15 Responses to “Jewish Feminism Query”

1. Reb Writes:
   March 26th, 2007 at 10:54 am

   For the last few years, my family has placed an orange on the Passover sedar plate, which is based on a story that a female rabbi was told that a woman belongs on the bimah like an orange belongs on a sedar plate–thus people began putting them there as gestures of feminism at the holiday. But when I googled it to see if I could find any good links, I found that the story is actually false, and the orange was intended as a symbol of acceptance of gays and lesbians, which I still think is pretty cool. Anyway, a short information page that might be a jumping off point: http://www.myjewishlearning.com/holidays/Passover/TO_Pesach_Seder/Arrangement_214/Orange.htm

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2. EJ Writes:
   March 26th, 2007 at 11:07 am

   One resource to check out is definitely the Jewish Women’s Archive, which has a lot of information about Jewish Women generally, and a very cool web exhibit on their website about Jewish women and second wave feminism. Also, JOFA (Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance) would probably be a great resource- Blu Greenberg is a very cool lady who is their founding president and does a lot to bring feminist ideals into the Jewish Orthodox community. I bet that if you e-mail the folks at JWA, they can send you a lot more info- they are very very knowledgable. Good luck to your student!

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3. debbie Writes:
   March 26th, 2007 at 11:44 am

   I have a bunch of different suggestions, so I’ll divide them by category. (Keep in mind that I haven’t read many of them, but they are generally well regarded)

   General resources about Judaism and feminism:
   Lilith magazine
   Jewish Women Watching
   Deborah, Golda, and Me by Letty Pogrebin
   Standin
   A Breath of Life: Feminism in the American Jewish Community ed. Sylvia Barak Fishman
   Jewish Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia
   Standing Again at Sinai: Judaism From a Feminist Perspective by Judith Plaskow
   American Jewish Women’s History: A Reader ed. Pamela Susan Nadell

   Feminism and Orthodox Judaism
   Expanding the Palace of the Torah: Orthodoxy and Feminism by Tamar Ross
   On Women and Judaism: A View from Tradition by Blu Greenberg
   Life on the Fringes: A Feminist Journey Towards Traditional Rabbinic Ordination by Haviva Ner-David

   Some specific ideas for research:
   - Orthodykes (Orthodox Jewish lesbian women, seen briefly in the documentary Trembling Before G-d, and I believe there some groups)
   - Orthodox women organizing around domestic violence.
   This is a huge issue in Toronto (the only community I know anything about). It’s complicated by the fact that Orthodox communities tend to be very close-knit, reputation matters a lot, divorce is pretty rare and discouraged, women may not know that there are social services available to help them if they want to leave. This is compounded by shelters that may not accomodate Orthodox women and children’s dietary needs. In Toronto, Jewish feminists and organizations have developed a network of safe houses for Orthodox women fleeing domestic violence, as well as services that will deliver kosher meals to shelters.

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4. David Schraub Writes:
   March 26th, 2007 at 11:57 am

   I’m pretty sure Judith Butler is writing a book on this topic. I don’t think its out yet, but she may have published some preliminary articles floating around.

   There is some excellent stuff in Louis E. Newman (my Judaic Studies prof) and Elliot Dorff’s anthology Contemporary Jewish Theology: A Reader (New York: Oxford UP 1999). Most on point are probably:

   Marcia Falk, “Toward a Feminist Jewish Reconstruction of Monotheism” and “Further Thoughts on Liturgy as an Expression of Theology” pp. 131-140

   Ellen M. Umansky, “Jewish Feminist Theology” pp. 141-47

   Judith Plaskow, Standing Again At Sinai (New York: Harper & Row 1990), excerpted at pp. 255-62

   Rachel Adler, Engendering Judaism: An Inclusive Theology and Ethics,” (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1998) excerpted at pp.319-344

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5. Jess Writes:
   March 26th, 2007 at 12:40 pm

   I’m actually writing a feature about feminism in Israel among Orthadox women at the moment. I have loads of information I’d be able to share, so feel free to pass on my email address to the student.

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6. V Writes:
   March 26th, 2007 at 1:20 pm

   Susannah Heschel (daughter of Abraham Joshua Heschel) is the one author/scholar of note that I haven’t seen yet mentioned…

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7. Sara no H. Writes:
   March 26th, 2007 at 2:37 pm

   You may want to show her Congregation Sha’ar Zahav — it has a female rabbi and their home page declares them to be
   

   lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and heterosexual Jews, together with family and friends, both Jewish and non-Jewish. We come from a wide range of religious, ethnic, class and cultural backgrounds to worship God with egalitarian, feminist and gay-positive Jewish liturgy.

   which sounds pretty helpful.

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8. Rachel S. Writes:
   March 26th, 2007 at 3:26 pm

   Thanks folks. Please keep them coming.

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9. helenesch Writes:
   March 26th, 2007 at 7:24 pm

   I just read a book over the summer that was fascinating: Mystics, Mavericks, and Merrymakers: An Intimate Journey among Hasidic Girls by Stephanie Wellen Levine . It shows how the lives of the young women in a specific Hasidic community in New York are actually pretty complex–they do have certian forms of agency within otherwise very restricted social conditions. It’s not really about “Jewish Feminism” per se, but the author (who goes and lives as a “participant observer” in the community, but is not herself Hasidic) is clearly a feminist and is interested in the various ways that the women both rebel and find sources of female solidarity within this community.

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10. AlieraKieron Writes:
    March 26th, 2007 at 9:02 pm

    “On being a jewish feminist”, edited by Susannah Heschel. It may be a bit out of date, since it was for a class I took in 1998. But it’s available on Amazon for all of three dollars:
    http://www.amazon.com/Being-Jewish-Feminist-Susannah-Heschel/dp/0805210369

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11. Crys T Writes:
    March 27th, 2007 at 2:30 am

    Try Googling “Loolwa Khazzoom” I don’t know how many of her feminist articles are still up on her websites, but she did have some pretty good ones a few years back. Or your student might even try e-mailing her: I believe her address is on her current site (though I haven’t visited it for some time). I don’t think Loolwa is Conservative or Orthodox herself (though I could be very wrong), but she’d probably be able to make suggestions.

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12. Crys T Writes:
    March 27th, 2007 at 2:32 am

    PS to my previous post: I forgot to add that Loolwa’s stuff is also good because, being Mizrahi, she also gives a different perspective to the one that’s dominant in the English-speaking world.

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13. Eva Writes:
    March 27th, 2007 at 7:25 am

    Melanie Kaye/Kantrowitz and Irena Klepfisz are co-editors of “Tribe of Dina, A Jewish Women’s Anthology”, published in 1986 and revised in 1989.

    Both of the author/editors are Jewish feminists, who continue to write and teach today.

    Melanie, who writes and teaches about Jewish feminism and anti-racism, has a book coming out in a few months “The Colors of Jews, Racial Politics and Radical Diasporism”, which looks really interesting.

    Irena is a poet who writes about the Jewish feminist class issues, among many other topics. Irena was born in Warsaw, Poland in 1941, and immigrated to the US with her mother in the 1950’s.

    Don’t know much about conservative or orthodox feminist struggles, but glad to know there are resources available! Best of luck in this student’s efforts!

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14. Tara Writes:
    March 27th, 2007 at 1:29 pm

    There’s a ton of work in Jewish feminism, she shouldn’t have any problems finding sources! Some names I haven’t seen mentioned yet:

    People:
    Rachel Biale
    Judith Hauptmann
    Norma Joseph
    Blu Greenberg

    Groups:
    Women of the Wall
    Drisha Institute

    She can be in for a penny or in for a pound. It sounds like a fun project!

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15. Rachel S. Writes:
    March 29th, 2007 at 6:28 am

    Thanks folks.

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