Gender and Judaism

The idea of brotherhood has been an important philosophical concept for understanding community, equality, and justice. In Gendering Modern Jewish Thought, Andrea Dara Cooper offers a gendered reading that challenges the key figures of the all-male fraternity of twentieth-century Jewish philosophy to open up to the feminine.

Cooper offers a feminist lens, which when applied to thinkers such as Franz Rosenzweig and Emmanuel Levinas, reveals new ways of illuminating questions of relational ethics, embodiment, politics, and positionality. She shows that patriarchal kinship as models of erotic love, brotherhood, and paternity are not accidental in Jewish philosophy, but serve as norms that have excluded women and non-normative individuals.

Gendering Modern Jewish Thought suggests these fraternal models do real damage and must be brought to account in more broadly humanistic frameworks. For Cooper, a more responsible and ethical reading of Jewish philosophy comes forward when it is opened to the voices of mothers, sisters, and daughters.

This article is part of a roundtable discussion on Sharing the Burden: Rabbi Simḥah Zissel Ziv and the Path of Musar.  Responding to Christian Miller, I consider the tensions found in Simḥah Zissel Ziv's view of the soul, how Simḥah Zissel sees human beings as inclining toward evil, and how he tends to recommend measures that are more demanding than those typically tested by psychological researchers. Responding to Andrea Dara Cooper, I pay particular attention to Cooper's question regarding the tension between Simḥah Zissel's expansive view of fellowship and his lack of support for his family, and focuses on the constructions of gender that produce this tension. Responding to Jeffrey Pugh, I explore the clear limits to Simḥah Zissel's tolerance for criticism, questions, and disobedience. Responding to Rebecca Todd Peters, I consider various ways in which Simḥah Zissel's legacy has been appropriated, and I give particular attention to ways that his thought has been used to support critical thinking about structural injustices and social change.

The paper discusses the concept of virginity formulated by talmudic Halakhah and its inherent inner tensions. In the new jurisprudence created by the rabbis, virginity is a discursive category that elucidates the complex ties between the body, sexuality, and the social and religious order.
It is shown that virginity has three senses in the Talmud— sexual inexperience, bodily perfection, and a legal presumption—which take different perspectives and overlap only partly. Each of them reflects different cultural motives and social ideas of the body, sexuality, and gender. Their coexistence creates a plastic concept of virginity that constantly oscillates between the real and the symbolic, the physical and the spiritual, and the social and the religious. The broad range for interpretation allowed by the multiple definitions reveals the ideological and political nature of every halakhic ruling concerning virginity.
The paper demonstrates how the concept of virginity functions in the Halakhic discourse about the marriage of a virgin bride in the Babylonian Talmud. The close link between the special customs for the wedding of a virgin bride, meant to highlight her physical virginity, and the economic and class privileges derived from the formal presumption of virginity, exemplifies virginity as an analytical category that can tie together levels of meaning often presented as separate.
Finally, the lines that the talmudic discourse draws between a woman’s definition as a virgin, on the one hand, and her personal status, legal rights, and social and religious standing, on the other, make virginity a useful tool for mapping the mechanisms that shaped gender in Jewish culture and for reaching a deeper understanding of how they function. By means of a theoretical and methodological framework that transcends the talmudic context, the paper proposes virginity as a vital category for the study of the history of sex and the gender economy in Jewish culture.

This paper examines four talmudic stories that portray women giving
food to beggars who come to their doors. This motif represents a distinct
female social and ethical perspective that contrasts with and critiques
the dominant male rabbinic ethos. However, The talmudic editors
frequently position, interpret and modify such stories in ways that draw
attention away from, and even undermine, the female characters and
the values they represent. Nevertheless, these strong female voices and
characters are not totally silenced. They become part of a wider dialogic
framework, remaining an integral part of the Talmud’s discourse.

In the two iterations of the Holiness Code, in Leviticus 18 and Leviticus 22, the Torah explicitly prohibits homosexual intercourse between men. It seems that the text is clear enough and the prohibition absolute; no lenient interpretation seems possible. But Judaism always reads divine injunctions through an exegetical prism. The only question is the motivation for the exegesis and how is it carried out.
In Orthodoxy, I believe that we can identify a number of key areas in the evolution of the halakhic attitude towards homosexuality.
One of them is the attitude towards homosexual individuals, ranging from their total exclusion to an empathetic and respectful attitude and their acceptance in the religious community. Another domain is that of how the ban is interpreted: is it broad and includes homoerotic attraction between two men, or more limited and only a prohibition of all or some forms of sexual contact between them? The third domain is the transition from the idea that sexual orientation is a preference that can be modified, whence the call for conversion or reparative therapy, towards the realization that in many cases the attraction to men is irreversible. The fourth domain is the question of whether gay men should establish heterosexual families.
All these developments raise the question how Rabbis understand masculinity through the prism of homosexuality? What do they think of the male "nature" with regard to sexual attraction? Do they believe that social constructions refer to homosexuality? Finally, what can we learn from the ways masculinity is understood and being built by halakhic writings about the nature of heterosexuality and heteronormativity?
In this article I analyze some central writings in contemporary Jewish Ultra-Orthodoxy and try to trace the ways through which masculinity is being built and its gender implications.

This article contributes to the expanding field of trans-Jewish-feminist studies in general, and to the scholarship about Jewish law in particular, by analyzing the ways in which the Reform movement has gradually legitimized transgender people and accepted them fully. Applying Judith Butler's ideas about the heterosexual matrix as an analytical tool, the article demonstrates how the Reform movement, in a slow and gradual process, has left the entire heterosexual matrix behind, although it can be claimed that the process (of leaving behind the heterosexual matrix) has not run all the way to a complete dissolution.

This writing compares socially constructed virginity standards upon women with sexual standards of The Torah. This paper also highlights the equal sexual standards for women and men in The Torah. In this paper I build the discussion as a review of the 3rd chapter of Katherine E. Southwood's "Marriage by Capture in the Book of Judges"

Why are there do few women in Jewish 'tours of hell' until the high middle ages? and are how are the very few existing traditions connected?
From the Yerushalmi to Zefer Zikhronot, the question of women's agency and legal subjectivity is examined, along with the very limited number of  'sins' that may see them go to hell.

The concept of purity exists in many cultures all over the world. This article investigates the idea of Jewish female purity-niddah. The word "purity" itself suggests its connotation to physical and ritual hygiene. This paper shows that even though the concept of "ritual purity" in Judaism might have started as an ancient form of hygiene, nowadays it functions as sexual restriction and biopower over Jewish women. Rabbinical sexual prohibitions have drastically transformed the initial practice in an effort to control female gendered behavior. Due to the sensitivity of the subject matter, this essay is written using the methodology of digital ethnography. The digital research was conducted in several Facebook groups of mainly English-speaking Orthodox women. The online research provides an insight into Jewish practices related to niddah, which are not traditionally spoken of freely and demonstrates how the contemporary concept of niddah affects women's lives severely.

The article describes Rav Waldenberg's stance on Sex Reassignment Surgery (SRS) via a close reading of three responsas by him. It opens with an introduction to queer and gender theory with regard to transgenders, and it continues with the rulings in both the Orthodox and Conservative Halakha, while each denomination understood Rav Waldenberg differently. The article discusses the way in which each came to its understanding.
The article also tries to resolve the condradictions Rav Waldenberg has in his responsas, mainly since his first and third responsa seem to rule different things on the same question.
The article concludes with a concrete framework for understanding Rav Waldenberg ruling in terms of the Halakhic meaning of SRS and the complex relationship between body and soul/mind.

The Changing Status of Women in Modernity The age of modernity was a time of great optimism and hope for progress, for people in general and for Jews in particular. As Western societies began to reexamine and expand the freedom and rights exercised by minority groups, Jews and members of other minority religions were great beneficiaries. Throughout the Western world women also benefited significantly from an expanded understanding of their rights in public and private spheres. By the early part of the twentieth century, women began to take on public leadership roles and have more of a visible impact on society. This move towards greater equality in the public sphere laid the foundation for what later became liberal Judaism's model of a just society in which men and women are equal. As women gained the right to vote in public elections, many Jews argued that women could no longer be denied the same right within Jewish organizations. The interplay between women's increased equality at large and that within the Jewish community is also apparent in regard to study, whereby just as with modernity women could for the first time study in secular universities, within the Jewish community they could finally access and study previously inaccessible sacred Jewish texts. Jewish women's increased involvement and knowledge led to new understandings of gender and religion which in turn dramatically affected two main areas of liberal Jewish life: (1) religious law and practice, and (2) leadership in the synagogue and communal organizational life. The significant change in the role of Jewish women following the Enlightenment makes modernity a dividing line between two types of intellectual and religious views of Jewish women. The first sees women as primarily responsible for the private sphere characterized by the home and family-centred domain, while the second accords women a full (or nearly full) religious agency in the public domain. This dividing line is especially pronounced in the context of liberal (non-Orthodox) Jewish life. Reform Judaism in particular embraced the expanding role of women by granting women full membership in synagogues as well as voting rights, and by gradually permitting women to perform many public ritual acts previously restricted to men. Reform leaders not only argued that women should be Continuum – Judaism and the Challenges of Modern Life

The philosophy of Rabbi Avraham Yitzhak Ha-Cohen Kook directs towards the unity of all thought and ascribes divine meaning to every part of the universe in its totality. This study will present the meaning of Eros and male sexuality in R. Kook’s philosophy, emphasizing the integration of personality motivated by erotic desire. R. Kook described the individual’s impulse as being derived from the great flow of the river of life that streams at the heart of humanity. By adopting psychological insights into culture and sexuality, R. Kook changes the religious status of Eros from a force to be reined in to one that can fuel spiritual renovation.

Translated from the French by Heloise Finch-Boyer.

Drawing on ethnographical research in French non-Orthodox synagogues in the first decade of the new millennium, this article explores how women appropriated a ritual garb which until recently was only worn by men. The story of how the tallit (prayer shawl) came to be worn by women in France is an example of how religious justifications for women’s access to ritual practices circulate cross-nationally, with religious dynamics within Judaism playing a bigger role than arguments from within feminism. Ethnographical research shows that in the French Jewish context, where non-Orthodox synagogues are a minority, women are more obligated than men, to be “hyper-reflexive” in their bodily engagement in public prayer. This results in varied and ambivalent discourses and practices surrounding women’s use of the tallit. While some have ceased to perceive it as gendered, others think of women’s use of it as an act of transvestism, and still others insist on wearing a “feminized” (colored) talit.

https://www.mantorshift.com/podcast#21
Questions and dialogue about the meaning of masculinity(ies) are slowly coming into our culture and communities. It was a gift to be interviewed by Mickey A. Fehér for his podcast. We spoke about the Hasidic/Israeli secular images of manhood, the decision of the rabbis to create a new model of man in ancient Judaism and why the Zionist movement saw the need to change it. We also spoke about the role of masculinity in Peace work and activism, in nonviolent communication and about the need to bring more sensuality and not only sexuality to the lives of contemporary men.

.ניתוח פסיכואנליטי (פרוידיאני) לאגדת דוד והתהום על גרסאותיה החז"ליות
פורסם בכתב העת "נפש" (כיום "מעגלי נפש") ב-2001.
ציטוט ביבליוגרפי:

רוח-מדבר, מריאנה (2001). "אגדת דוד והתהום", בתוך נפש- רבעון לפסיכולוגיה, לטיפול, לטיפוח רגשי ולחינוך יצירתי 7 (מאי 2001, אייר תשס"א): 18-11.

תורת האהבה של רבי עקיבא מאת נפתלי רוטנברג, ירושלים תשע"ט/2018: הוצאת כרמל.
TORAT HAHAVA SHEL RABI AKIVA, Jerusalem 2018, Carmel publishing house.
אהבה הרמונית עומדת ביסוד תורתו של ר' עקיבא: הרמוניה של רוח, נפש וגוף. במישור המעשי הוא החמיר באהבה והקל בגירושין ועמד על הסיכוי להתחלה של אהבה חדשה; הרועה הבוּר שהופיע לראשונה באגדות בסיפור אהבה ונעשה לגדול חכמי ישראל, פיתח שיטה הגורסת שהאהבה אחת היא אם גם מופעיה רבים. מקורה באהבת איש ואשה אך אותה אהבה ממש באה על ביטויה באהבת הרֵע, באהבת החוכמה, באהבת האדם ובאהבת אלוהים. הוא הציל את שיר האהבה בה"א הידיעה, הלא הוא שיר השירים, משכחה, ומיקם אותו בקודש הקודשים; קבע את "ואהבת לרעך כמוך" ככלל הגדול ממנו נובעת תורת המוסר כולה; חינך לחיבה לכל אדם שנברא בצלם; קיים את מצוות אהבת אלוהים בכל לבבו, בכל מאודו ובכל נפשו -  אהבה עד כלות הנשמה והיה היחיד שנכנס לפרדס האהבה ויצא ממנו בשלום. רעיונותיו, הליכותיו ופסיקותיו הניחו את היסוד לחוכמת האהבה בתרבות ישראל. לפרטים נוספים, לתוכן העניינים ולרכישה: https://carmelph.co.il/book/rabbi-akiva/?fbclid=IwAR0N41Y-1cM5GwkfK7gToPTV9ZlQdIA2l0BFFHy0gHlR3RuaXXu9vH1zrbA
English version:  RABBI AKIVA’S PHILOSOPHY OF LOVE by Naftali Rothenberg – Palgrave-Macmillan 2017. See below.

The concept of purity exists in many cultures all over the world. This article investigates the idea of Jewish female purity – niddah. The word “purity” itself suggests its connotation to physical and ritual hygiene. This paper shows that even though the concept of “ritual purity” in Judaism might have started as an ancient form of hygiene, nowadays it functions as sexual restriction and biopower over Jewish women. Rabbinical sexual prohibitions have drastically transformed the initial practice in an effort to control female gendered behavior. Due to the sensitivity of the subject matter, this essay is written using the methodology of digital ethnography. The digital research was conducted in several Facebook groups of mainly English-speaking Orthodox women. The online research provides an insight into Jewish practices related to niddah, which are not traditionally spoken of freely and demonstrates how the contemporary concept of niddah affects women’s lives severely.

This article contributes to the expanding field of trans-Jewish-feminist studies in general, and to the scholarship about Jewish law in particular, by analyzing the ways in which the Reform movement has gradually legitimized transgender people and accepted them fully. Applying Judith Butler's ideas about the heterosexual matrix as an analytical tool, the article demonstrates how the Reform movement, in a slow and gradual process, has left the entire heterosexual matrix behind, although it can be claimed that the process (of leaving behind the heterosexual matrix) has not run all the way to a complete dissolution.

After twelve years of productive work, the Society for Textual Reasoning (STR) has reason to reflect on the rules of reasoning it has nurtured and tested but has not yet adopted, selfconsciously, as the rules of its textual reasoning (TR). This essay illustrates some ways of reflecting on these rules. The first section of the essay presents a brief history of STR. The following section, the focal section of the essay, illustrates the rules of TR as displayed in a recent internet discussion sponsored by the Society. The brief third section suggests ways that the Society might go about adopting standards for selecting its rules of textual reasoning. The final section illustrates what these standards might look like. 1. A Brief History of Textual Reasoning, for Those Who Need It

While accepting that the majority of World Literature is a Male Literature by default – written by men and about men – I argue that something has been missed; that Roth and Oz write about the special issues of Jewish men at the end of the Twentieth and the beginning of the Twenty First-Century – emasculated on one hand, yet emotionally stifled by social norms. Either in the United States or in Israel (as the characters of Oz and Roth sometime oscillate between the two countries), each one of them creates what critic Gili Izikovich refers to as “the new masculinity” (Izikovich 2017).

The present article examines the halakhic attitudes toward homosexuality in Modern Orthodoxy and in the Conservative movement, through the prism of “Aqedah Theology” and the link between religion and morality. The article argues that even if there is no clear halakhic boundary between some of the positions of Conservative and Modern Orthodox Judaism, there is a clear difference between them regarding Aqedah theology. For Modern Orthodoxy, even if God commands certain things that on the surface clash with contemporary moral concepts, individuals are expected to sacrifice or “bind” their inclinations to comply with the divine injunction. This is not the case in the Conservative movement. Here the debate is not about whether Aqedah theology is legitimate (all agree that it is not), but whether or not the situation of a human being who is barred from realizing his sexual orientation involves “binding” moral concepts.