jewish studies. Gender studies centers on interdisciplinary research on the phenomenon of gender. It focuses on cultural representations of gender and people's lived experience...
- Tzeniut (modest behavior)
- NegiahNegiahNegiah , literally "touch," is the concept in Halakha that forbids or restricts physical contact with a member of the opposite sex...
(guidelines for physical contact) - YichudYichudThe prohibition of yichud , in Halakha is the impermissibility of seclusion of a man and a woman who are not married to each other in a private area. Such seclusion is prohibited in order to prevent the two from being tempted or having the opportunity to commit adulterous or promiscuous acts.The...
(prohibitions of secluding oneself with a stranger) - Jewish view of marriageJewish view of marriageIn Judaism, marriage is viewed as a contractual bond commanded by God in which a man and a woman come together to create a relationship in which God is directly involved. Though procreation is not the sole purpose, a Jewish marriage is also expected to fulfill the commandment to have children. The...
- ShidduchShidduchThe Shidduch is a system of matchmaking in which Jewish singles are introduced to one another in Orthodox Jewish communities for the purpose of marriage....
(finding a marriage partner) - Shalom bayitShalom bayitShalom bayit is the Jewish religious concept of domestic harmony and good relations between husband and wife. In a Jewish court of law, shalom bayit is the Hebrew term for marital reconciliation...
(peace and harmony in the relationship between husband and wife)
- Shidduch
- MinyanMinyanA minyan in Judaism refers to the quorum of ten Jewish adults required for certain religious obligations. According to many non-Orthodox streams of Judaism adult females count in the minyan....
External links
General- Rachael's Centre for Torah, Musar & Ethics An online learning community dedicated to Pluralistic Jewish learning through a female lens
- Sources on Halakha and the role of women in Hebrew and English by Bar Ilan University Professor Meir Kalech
- Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance JOFA
- Sources on Halakha and the role of women in Hebrew and English by Bar Ilan University Professor Meir Kalech
- Jewish Coalition Against Domestic Abuse
- Na'amat Canada
- Adolescents Working for Awesome Relationship Experiences AWARE
Publications
- Lilith Magazine a Jewish feminist journal
- Women in Judaism on online peer-reviewed journal covering women in Judaism, with a special emphasis on history, but also including book reviews and fiction.
- Newsletter on Women in the Jewish professional world at the Berman Jewish Policy Archive @ NYU Wagner
Particular issues
- Spots of Light: Women in the Holocaust an online exhibition by Yad VashemYad VashemYad Vashem is Israel's official memorial to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust, established in 1953 through the Yad Vashem Law passed by the Knesset, Israel's parliament....
- The Kiddushin Variations A Directory of Halakhic Possibilities For A More Egalitarian Kiddushin Ritual.
- History of Women as Rabbis from the Jewish Virtual Library
- "Sense and Sensibilities: Women and Torah Study", Bryna Levy, Jewish ActionJewish ActionJewish Action is an American Orthodox Jewish magazine published by the Orthodox Union.The magazine generally presents a Modern Orthodox viewpoint, and covers "topics of interest to an international Orthodox Jewish audience.....
, Winter 1998, 59 (2)., Shapiro, Mendel. Edah 1:2, 2001, Sperber, Daniel. Edah 3:2, 2002 - "Women and Prayer: An Attempt to Dispel Some Fallacies", Judith Hauptman, Judaism 42 (1993): 94-103., Fine, David. Committee on Jewish Law and Standards of the Rabbinical Assembly (Conservative), 2002, Jewish ActionJewish ActionJewish Action is an American Orthodox Jewish magazine published by the Orthodox Union.The magazine generally presents a Modern Orthodox viewpoint, and covers "topics of interest to an international Orthodox Jewish audience.....
, Winter 2004. - "Women and Minyan", Tradition, 1988. Summary of Orthodox arguments regarding women counting in minyan for certain purposes
- "Women's Prayer Services Theory and Practice", TraditionTradition (journal)Tradition: A Journal of Orthodox Jewish Thought is a quarterly Orthodox academic journal published by the Rabbinical Council of America in association with Yeshiva University in New York City...
, 1998. Summary of Orthodox arguments for and against women's prayer groups - Elissa Strauss, Women Who Write Torah, A New Generation of Female Scribes Makes History. http://forward.com/articles/133017/ , The Jewish Daily Forward, November 19, 2010.
- (French) Harvey, Claire. Femmes et judaïsme - Des femmes veulent changer la loi juive concernant le divorce, http://www.ledevoir.com/societe/actualites-en-societe/287572/femmes-et-judaisme-des-femmes-veulent-changer-la-loi-juive-concernant-le-divorce , Le Devoir, 24 april 2010.
- Mordecai Kaplan .2005.http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/kaplan-mordecai ,Jewish Women's Archive, 2005
- Luo,Michael, An Orthodox Jewish Woman, and Soon, a Spiritual Leader , http://www.hods.org/pdf/press/An%20Orthodox%20Jewish%20Woman,%20and%20Soon,%20a%20Spiritual%20Leader.htm , New York Times, August 21, 2006.
- Reconstructionist Judaism in the United States. http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/reconstructionist-judaism-in-united-states , Jewish Women's archive, 2005
- Who is a Reconstructionist Jew?. http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/reconstruction.html , Jewish Virtuel Library, 2001.
Orthodox Judaism and women
- On Women and Judaism: A View from Tradition Blu GreenbergBlu GreenbergBlu Greenberg is an American writer specializing in Modern Judaism and women's issues. She is the author of On Women and Judaism: A View from Tradition and Black Bread: Poems, After the Holocaust ....
, Jewish Publication Society - Orthodoxy Responds to Feminist Ferment, Berman, Saul J.Saul BermanSaul J. Berman is a prominent American scholar and leading Modern Orthodox rabbi.As a rabbi, scholar, and educator he has made extensive contributions to the intensification of Jewish education for Jewish women on many levels, to the role of social ethics in synagogue life, and to the...
Response, 40, 1981, 5:17. - Gender, Halakhaha and Women's Suffrage: Responsa of the First Three Chief Rabbis on the Public Role of Women in the Jewish State, Ellenson, David Harry. In: Gender Issues in Jewish Law (58-81) 2001.
- Can the Demand for Change In the Status of Women Be Halakhically Legitimated? Tamar RossTamar RossTamar Ross is a professor of Jewish Philosophy at Bar Ilan University.She has scholarly expertise in the thought of Abraham Isaac Kook, the modern Musar movement and the ideology of Mitnaggedism, and Judaism and gender...
, Judaism, 42:4, 1993, 478-491. - Feminism - A Force That Will Split Orthodoxy?, Reisman, Levi M. The Jewish Observer, 31:5, 1998, 37-47
- Halakha and its Relationship to Human and Social Reality, Case Study: Women's Roles in the Modern Period, Ross, TamarRossRoss is a region of Scotland and a former mormaerdom, earldom, sheriffdom and county. The name Ross allegedly derives from a Gaelic word meaning a headland - perhaps a reference to the Black Isle. The Norse word for Orkney - Hrossay meaning horse island - is another possible origin. The area...
- In Case There Tamar Are No Sinful Thoughts: The Role and Status of Women in Jewish Law As Expressed in the Aruch Hashulhan, Fishbane, Simcha. Judaism, 42:4, 1993, 492-503.
- Human Rights, Jewish Women and Jewish Law, Shenhav, Sharon. Justice, 21, 1999, 28-31.
- On Egalitarianism & Halakha, Stern, Marc D. Tradition, 36:2, 2002, 1-30.
- Women, Jewish Law and Modernity, Wolowelsky, Joel B. Ktav. 1997.
- Expanding the Palace of Torah: Orthodoxy and Feminism, Ross, TamarTamar RossTamar Ross is a professor of Jewish Philosophy at Bar Ilan University.She has scholarly expertise in the thought of Abraham Isaac Kook, the modern Musar movement and the ideology of Mitnaggedism, and Judaism and gender...
. Brandeis University Press, 2004. ISBN 1-58465-390-6 - Women at Prayer: A Halakhic Analysis of Women's Prayer Groups, Weiss, AviAvi WeissAvraham Weiss is an American Modern Orthodox rabbi who heads the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale in The Bronx, New York. He is an author, teacher, lecturer, and activist...
, Ktav publishers, January 2003 ISBN 0-88125-719-2 - Feminism Encounters Traditional Judaism: Resistance and Accommodation. Hartman, TovaTova HartmanTova Hartman is a Professor of Gender Studies and Education at Bar Ilan University of Ramat Gan, specializing in gender and religion, and gender and psychology...
, Brandeis University Press, 2007. ISBN 1-58465-658-1.