Cuprins
Foreword by Anita Diamant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xix
Part I Women and Theology 1
Calling All Theologians
JUDITH PLASKOW, Ph D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Major Trends in Jewish Feminist Theology
The Work of Rachel Adler, Judith Plaskow, and Rebecca Alpert
RABBI DONNA BERMAN, Ph D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
To Her We Shall Return
Jews Turning to the Goddess, the Goddess Turning to Jews
RABBI JILL HAMMER, Ph D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Metaphors of God
RABBI KARYN D. KEDAR. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Creation Theology
Theology for the Rest of Us
ELLEN BERNSTEIN. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Part II Women, Ritual, and Torah 55
The Hermeneutics of Curiosity
On Reclamation
RABBI DANYA RUTTENBERG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
The Politics and Aesthetics of Jewish Women’s Spirituality
LORI HOPE LEFKOVITZ, Ph D, AND RABBI RONA SHAPIRO. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
The Pink Tallit
Women’s Rituals as Imitative or Inventive?
RABBI ELYSE GOLDSTEIN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
From Ancient Times to Modern Meaning
Jewish Women Claim Their Ritual Power
RABBI GEELA RAYZEL RAPHAEL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Torah Study ‘For Women’
WENDY ZIERLER, Ph D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Transforming Our Stories through Midrash
RABBI TIRZAH FIRESTONE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Part III Women and the Synagogue 121
From the Personal to the Communal
How Women Have Changed the Rabbinate
RABBI JACQUELINE KOCH ELLENSON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
The Ascent of the Woman Cantor
Shira Hamaalot
CANTOR BARBARA OSTFELD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Orthodox Women in Rabbinic Roles
SARA HURWITZ, MADRICHA RUCHANIT (RELIGIOUS MENTOR) . . . . . . . . . 144
Feminism and the Transformation of the Synagogue
RABBI SUE LEVI ELWELL, Ph D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Where Are the Jewish Men?
The Absence of Men from Liberal Synagogue Life
RABBI JOSEPH B. MESZLER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Pacing Change
The Impact of Feminism on Conservative Synagogues
ANNE LAPIDUS LERNER, Ph D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Women in the Conservative Synagogue
RABBI IRIT PRINTZ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
part iv Women in Israel 195
A Thirty-Year Perspective on Women and Israeli Feminism
RABBI NAAMAH KELMAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
Gender in Israeli Liberal Liturgy
RABBI DALIA MARX, Ph D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
Masorti (Conservative Israeli) Women
RABBI EINAT RAMON, Ph D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
The First Decade of the Orthodox Women’s Revolution in Israel
The Case of Kolech
MARGALIT SHILO, Ph D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
Part V Gender, Sexuality, and Age 239
Jewish Feminism, Sexuality, and a Sexual Justice Agenda
MARLA BRETTSCHNEIDER, Ph D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
If the Shoe Doesn’t Fit, Examine the Soul
Jewish Feminism and Gender Expression
RABBI JANE RACHEL LITMAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
Koach Banot (Girl Power)
Talking Feminism with Jewish Teen Girls
BETH COOPER BENJAMIN, Ed D, AND JODIE GORDON. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258
Portrait of the Writer as a Young Feminist
RAHEL LERNER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
The Pink Ghetto
RUTH ANDREW ELLENSON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
Part VI Women and the Denominations 283
Orthodoxy and Feminism
IDANA GOLDBERG, Ph D. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287
The Changing Status of Women in Liberal Judaism
A Reflective Critique
RABBI RACHEL SABATH BEIT-HALACHMI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297
Feminism and Halakhah
The Jew Who (Still) Isn’t There
RABBI HAVIVA NER-DAVID, Ph D. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312
Feminism and Jewish Law in Conservative Judaism
RABBI GAIL LABOVITZ, Ph D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323
Women and the Reconstructionist Movement
RABBI BARBARA PENZNER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334
Part VII Leadership and Social Justice 345
Jewish Women’s Leadership for the Twenty-first Century
SHIFRA BRONZNICK. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347
Bread, Roses, and Chutzpah
Jewish Women in American Social Movements
RABBI JILL JACOBS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356
Women’s Right to a World Free of Violence
RABBI LYNN GOTTLIEB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369
Servants before the King
Raising Up the Healer to Leadership
RABBI VALERIE JOSEPH AND RABBI ALANA SUSKIN. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382
Post-Triumphalism and the New Haskalah
ROSIE ROSENZWEIG. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397
Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404
Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427
Suggestions for Further Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 432
