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

• 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

Foreword by Anita Diamant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi

Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xix

Part I Women and Theology 1
Calling All Theologians
JUDITH PLASKOW, PhD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Major Trends in Jewish Feminist Theology
The Work of Rachel Adler, Judith Plaskow, and Rebecca Alpert
RABBI DONNA BERMAN, PhD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

To Her We Shall Return
Jews Turning to the Goddess, the Goddess Turning to Jews
RABBI JILL HAMMER, PhD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 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, PhD, 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, PhD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 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, PhD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 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, PhD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 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, PhD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206

Masorti (Conservative Israeli) Women
RABBI EINAT RAMON, PhD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218

The First Decade of the Orthodox Women’s Revolution in Israel
The Case of Kolech
MARGALIT SHILO, PhD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227

Part V Gender, Sexuality, and Age 239
Jewish Feminism, Sexuality, and a Sexual Justice Agenda
MARLA BRETTSCHNEIDER, PhD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 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, EdD, 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, PhD. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 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, PhD. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312

Feminism and Jewish Law in Conservative Judaism
RABBI GAIL LABOVITZ, PhD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 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

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

• 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