In October of 2014, 12-year-old Sasha Lutt read from a tiny Torah scroll as a part of her bat mitzvah in the Women's section of the plaza at the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest prayer site. Surrounded by members of the multi-denominational organization, the Women of the Wall, one of whom had smuggled the scroll into the plaza, Sasha became the first woman to read from the Torah at the site. For more than twenty five years, the Women of the Wall have been waging a campaign to gain the Israeli government's permission to pray at the Western Wall. Despite widespread media coverage, this is the first comprehensive study of their struggle. Yuval Jobani and Nahshon Perez offer an in-depth analysis of the Women of the Wall's attempts to modify Jewish-orthodox mainstream religious practice from within and invest it with a new, egalitarian content. They present a comprehensive survey of the numerous legal rulings about the case and consider the broader political and social significance of the Women of the Wall's activism. In this way, Jobani and Perez are able to address broader issues of religion-state relations: How should governments manage religious plurality within their borders? How should governments respond to the requests of minorities that conflict with ostensibly mainstream interpretations of a given tradition? How should governments manage disputed sacred sites and spaces located in the public sphere? Women of the Wall: Navigating Religion in Sacred Sites offers a critical new look at theories of religion-state relations and a fresh examination of religious conflicts over sacred sites and public spaces.

The rise of Jewish feminism, a branch of both second-wave feminism and the American counterculture, in the late 1960s had an extraordinary impact on the leadership, practice, and beliefs of American Jews. Women Remaking American Judaism is the first book to fully examine the changes in American Judaism as women fought to practice their religion fully and to ensure that its rituals, texts, and liturgies reflected their lives. In addition to identifying the changes that took place, this volume aims to understand the process of change in ritual, theology, and clergy across the denominations. The essays in Women Remaking American Judaism offer a paradoxical understanding of Jewish feminism as both radical, in the transformational sense, and accomodationist, in the sense that it was thoroughly compatible with liberal Judaism. Essays in the first section, Reenvisioning Judaism, investigate the feminist challenges to traditional understanding of Jewish law, texts, and theology. In Redefining Judaism, the second section, contributors recognize that the changes in American Judaism were ultimately put into place by each denomination, their law committees, seminaries, rabbinic courts, rabbis, and synagogues, and examine the distinct evolution of women's issues in the Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, and Reconstructionist movements. Finally, in the third section, Re-Framing Judaism, essays address feminist innovations that, in some cases, took place outside of the synagogue. An introduction by Riv-Ellen Prell situates the essays in both American and modern Jewish history and offers an analysis of why Jewish feminism was revolutionary. Women Remaking American Judaism raises provocative questions about the changes to Judaism following the feminist movement, at every turn asking what change means in Judaism and other American religions and how the fight for equality between men and women parallels and differs from other changes in Judaism. Women Remaking American Judaism will be of interest to both scholars of Jewish history and women's studies.

You can learn much from the successes and failures, lives, loves, and legacy of scriptural women—and you’ll find great insights in The Women of the Bible Devotional. This brand-new book features 180 quick, easy-to-read entries on nearly every named woman of scripture—from Abigail to Zipporah—and many of the unnamed ladies, such as Job’s wife, the woman caught in adultery, and the persistent widow of Jesus’ parable. Biblical women played a powerful role in God’s plan for humanity, and their stories were recorded for our benefit today. Let The Women of the Bible Devotional share important, even life-changing, principles for your quiet time.

I said, "You call a peaceful gathering radical? In your opinion, I'm a radical because I came out to cover a peaceful rotest as a journalist?! Of course, even if I was not a journalist and I participated as an ordinary citizen, I still wouldn't be a radical." "I'm not against women's demands, but the country in in a very critical situation. Is it right to take to the streets, demonstrate, and threaten the country from within when the country is facing external threats?" I replied, "My country, its security, and its territorial integrity are all important to me as well. But why do you think a peaceful demonstration, with purely civic demands, endangers the country's security? These demands have been made for more than a hundred years, and they are not related to a a particular political system. Does the fact that women are demanding legal equality endanger national security?! What's your definition of security anyway?! I have the exact opposite point of view. You not letting women hold a peaceful rally will ultimately lead to disintegration of the society and even the state. Don't you think the more you close down the society, the more you have led it towards disintegration?"

Daughters of the King explores women's involvement in and around the synagogue from its antecedents in the bibical period to contemporary times. The contributors to the book, including Susan Grossman, Rivka Haut, Tikva Frymer-Kensky, Judith Hauptman, Paula Hyman, and others, represent an interdisciplinary approach to the subject, drawing from history, anthropology, sociology, women's studies, Jewish law, the Bible, and rabbinic thought.

This Women of the Bible Ebook, by Ann Spangler and Jean E. Syswerda, focuses on fifty-two remarkable women in Scripture—women whose struggles to live with faith and courage are not unlike your own. Special features in this bestselling, updated, and expanded Ebook edition of Women of the Bible include:• A list of all the women of the Bible • Timeline of the women of the Bible • A list of women in Jesus’ family tree • A list of women in Jesus’ life and ministry Vital and deeply human, the women in this Ebook encourage you through their failures as well as their successes. You’ll see how God acted in surprising and wonderful ways to draw them—and you—to himself. This year-long devotional offers a unique method to help you slow down and savor the story of God’s unrelenting love for his people, offering a fresh perspective that will nourish and strengthen your personal communion with him.

If politics is about the state, can a stateless people be political? Until recently, scholars were fiercely divided regarding whether Jews engaged in politics, displayed political wisdom, or penned works of political thought over the two millennia when there was no Jewish state. But over the past few decades, the field of Jewish political thought has begun to examine the ways in which Jewish individuals and communal organizations behaved politically even in diaspora. The King Is in the Field centers writing from leading scholars that serves as an introduction to this exciting field, providing critical resources for anyone interested in thinking about politics both within and beyond the state. From kabbalistic theology to economic philanthropy, from race and nationalism in the U.S. to Israeli legal discourse and feminist activism, this key study of Jewish political thought holds the promise to reorient the field of political thought as a whole by expanding conceptions of what counts as "political." In a world in which statelessness now applies to 100 million individuals, this volume illuminates ways to understand how diaspora Jewish political thought functioned in adopted homelands. This approach allows the book to offer questions and analysis that add depth and breadth to academic studies of Jewish politics while simultaneously offering a blueprint for future volumes interrogating political action through multiple diasporas. Contributors: Samuel Hayim Brody, Lihi Ben Shitrit, Julie E. Cooper, Arye Edrei, Meirav Jones, Rebecca Kobrin, Vincent Lloyd, Menachem Lorberbaum, Shaul Magid, Assaf Tamari, Irene Tucker, Philipp Von Wussow, Michael Walzer.

With diverse and robust voices, women are reclaiming their place at the seder table. This complete sourcebook and guide shows you how to do it, too. For the first time, contemporary Jewish women's writings on the Passover seder are gathered in one comprehensive and compelling sourcebook--an unprecedented and powerful resource for those planning a women's seder and those seeking to infuse their Passover celebration with the creative and courageous voices of Jewish women. Arranged according to the order of the seder, this practical guide gathers the voices of more than one hundred women in readings, personal and creative reflections, commentaries, blessings and ritual suggestions that can be incorporated into your Passover celebration as supplements to or substitutes for traditional passages of the haggadah. It also includes a detailed guide to planning a women's seder, based on information from successful seder organizers around the world. Whether you are organizing a women's seder in your community or planning a family seder in your home, this inspiring and accessible resource will help you take an active role in re-creating the educational and spiritual experience of Passover--and in shaping Judaism's future. Contributors include: Dr. Rachel Adler * Dr. Rebecca T. Alpert * Rabbi Renni S. Altman * Zoe Baird Dr. Evelyn Torton Beck * Susan Berrin * Senator Barbara Boxer * Dr. Esther Broner Rabbi Nina Beth Cardin * Tamara Cohen * Anita Diamant * Dr. Carol Diament Rabbi Sue Levi Elwell, PhD * Eve Ensler * Dr. Marcia Falk * Merle Feld Rabbi Susan P. Fendrick * Rabbi Tirzah Firestone * Dr. Ellen Frankel * Nan Fink Gefen Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg * Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb * Dr. Susannah Heschel Rabbi Karyn D. Kedar * Rabbi Naamah Kelman * Naomi Klein * Irena Klepfisz Maxine Kumin * Rabbi Noa Rachel Kushner * Rabbi Joy Levitt * Hadassah Lieberman Ruth W. Messinger * Dr. Faye Moskowitz * Joan Nathan * Dr. Alicia Suskin Ostriker Dr. Judith Plaskow * Marge Piercy * Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen * Anne Roiphe Danya Ruttenberg * Rabbi Sandy Eisenberg Sasso * The Honorable Jan Schakowsky Rabbi Susan Schnur * Rabbi Susan Silverman * Dr. Ellen M. Umansky Rabbi Sheila Peltz Weinberg * Dr. Chava Weissler * Cantor Lorel Zar-Kessler

We all need inspiration and encouragement to be courageous-to face our battles victoriously and to exert more power in our lives. Draw strength from these wonder women of the Bible. "We shake our heads in genuine puzzlement at supercapable women who have much to teach us," says author Brenda Poinsett. From a brief Scripture backdrop, Brenda gleans personal truths from these heroes. Recall how God chose to involve women in His plans in daring, yet ordinary life moments. Be inspired that He will work in your life as you reflect on the discussion questions for each woman: Discover what encourages or discourages you as you face threats, with Rahab. Embody a bold, assertive, likable nature as you prepare for battle, with Deborah. Embrace your good works for what they are as you minister, with Dorcas. Escape what hinders your worship as you dwell in God's presence, with Anna. Grasp true wisdom and courage as you walk, with the Wise Woman of Abel. Book jacket.

This comprehensive handbook attempts to summarize the state of gender studies not only by examining the crucial research of the past decade, but by encouraging thinking about how the questions central to studying gender have themselves changed. Building on the work started by the contributors to this volume's predecessor (Analyzing Gender, Sage 1987), editors Myra Marx Ferree, Judith Lorber, and Beth B. Hess reflect on the advances of gender scholarship during the past decade with its emphasis on all levels of social structure from the most macro to the most individual. Revisioning Gender is a step toward constructing a new analytical approach for the social sciences, one that calls into question disciplinary boundaries and the specific agendas entailed therein.