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!

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!

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.

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

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.