Contains 53 seasonal topics--eggs, the sea, squirrels, snow, and others--with ideas for display. Also includes suggestions for observation, discussion, science, language work, art and craft, stories, poems and music.
Fully acknowledging that Judaism, as described in both the Bible and the Talmud, was patriarchal, Judith Hauptman demonstrates that the rabbis of the Talmud made significant changes in key areas of Jewish law in order to benefit women. Reading the texts with feminist sensibilities, recognizing that they were written by men and for men and that the
In this unique volume Judith Abrams, author of the highly regarded series The Talmud for Beginners, examines the episodes recorded in rabbinic literature that suggest the actions of the women of those times.
Exploring the place of women in the socioeconomic system formulated in the Mishnah, a book of legal rules with a spiritual basis compiled by Jewish sages in second-century Palestine, this study reveals a fundamental ambiguity in the role of women. Both the property and the peers of men, in some circumstances women were considered to possess no powers, rights, or duties in law, and in others were judged morally, practically, and intellectually fit to own property, conduct business, engage in lawsuits, and manage their own personal affairs. Wegner spells out in detail these variations in status, analyzes them, and isolates the factors that account for differential treatment of different classes of women in the private domain and for differential treatment of men and women in the public domain of mishnaic culture, relating her findings to recent developments in feminist analyses of the status of women in patriarchy.
In the Image of God: A Feminist Commentary on the Torah is a unique blend of traditional Judaism and radical feminism and is a groundbreaking commentary on the Bible, the central document of Jewish life. Using classical Jewish sources as well as supplementary material from history, anthropology, sociology, psychology, ancient religion, and feminist theory, Judith Antonelli has examined in detail every woman and every issue pertaining to women in the Torah, parshah by parshah. The Torah is divided into fifty-four portions; each portion, or parshah, is read in the synagogue on the Sabbath (combining a few to make a yearly cycle of readings). This book is modeled on that structure; hence there are fifty chapters, each of which corresponds to a parshah. One may, therefore, read this book from beginning to end or use it as a study guide for the parshah of the week. The reader will discover in these pages that the Torah is not the root of misogyny, sexism, or male supremacy. Rather, by looking at the Torah in the context in which it was given, the pagan world of the ancient Near East, it becomes clear that far from oppressing women, the Torah actually improved the status of women as it existed in the surrounding societies. Not only does this book refute the common feminist stereotype that Judaism is a "patriarchal religion" but it also refutes the sexism found in Judaism by exposing it as sociological rather than "divine law.
Contains 53 seasonal topics--eggs, the sea, squirrels, snow, and others--with ideas for display. Also includes suggestions for observation, discussion, science, language work, art and craft, stories, poems and music.
ABOUT THE BOOK Côte d’Ivoire in West Africa was an eye-opener for Jacqueline Novegratz, a young and idealistic American banker. Although only in her mid-20s when she arrived in Abidjan, the capital, in the 1980s, she had already had a successful career in international banking and was equipped with enthusiasm and a dream to change the world, but a certain naivete as well. Her mission was to use her expertise to help woman in Côte d’Ivoire become self-sufficient, but she soon discovered that she was unwelcome, and recognized that she would never be effective there. She knew that it was time to move on, but she’d learned an important lesson—to help people, you must have their willing participation. She also learned the importance of listening to people if one is to really understand what they are trying to say. The Blue Sweater is as much about learning as it is about Novogratz’s experiences. Early in her book, she writes about a favorite blue sweater that she gave to Goodwill after an embarrassing episode in high school (Acumen Fund: Jacqueline Shares her Blue Sweater Story). Years later, she spots a boy in Rwanda wearing her sweater with her name tag still inside, and so the sweater becomes her metaphor for bridging the gap between cultures and economic classes around the globe, many of which she has seen firsthand. EXCERPT FROM THE BOOK Among the successes was the Blue Bakery, which began as the project of a women’s group in Nyamirambo, a poor area of Kigali. When Novogratz first visited, two years after the founding of Duterimbere, she found 20 women in a small room, sitting in front of a counter with empty shelves behind it, waiting for business that never came. It had charitable support, but Novogratz convinced the women to drop the charity, with the promise that she would help them turn it into a profitable business. “I wanted to see for myself what it would take to make a business work in Rwanda,” she says. Once again, Novogratz had more to learn—this time about cultural differences, such as the women’s inability to look people in the eye or speak to strangers—but over time, the little bakery expanded and flourished. “The story of the bakery was one of the human transformation that comes with being seen, being held accountable, succeeding,” Novogratz observes. Despite the successes, Novogratz eventually decided that to be more effective she needed to learn about business systems so that she could apply them to her work, and so she applied to business schools in the United States. She was accepted at the Stanford Graduate School of Business at Stanford University in Palo Alto, CA, where she earned an MBA.... Buy a copy to keep reading!
While most gender-based analyses of rabbinic Judaism concentrate on the status of women in the halakhah (the rabbinic legal tradition), Judith R. Baskin turns her attention to the construction of women in the aggadic midrash, a collection of expansions of the biblical text, rabbinic ruminations, and homiletical discourses that constitutes the non-legal component of rabbinic literature. Examining rabbinic convictions of female alterity, competing narratives of creation, and justifications of female disadvantages, as well as aggadic understandings of the ideal wife, the dilemma of infertility, and women among women and as individuals, she shows that rabbinic Judaism, a tradition formed by men for a male community, deeply valued the essential contributions of wives and mothers while also consciously constructing women as other and lesser than men. Recent feminist scholarship has illuminated many aspects of the significance of gender in biblical and halakhic texts but there has been little previous study of how aggadic literature portrays females and the feminine. Such representations, Baskin argues, often offer a more nuanced and complex view of women and their actual lives than the rigorous proscriptions of legal discourse.
Judith Plaskow, Professor of Religious Studies Emerita at Manhattan College, is a leading Jewish feminist theologian. Plaskow's feminist reading of traditional sources is a critical reading of Judaism that calls Jews to end oppression, exclusion, and marginalization of individuals and groups.
Women rabbis are changing the face of Judaism. Discover how their interpretations of the Prophets, Writings, and Megillot can enrich your perspective. The Haftarah is a potent tool for understanding the values, ethics, and moral lessons contained in the Torah readings. In this first-of-its-kind volume, more than eighty women rabbis from the Reform, Conservative, and Reconstructionist movements offer fresh perspectives on the beloved texts that make up the Haftarah—the Prophets and Writings—and the Five Megillot. Based on readings that are rich in imagery—some poetic, some narrative, some dark and brooding—their commentaries include surprising insights on the stories of Deborah and Yael, David and Goliath, David and Bathsheva, and the witch of Endor, among many others. Themes such as Jerusalem as woman, the story of Jonah and the fish, and other prophetic images are informed and challenged by this groundbreaking work. A rich resource, a major contribution to modern biblical commentary, and the ideal companion to The Women’s Torah Commentary, The Women’s Haftarah Commentary will inspire all of us to gain deeper meaning from the Hebrew scriptures and a heightened appreciation of Judaism.
This first collection of Judith Plaskow's essays and short writings traces her scholarly and personal journey from her early days as a graduate student through her pioneering contributions to both feminist theology and Jewish feminism to her recent work in sexual ethics. Accessibly organized into four sections, the collection begins with several of Plaskow's foundational essays on feminist theology, including one previously unavailable in English. Section II addresses her nuanced understanding of oppression and includes her important work on anti-Judaism in Christian feminism. Section III contains a variety of short and highly readable pieces that make clear Plaskow's central role in the creation of Jewish feminism, including the essential "Beyond Egalitarianism." Finally, section IV presents her writings on the significance of sexual ethics to the larger project of transforming Judaism. Intelligently edited with the help of Rabbi Donna Berman, and including pieces never before published, The Coming of Lilith is indispensable for religious studies students, fans of Plaskow's work, and those pursuing a Jewish education.
A feminist critique of Judaism as a patriarchal tradition and an exploration of the increasing involvement of women in naming and shaping Jewish tradition.
Jewish Feminism: What Have We Accomplished? What Is Still to Be Done? “When you are in the middle of the revolution you can’t really plan the next steps ahead. But now we can. The book is intended to open up a dialogue between the early Jewish feminist pioneers and the young women shaping Judaism today.... Read it, use it, debate it, ponder it.” —from the Introduction This empowering anthology looks at the growth and accomplishments of Jewish feminism and what that means for Jewish women today and tomorrow. It features the voices of women from every area of Jewish life—the Reform, Reconstructionist, Conservative, Orthodox and Jewish Renewal movements; rabbis, congregational leaders, artists, writers, community service professionals, academics, and chaplains, from the United States, Canada, and Israel—addressing the important issues that concern Jewish women: Women and Theology Women, Ritual and Torah Women and the Synagogue Women in Israel Gender, Sexuality and Age Women and the Denominations Leadership and Social Justice
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