Feminist Jewish ethics is an area of study in Jewish ethics and feminist philosophy.
Literature and key thinkers
Judith Plaskow
In her 1991 work, Standing Again at Sinai: Judaism from a Feminist Perspective, Judith Plaskow discusses the experiences of Jewish women, within a modern framework. Her work focuses on the transformation Jewish tradition, to include and be influenced by a feminist lens. This theme of change is heavily carried throughout her writing on Feminist Jewish Ethics. She considers the ways in which feminist thought can utilize theology to include women within Jewish thinking and experience. Plaskow takes on a Feminist perspective in her analysis of Jewish tradition in order to provide a reinterpretation of theology and Jewish thought that best includes and validates the experiences of modern Jewish women. She confronts Jewish theology and its tendencies toward male-centric language, and the singularity of its image of a superior God. She argues that such tendencies influence and motivate underlying patriarchal forces within traditional Judaism, and thus invalidate female experiences. By arguing for a multiplicity of images of God and the reassessment of God's role as non-hierarchical, Plaskow aims to provide a resolution within her Jewish feminist theology.
Rachel Adler
In her 1971 article entitled "The Jew Who Wasn't There: Halacha and the Jewish Woman", Rachel Adler provides an initial platform for her own analysis of feminist ethics within the Jewish tradition. Throughout various works, she focuses on Jewish traditional considerations of impurities within women. She presents a defense of Jewish ritual for female purification, in her 1972 work "Tum'ah and Toharah: Ends and Beginnings". However, in her 1993 essay, "In Your Blood, Live: Re-visions of a Theology of Purity", she rather arrives at an opposing conclusion, that traditional discussions of purity and impurity do not allow for an equalized system, between males and females and that such tradition suggests that "most impure people are women". In her 1983 essay entitled, "I've Had Nothing Yet, So I Can't Take More", she criticizes rabbinic tradition for marginalizing women within "its processes".
Blu Greenberg
In her 1981 work, On Women and Judaism: A View from Tradition, Blu Greenberg studies the many ways in which modern women are excluded from Judaism. By doing so, she develops a new space and way of practice for the female role, within traditional Judaism. She aims to uncover whether feminism is of benefit or detriment to Jewish tradition. Her works aim to mend the points of contention that she studies between Judaism and feminism. However, she is mutually committed to truly understanding whether feminism is beneficial for Jewish tradition.
Tamar Ross
Tamar Ross is a Modern Orthodox Jewish feminist thinker who confronts perceived flaws within traditional Jewish thought and law. She considers biases within what she considers patriarchal traditional text. In response to a traditional concept that she considers particularly problematic: the idea of "Torah from Heaven", she introduces the idea of evolving revelation. She develops this approach, and the metaphor of "Expanding the Palace of Torah", which she adopts from Abraham Isaac Kook's philosophy, as she intends to promote expansion, rather than dismissal of religious tradition, and text. In her 2004 work, Expanding the Palace of Torah: Orthodoxy and Feminism, she details a path by which Orthodoxy can become more inclusive of Feminist Ethics and practice.
Tova Hartman
In her book, Feminism Encounters Traditional Judaism: Resistance and Accommodation, Tova Hartman offers experiential insight on the intersections of modern feminism and Jewish Tradition. Hartman provides three stances that she claims "may be relevant, resonant, and helpful in cultivating a strong feminist position vis-á-vis the traditional Jewish canon,": affirmation, rejection and reinterpretation. Her juxtaposition of feminist readings of Freud and alternative feminist readings of Orthodox Judaism allows Hartman to emphasize the utility and necessity of reinterpretation and revision in her own attempt at re-engagement.
History Jewish ethics is the intersection of Judaism and the philosophical discipline of ethics. Most Jewish ethical texts derive from the Hebrew Bible. For centuries, the biblical literature has served as a "primary source for the development of Jewish moral concepts and ethical reflection".Mittleman 2012, p. 10 Tracing back to ancient rabbinic Judaism, scholars have sought to develop ethics and a moral code of conduct based on their understanding of the written Torah. Pirkei Avot, a compilation of ethical teachings in the Talmud, was written by the rabbis of the Mishnaic period. It outlines the Torah's views on ethics and interpersonal relationships and it is the only part of the Talmud not containing laws. Jewish ethics continued to expand in the Middle Ages as great Jewish thinkers including Moses Maimonides, Saadya Gaon, and Bahya ben Joseph ibn Paquda greatly contributed to moral Jewish thought. During the 19th and 20th centuries, Jewish ethics flourished, in part due to the development of the different denominations or branches of Judaism. There are many different scholars who have influenced contemporary Jewish ethics including Hermann Cohen, Martin Buber, and Emmanuel Levinas. Still, in recent decades, the interpretation and reinterpretation of Jewish ethics continues to be a source of debate among scholars.
In the 1970s, Feminist Jewish scholars entered this debate. The Jewish feminist movement emerged as part of the Second Wave of Feminism in an attempt to"improve the social, religious, and legal status of women within Judaism and create new opportunities for religious experience and leadership." As a result of the feminist Jewish movement, many changes were made in the status and treatment of Jewish women, most notably regarding worship, liturgy, and the practices of niddah and the mikveh.
Along with changes to the treatment of women, there were new developments in feminist Jewish scholarship and thought. Prior to the 1970s and 1980s, women's voices were excluded from the predominantly male-oriented practices and texts of Judaism. Feminist Jewish-thought scholars have attempted to create a theological narrative that merges feminism with Judaism. According to Judith Plaskow, one of the first Jewish feminist theologians, early Jewish feminists were mainly concerned with the exclusion of women from the minyan, positive time-bound mitzvot, and the inability for women to serve as witnesses and to initiate divorce.wikipedia.org Today, the dilemmas posed for Jewish feminist theologians extend beyond the original issues by tackling problems of women in liturgy, biblical language, and sexuality. "Though all feminists believe that Judaism reflects a male bias, the extent to which each Jewish feminist believes Judaism and feminism are reconcilable"Plaskow 1991 has shaped the multitude of ways feminist scholars have approached feminist Jewish thought.
One approach for many feminist Jewish theologians has been the belief that Judaism is patriarchial at its core and that a few alterations to Jewish practices do not compensate for gender inequality. They believe Judaism is a system that reflects a dominantly male-voice and one in which woman is viewed as "other". It is their view that the current form of Judaism must be rejected. Feminist Jewish theologians have responded to this problem in a number of ways. In the 1970s, Judith Plaskow suggested the need for a complete reimagining of Judaism. In many of her works, Plaskow addresses the problem of Judaism's androcentric theology and argues that feminism "demands a new understanding of Torah, God, and Israel".myjewishlearning.com Not only must the male-dominated language of Judaism (such as the image of God as male and superior) be changed, but also a multiplicity of God images is an essential aspect of Jewish feminist theology. Furthermore, she promotes a Judaism in which the feminist mode of thought can help redefine the Jewish experience for women. From Plaskow's point of view, Judaism must undergo a complete reimagining that not only focuses on contemporary Jewish problems, but one that delves into the theology behind Judaism.
Another approach by feminist Jewish theologians has sought to integrate female concerns and female voices into an existing model of Judaism. Blu Greenberg, an Orthodox Jew, is one such feminist who follows this model. In her most well-known work, On Women and Judaism written in 1994, Greenberg presents a model for reconciling Judaism and feminism in a way that works within the boundaries of halakha and allows for "growth and greater equality in ritual and spiritual realms".Plaskow 1991, p. 231 To accomplish this goal, Greenberg proposes many alterations to Jewish practices so that they more readily reflect women's equality. Scholars who support this model are more likely to use traditional resources as a means to foster a feminist Judaism because Judaism appears to be less androcentric. Theologians such as Greenberg ultimately advocate for a movement where Halakhah embodies and expresses women's concerns and infuses women's concerns with Jewish values.
Rachel Adler, a Reform feminist Jewish theologian, has another approach to women's place in Jewish ethics. Adler, in her work Engendering Judaism written in 1998, advocates for the use of gender to help understand the Jewish past and shape the Jewish future. Adler acknowledges that although traditional Jewish law has systematically ignored women's voices, she also recognizes the centrality of Halacha. She thus envisions a Judaism, which would draw not only upon the totality of Jewish tradition and law, but also one in which gender and gender equality are central to the conversation, ultimately creating a more inclusive, engendered Judaism.Adler 1997
One other popular methodology used by feminist Jewish theologians is the belief that while there are gender inequalities within Judaism, they can be changed without altering the fundamentally traditional structures. Tamar Ross, in Expanding the Palace of Torah written in 2004, outlines a path for a more inclusive Orthodoxy of feminist values. She argues for a change within halakha, detailing halakhic legal tools that can allow for changes in Orthodoxy as well as providing theologies of revelation and God, which allow for the acceptance of these changes.Ross 2004 In a similar fashion, Tova Hartman, in her work Feminism Encounters Traditional Judaism written in 2007, acknowledges the importance of biblical literature, but argues for the rereading and reinterpretation of such texts to create a more inclusive Judaism for women.Hartman 2007
Changes in the status of women within Judaism
The multitude of scholars who have addressed the tension between feminism and Judaism with respect to theology has led to significant changes within the different denominations of Judaism. For instance, women found the language of the traditional Judaic prayer book to be restrictive and lacking a feminine voice. The exclusion of matriarchs and sole use of male imagery to describe God suggested that public worship was primarily for men. In the early 1990s, prayer books began to include the names of the matriarchs as well as gender-sensitive God-language. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, many changes for women were made in synagogue life such as the inclusion of women in liturgical positions and the ability to form a minyan. In 1972, the Reform Movement in the United States ordained the first female rabbi. For many Jewish women, the Reform Movement provided an ideal setting for women's voices to be heard and their experiences to be central to Judaism rather than marginalized.Jewishvirtuallibrary.org