Gender and discrimination in Judaism Flashcards
1
Q
Who was Regina Jonas?
A
- Regina Jonas was born in Berlin on 3rd August 1902.
- She was the first woman to be ordained as a rabbi and was killed in Auschwitz.
- Early on, Regina Jonas felt her rabbinic vocation.
2
Q
What is her standpoint?
A
- Jonas combines a halakhic line of argument with a modern attitude.
- Rather, she wanted to deduce gender equality from the Jewish legal sources.
- This proves Jonas’s independence both from Orthodoxy, which held equality as incompatible with halakha.
3
Q
What does she embrace?
A
- Since rabbinic literature did not deal with ordination per se, Jonas embraces the halakhic literature which relates more generally to women’s issues.
- She quotes negative Talmudic statements about women.
4
Q
What is a key issue in her argument?
A
- A key issue in her argument is the ideal of modesty.
- In her opinion, a female rabbi should not marry.
- In Jonas’s opinion, women are especially fit to be rabbis.
5
Q
Who was Jonas Neuberger?
A
- She is a member of the British House of Lords. She formerly took the Liberal Democrat whip.
- Neuberger was Britain’s second female rabbi.
- She was rabbi of the South London Liberal Synagogue from 1977 to 1989 and is president of the West Central Liberal Synagogue.
6
Q
What are her opinions on female rabbis?
A
- One of the leading voices calling for gay marriage.
- Her community has started giving sanctuary to Muslim asylum seekers.
- Committed to charity work.
- West London Synagogue.
- Active, inclusive community of progressive Jews.
7
Q
What is Rosh Chodesh?
A
- Rosh Chodesh, the first day of each month is a minor festival.
- There is a custom that women do not work on Rosh Chodesh.
- The holiday was taken away from men and given to women.
8
Q
What are the women’s mitzvots?
A
- In Jewish tradition, there are three mitzvot that are reserved for women.
- Nerot {lighting candles}.
- Challah{ separating a portion of dough}
- Niddah{ sexual separation during a women’s menstrual period}
9
Q
What are the debates about the role of women in leadership in the synagogue?
A
- Because women are not required to perform certain mitzvot, their observance of those mitzvot does not count for group purposes.
- The second thing that must be understood is the separation of men and women during prayer.
10
Q
Women’s ordination as rabbis.
A
- Most women today have been ordained from Conservative, Reform and Reconstructionists seminaries. But a few Orthodox women have also become rabbis.
11
Q
Reform movement.
A
The role of women changed drastically throughout the 20th century. They were allowed to be rabbis.
12
Q
What did the Conservative movement think about this development?
A
- The Conservative movement founded on the theory that halakha is binding yet evolving.
13
Q
What did the reconstructionist movement think about the development?
A
The Reconstructionist movement ordained women from the start.
14
Q
What did Orthodox women do?
A
- Orthodox women began pursuing a role in the rabbinate several decades later but their enthusiasm has been continuously squelched by prominent Jewish leaders.
15
Q
Does all Jewish practice discriminate against women?
A
- Orthodox Jews believe that the role of women in traditional Judaism has been misunderstood - women are seen as separate but equal in Judaism.
- Women’s obligations and responsibilities are different from mens, but no less important.
- Men and women are created in the image of God.
- Traditional Jews belive that women are seen with a greater level of binah than men.
- 10 commandments require respect for both fathers and mothers.
- The opinions of Beruya, were accepted on the Halakah by her male contemporaries.
- Many rabbis consult females over laws that affect them, such as menstrual cycle.
16
Q
To what extent are women treated unfairly in a Jewish divorce?
A
- Power of divorce rests with the husband - must be in a legal document.
- The traditional procedure is based on the Code of Jewish law.
- The Rabbi asks the husband if he gives the bill of divorce of his own free will.
- The Get is written on parchment in Aramaic.
- Since it is the husband who must give the bill of divorce to the wife, if he cannot be located then there is an obstacle to the procedure.
- In Reform Judaism, a civil divorce is regarded as valid.
17
Q
What does Judith Plaskow say about this?
A
- Women’s movement in Judaism is drfined by secularism.
- Conflict between different communities, cultures and traditions with Jewish identity.
- Therefore, feminism and Judaism = conflict in identities.
18
Q
What does Mary Daly say about this?
A
- Written traditions.
- Halakah.
- Bible.
- Jewish philosophy.
- Liturgy.
All in the hands of men.
M.Daly - our power of naming in religion is stolen from women.
- God brought animals to Adam in the Garden of Eden to see what he would call them = through the words of men.
- Male power of naming has oppressed and excluded women.
- Jewish women are excluded by law - their place is in the home.
- God = he - imagine him male terms which is inaccurate.
- How do women remain true to themselves and remain in contiunity with tradition.
19
Q
What does Carol Christ say about this?
A
- Carol Christ: offers a new version of an Elie Wiesel God-man dialogue in which a man’s anger leads to a new relationship and love; here the woman in her dialogue frees God from “bondage to patriarchal history”.
- She retells Wiesel’s story A Town Beyond The Wall - a story about God and man changing places.
- C.Christ - God and woman change places to elicit how ‘she’ too has had the power of naming stolen from her.
- The liberation of both God and woman depends on their renewing an ancient dialogue.
- C.Christ wants God to experience the suffering of women who do not exist - even for God.
- Women need to liberate themselves from a patriarchal tradition to bring him out of his alienation from woman.
- The major emphasis is on what Rachel Janait calls a “dialectical tension” between Jewish values and the mores of modern society in the light of women’s liberation.
