Women in Judaism Bibliography

I recently submitted a course syllabus for a Women in Judaism half-class. Several people (via twitter) have asked me to share the bibliography. Please note that this is not a comprehensive bibliography, but one designed to reflected my selected readings.

Bibliography

Aranoff, Susan. "Freeing Agunot: The Rabbi Emanuel Rackman Beit Din." JOFA Journal 4 (2005): 15, 19-20.

Baskin, Judith R. ed. Jewish Women in Historical Perspective. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1998.

Chesler, Phyllis and Rivka Haut, eds. Women of the wall : claiming sacred ground at Judaism’s holy site. Woodstock, Vt.: Jewish Lights, 2003.

Fishbane, Michael. Judaism: Revelation and Tradition. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1987.

Fonrobert, Charlotte. “Yalta’s Ruse: Resistance against Rabbinic Menstrual Authority in Talmudic Literature.” Pages 60-81 in Women and Water: Menstruation in Jewish Life and Law. Edited by R. R. Wasserfall. Hanover, NH: Brandeis University Press, 1999.

Greenberg, Blu. How to Run a Traditional Jewish Household. Northvale, NJ: J. Aronson, 1989.

Grossman, Susan and Rivka Haut, eds. Daughters of the King: Women and synagogue: a survey of history, halakhah and contemporary realities. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1992.

Hacohen, Aviad. Tears of the Oppressed: an examination of the agunah problem: background and halakhic sources. Jersey City, NJ: Ktav Publishing House, 2004.

Hartman, Tova. Feminism Encounters Traditional Judaism. Waltham, MA: Brandeis University Press, 2007.

Ilan, Tal, ed. A feminist commentary on the Babylonian Talmud : Introduction and studies. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2007.

Manolson, Gila. Outside Inside: A Fresh Look at Tzniut. Nanuet, NY: Feldheim, 1997.

Niditch, Susan. “Portrayals of Women in the Hebrew Bible.” Pages 25-45 in Jewish Women in Historical Perspective. Edited by J. R. Baskin. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1998.

Peskowitz, Miriam and Laura Levitt, eds. Judaism since gender. New York: Routledge, 1997.

Ross, Tamar. Expanding the palace of Torah: Orthodoxy and Feminism. Waltham, MA: Brandeis University Press, 2004.

Schreiber, Lynne, ed. Hide and Seek: Jewish Women and hair covering. Jerusalem: Urim Publications, 2003.

Solomon, Norman. Judaism: A Very Short Introduction. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.

Wasserfall, Rahel R., ed. Women and Water: Menstruation in Jewish Life and Law. Hanover, NH: Brandeis University Press, 1999.

Wolowelsky, Joel. Women, Jewish Law and Modernity: New Opportunities in a post-feminist age. Jersey City, NJ: Ktav Publishing House, 1997.

Websites:

Deborah Weissman (on the founding of Bais Yaakov schools) http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/bais-yaakov-schools

Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance (JOFA):
www.jofa.org

Living Waters Community Mikveh:
http://www.mayyimhayyim.org

Nishmat: The Jeanie Schottenstein Center for Advanced Torah Study for Women:
http://yoatzot.org/

In addition, I have also begun viewing documentaries for use in this class. I will attempt to post small reviews once as I see them.

Church sign #fail

This is just great :-)


see more Epic Fails

Is dumpster diving Halakhically permissible?

We live near a senior community garden, which is beautiful and thriving in the summertime. In the autumn, the members of this garden prepared their plots for next year, and so the dumpster nearby is filled with uprooted plants and whatnot. A few weeks ago, as we were coming home, sitting on the outside of this dumpster were 2 plastic chairs -- the kind you use on your deck/balcony, but child-sized. There was nothing wrong with the chairs (minus the dirt, which can be cleaned) but they were obviously there in the trash. I picked them up (much to my kids' chagrin, who were embarrassed that I would take something from the trash), planning to clean them off, and if we can't find a use for them, to pass them along to someone else who can.

This morning as I was walking Zoe to school, we were discussing all the trash and recycle bins that were outside, since it is garbage day down the street where she is in preschool. During our walk, I spotted a box filled with miscellaneous toys -- someone's "extras" -- sitting with their garbage. The rest of the way to her school I debated whether or not I should take the box. It was clear to me that we wouldn't keep everything, or even most of the things, in the box, but I had spotted a bunch of random legos (which are a coveted Shabbat toy in our household) and some Mr. Potato Head items. Knowing that all these could be cleaned well, on the way home from her school I picked up the box.

So, my question is: Is "dumpster diving" Halakhically permissible? If not, why not? And if so, what are the limitations?

I'm the parent of a double-digit child (Happy 10th, Claire)

Today is Claire's 10th b-day. I'm both thrilled and nostalgic, but happy nevertheless.  As is traditional on my kids' bdays, I have recounted Claire's birth story below.  (Originally posted here.)

October 13 1999 was a Tuesday. I was due in 11 days with my first. In retrospect, there were signs all that day that I was going to be having a baby very soon, but as it was my first, I was oblivious. DH was working nights, so he had already left for his job, and I had this thing about going to bed too early, so I was up playing games on the computer. At around 9:00pm I got ready for bed, and went to sleep. Around 10pm, I woke up, needing to turn over. As it is very difficult to do that when you're that pregnant, and as you need to use the bathroom about every 5 minutes when you're that pregnant, I decided to just get up and out of bed, head to the bathroom, and lay down on my other side when I came back. I popped out of bed (not sure how I did that when I was that pregnant, but I did!) and within the first step or two, there was a gush - my water had broke! I rushed/waddled to the bathroom to clean up, and then excitedly made some phone calls: first, to DH to tell him to come home; second, to the Dr's office to page my Dr; and third, to my mother who was going to try and make it in for the birth. I lost it on the phone with my mom, started to cry, anxious and excited and nervous.

My Dr called back to get details, and told me to come on in when I was ready. I did some dishes while waiting for DH - you know, mindless activity. As soon as he walked in the door, I wanted to leave, but he said we should finish packing the bag, so we did. Then, finally, we were on our way, around 11:30pm. We got to the hospital, checked in, and got settled to a whole bunch of waiting. I was so worked up I couldn't sleep, even though I was not in hard labor at all, so I ended up flipping through the channels on the television. Finally, perhaps around 1:30 or 2:00am, when I was watching Scooby-Doo (lol!), DH woke up enough to tell me it was bothering him and that I should turn it off. (And he hasn't lived that down since!) So off it went. I must've dozed, I'm not sure. Around 7:00/7:30am, my MIL came in with some breakfast for DH (a bagel and cream cheese, and perhaps a coffee), said hello, and then left again. By this point the contractions were getting more intense, and I was exhausted. I got Stadol (or demerol, I can't remember) to help, and basically I slept in-between contractions at that point. Sometime around 11:15am, the Dr checked me and said I was around a 5.5/6, and we discussed other options as the stadol was wearing off. She recommended an epidural, which I then got. By 12:30 I was in transition and ready to begin pushing! I pushed for about 20 minutes, and Claire was born at 1:08pm on Oct 14, 1999. She had black hair and blue eyes, and was 7.5 lbs and 19.5 inches. She was also born on my FIL's 49th birthday.

I don't remember the Dr saying "it's a girl" although DH assures me that she did. I do remember holding her in my arms, looking at her, my baby girl, and thinking that she looked like a particular (Hebrew) name. I asked DH what he thought for a name, and he said one of the other names we had been discussing. As it was Thurs afternoon and she wouldn't be named until Shabbat, I answered "we'll discuss it tomorrow."

My mom arrived about 40 minutes after Claire was born. So close! (Also, as an aside, I had a reaction to the epidural, and about 20-30 min after Claire was born, my blood pressure dropped to 70/36, and I was very pale, about ready to vomit and pass out. It took them a few minutes to stabilize me.)

As for Claire's Hebrew name, well, the name that I thought she looked like was a name I had brought up numerous times throughout the pregnancy, and was my favorite name. But every time DH had insisted that we would not use that name. So overnight on Thurs I thought about it, and decided that if he was insistent on the other name, a name we both liked, I would agree to it, even though I really thought she looked like this other name. The next day DH came with my Mom, and after a while of fawning over the baby, etc., we kicked my mom out and got down to the name discussion. Right away, DH said, I think we should name her "XXXX XXXX". I couldn't believe it - the first name was the name I had wanted to name her all along! I asked him "What did you do?" he answered "What???" "What did you do?" "What are you talking about?" "Well, to give in on the name of your firstborn, you must have done something that is really going to upset me. Did you burn the apartment down?" DH laughed and said, "No, I thought about it overnight, and she looks like "XXXX". And for an English/secular name, how about Hannah Claire?"

Well, I couldn't argue at that point, being able to use my favorite name for my firstborn. So that's how Claire got her name.

Simchat Torah Kvetch

(Originally posted here on 22 October 2009)

I know on Simchat Torah -- the last holiday we celebrated in this month-long (way-too-long) stretch of holidays -- we are supposed to rejoice in the Torah, but to me it usually feels like a big sigh of relief that the holidays are finally, finally, over. It doesn't help that Simchat Torah is my least favorite Chag (holiday), not including fast days of course. With all the singing, dancing and celebrating that happens during Simchat Torah, you may well wonder why this particular holiday is my least-favorite. Many women may know why, although I'm sure there are plenty of women who aren't bothered. The men are so kind in my synagogues to set up some sort of "women's section," often separate from the usual women's section (and often on the men's side of the mechitzah) where we women can sit and watch the festivities. Yes, 50% of the adult population gets to watch the festivities rather than participate in them. You may wonder why I'm kvetching (and if you are, you probably aren't a regular reader here) about this when 1) I didn't grow up frum, and therefore chose this as my way of life as an adult, and 2) I don't (regularly) kvetch about other forms of obvious patriarchy and whatnot. Well, my answer is that 1) When I became frum I knew I was taking the good with the bad. I do not pretend that all of Orthodox Judaism is wonderful, perfect, etc. It has it's issues, and my father always taught me that fighting from the inside is more effect than attempting to fight from the outside. 2) I usually find that there are more important issues to deal with in Orthodoxy. It doesn't mean that these aren't important, it's just what's important to me.

So, back to Simchat Torah. It bothers me every year (except one, in Cambridge, MA where there was a women's Tefillah (whose group was overseen by an Orthodox rabbi) and each woman got an aliyah and we celebrated together. That was nice!) that I get to go to shul and watch as my husband celebrates, as my kids celebrate and as I get to stand to the side and let the kids bring me their trinkets and candy that they've collected while I get to sit and watch.

Instead, I usually stay home.

Call me a spoilsport, call me what you like, I just find NO ENJOYMENT in this whatsoever. Even the few shuls that allow women to celebrate, even with a Torah (G-d forbid!) on their side of the mechitza...well, how well can you celebrate when you know you're being done a favor, that the congregation is basically just humoring you?

No, not my idea of a good time. So today ended our fall holidays, culminating in Simchat Torah. And while they were mostly nice, I'm glad they're finally over, too.

Vegetarian Yemenite Soup (Marak Taymani)

By request, here is the recipe!

Marak Taymani (vegan)

3 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium onions, chopped
3 carrots, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
6 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/8 teaspoon ground coriander
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
8 cups vegetable stock (or use water with pareve beef consomme added)
Salt, to taste
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 cup chopped butternut squash and/or chopped potatoes. Amount should = 1 cup
1 cup dried chickpeas, soaked overnight and drained (or 1 19-ounce can, rinsed and drained)
Small bunch of flat parsley, chopped
1 cup crushed tomatoes
1 bag fresh spinach, washed OR 1 box/bag frozen spinach, defrosted and excess water squeezed out
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
Small bunch of cilantro, stemmed and chopped

1. In a large soup pot, heat the oil and cook the onions, carrots, and celery over medium heat for 8 minutes or until they soften. Stir in the garlic and cook 1 minute.
2. Stir in the ground cumin, cardamom, coriander, and cloves. Add the stock, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil. Cook for about 10 minutes.
3. Add the squash, chickpeas, parsley, and tomatoes. Return the liquid to a boil, lower the heat, cover the pan, and simmer for 1 hour or until chickpeas are tender.
4. Add spinach, stir until cooked.
5. Stir in the turmeric. Ladle into bowls and serve with chopped cilantro.

2,000 year old mikveh uncovered in Western Wall excavations

This is amazing (from JTA, link here):

2,000-year-old mikveh uncovered

September 23, 2009

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- A mikveh from the end of the Second Temple period was uncovered in excavations in the Western Wall tunnels.

The mikveh was discovered inside the western hall of a structure discovered about 66 feet from the Western Wall.

According to the Israel Antiquities Authority, the 2,000-year-old ritual bath is among the most magnificent structures from the Second Temple period ever to be uncovered.

The structure currently being excavated by the authority is comprised of three halls and may be the bureau in which the Sanhedrin, the Jewish high court at the time of the Second Temple, would convene.

Is "Atheism" a religion?

I'm in the midst of a discussion on twitter about whether or not "atheism" is a religion.  I think it is, or could be, depending, I guess on how you define religion and atheism.

 What do you think?

Call for Papers: The Scrolls and Biblical Traditions

 International Organization for Qumran Studies

Seventh Meeting

HELSINKI, FINLAND

AUGUST 2–4, 2010 

Call for Papers

  The Scrolls and Biblical Traditions

 

 

For the special topic of this seventh meeting of the IOQS, we invite papers that discuss any aspect of the transmission, use, or interpretation of biblical traditions in the Scrolls from the Judean Desert.

 

We therefore welcome papers ranging from studies of the biblical scrolls proper, on the relationship between scrolls and the versions, or on light shed by the scrolls on issues of scripture, authoritativeness, or canon, up to the use or interpretation, explicitly or implicitly, of biblical traditions in the so-called non-biblical scrolls.

 

Following the tradition of former IOQS meetings, proposals can be submitted by any scholar who is working on the topic, and papers that are directly related to the topic of the meeting are eligible for publication in a corresponding volume of the STDJ series. In addition, scholars working on other topics in the field of Qumran studies are encouraged as well to submit papers on their own particular research.

 

DATE

The seventh meeting of the IOQS will be held from August 2–4, 2010 in conjunction with the 20th Congress of IOSOT, the International Organization for the Study of the Old Testament, and other specialized congresses (IOTS, IOSCS, IOMS), to be held from August 1–6, 2010 in Helsinki. All information on these congresses, registration, accommodation, etc. can be found on www.helsinki.fi/teol/pro/iosot/index.htm. For the IOQS meeting click the Joint Congress Timetable at the right side of the page. 

 

On Tuesday morning, August 3, a joint program of the IOSOT and IOQS is scheduled, including papers by Eileen Schuller, Sidnie White-Crawford, and Anneli Aejmelaeus.

 

PAPER PROPOSALS

If you are interested in participating and presenting a paper, please submit your proposal containing your name, name of academic institution, title of your proposed paper, and an abstract of no more than 250 words. For details on abstracts you may consult the guidelines for abstracts for the IOSOT. 

 

Proposals should be submitted by email before February 14, 2010 to the secretary of the IOQS, Prof. Dr. Eibert Tigchelaar, eibert.tigchelaar@theo.kuleuven.be.

 

Some thoughts on Fasting / Yom Kippur

(Originally posted on 21 September 2007, here)

I’ve been under some discussion with my friend LM about the point of fasting on Yom Kippur. Neither of us like the fasting, we both have issues with it. For LM, If I am to understand correctly, her issues relate to the extremism that she perceives in Orthodox Judaism – everything is an extreme. Either we’re starving ourselves for the day (not even drinking water, like in a medical fast) or we’re stuffing our faces –both before and after the fast. She also sees it as a negative aspect of Judaism.

For me, it’s the misery. I don’t fast well, I get migraines, I get sick to my stomach. I just don’t do well. And then add the kids, especially J.R., into the mix. How do other parents do it? What do they do with their kids all day?

And I’ve been told that it’s better to fast and spend all day in bed than to not fast and be able to concentrate and pray and really repent. Why would that be?

I have a theory of my own – I’d love to hear other’s opinions or comments about it, or about fasting as a religious experience (or not) in general.

I think it’s a communal activity on Y”K. That we are fasting and praying as a community. The Teshuva – repentance – is done on a communal level. That doesn’t mean that there is no point to individual teshuva or fasting, but that the few people who need to stay in bed and aren’t really able to participate in prayers – or all those parents who spend the day exhaustingly taking care of the kids, entertaining them, feeding them, etc., but are still fasting, are still participating in the communal act of teshuva. This idea, in my mind, would be that G-d knows that their intent is to participate as fully as they are able, but their ability is limited by their individual circumstance.

I also have an issue with a G-d that requires us to fast. How is G-d merciful if the individual must do this? (On the other hand, if the individual does this, and G-d therefore decrees that they can live, rather than die, that IS merciful, but in a different way.)

Comments?