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<!-- Deleted image removed: [[Image:Rachel Adler.jpg|right|frame|Dr. [[Rachel Adler]], a Jewish feminist]] -->
{{Jewish feminism}}
{{Feminism sidebar |Variants}}
{{Jews and Judaism sidebar |Politics}}

'''Jewish feminism''' is a movement that seeks to improve the religious, legal, and [[social status]] of women within Judaism and to open up new opportunities for religious experience and leadership for Jewish women. Feminist movements, with varying approaches and successes, have opened up within all major branches of Judaism.

In its modern form, the Jewish feminist movement can be traced to the early 1970s in the United States. According to [[Judith Plaskow]], who has focused on feminism in [[Reform Judaism]], the main needs for early Jewish feminists were the exclusion from the all-male prayer group or ''[[minyan]]'', the exemption from [[Positive time-bound mitzvot|positive time-bound]] ''[[Mitzvah|mitzvot]]'', and women's inability to function as witnesses and to initiate [[Jewish view of marriage#Divorce|divorce]].<ref name=Plaskow1997>Plaskow, Judith. "Jewish Feminist Thought" in Frank, Daniel H. & Leaman, Oliver. ''History of Jewish Philosophy'', Routledge, first published 1997; this edition 2003.</ref>

According to historian [[Paula Hyman]], two articles published in the 1970s on the role of [[women in Judaism]] were particularly influential: "The Unfreedom of Jewish Women," published in 1970 in the ''Jewish Spectator'' by its editor, [[Trude Weiss-Rosmarin]], which criticized the treatment of women in [[Halakha|Jewish law]], and an article by [[Rachel Adler]], then an [[Orthodox Judaism|Orthodox Jew]] and currently a professor at the [[Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion]], called "[https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:_aHy1mQXk-wJ:jwa.org/feminism/_html/_pdf/JWA001c.pdf+&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESgKmt25OwE0fl_Yilu_Ayd2XrtUpxtH52C6zkfrOLO9kO3MY2xVhkqGBpT6zzezOqIk1LBVxYL-V6FOndSiaBz7r2-hb4hLFEXlO_0b69WFpJG3VFbA2re0sEij_EvX3Ji0fDdu&sig=AHIEtbRjKD8kuUm-7s5FWSmOBXwcs6djSA&pli=1 The Jew Who Wasn't There: Halacha and the Jewish Woman]," published in 1971 in ''Davka,'' a countercultural magazine.<ref>Adler, Rachel. ""The Jew Who Wasn't There: Halacha and the Jewish Woman." ''Davka'' (Summer 1972) 7–11.</ref><ref>[https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:_aHy1mQXk-wJ:jwa.org/feminism/_html/_pdf/JWA001c.pdf+&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESgKmt25OwE0fl_Yilu_Ayd2XrtUpxtH52C6zkfrOLO9kO3MY2xVhkqGBpT6zzezOqIk1LBVxYL-V6FOndSiaBz7r2-hb4hLFEXlO_0b69WFpJG3VFbA2re0sEij_EvX3Ji0fDdu&sig=AHIEtbRjKD8kuUm-7s5FWSmOBXwcs6djSA&pli=1 Google Drive Viewer<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

== Agunah ==

[[Agunah]] ({{lang-he|עגונה}}, plural: agunot (עגונות); literally 'anchored or chained') is a [[halakha|halachic]] term for a [[Jewish]] woman who is "chained" to her [[marriage]]. The classic case of this is a man who has left on a journey and has not returned, or has gone into battle and is [[missing in action|MIA]]. It also refers to a woman whose husband refuses, or is unable, to grant her an official bill of [[divorce]], known as a ''[[Get (divorce document)|get]]''. The problem of get-refusal became more widespread when Jews lived in countries where civil divorce was available, separate from religious divorce. Outside Israel, an ''agunah'' could obtain a civil divorce and remarry via [[civil marriage]], as non-Israeli legal systems generally do not recognize the ''agunah'' status, but an ''agunah'' would not typically pursue a second marriage, since her first marriage is still valid according to halakha, therefore any other sexual relationships would constitute [[adultery]] from her first husband. Furthermore, according to halakha, any children born by an agunah are considered [[mamzer]]im (bastards). The earliest prenuptial agreement for the prevention of get-refusal was developed and accepted by the Rabbinical Council of Morocco on December 16, 1953 ("Sefer Hatakanot", Vol. 1, The Institute for Moroccan Jewish Tradition, Jerusalem). The prenuptial agreement gained further approbation in 1981 from Rabbi Shalom Messas, chief rabbi of Jerusalem ("Sefer Tevuot Shemesh", Jerusalem 1981). Following Rabbi Messas' involvement, the [[Rabbinical Council of America]] actively pursued this issue (“The RCA Commission: Solving the Problem of Gittin", Hamevaser, Vol. 22 No. 2, October 27, 1983). The latest in a series of RCA resolutions -- "that since there is a significant agunah problem in America and throughout the Jewish world, no rabbi should officiate at a wedding where a proper prenuptial agreement on get has not been executed”—was passed on May 18, 2006.<ref>[http://www.rabbis.org/news/article.cfm?id=100772 Rabbinical Council of America (RCA)<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> In 2012 the International Rabbinic Fellowship (IRF), an international organization of (as of 2012) 150 Modern Orthodox rabbis, passed a resolution saying that, "IRF Rabbis may not officiate at a wedding unless the couple has signed a halachic prenuptial agreement. IRF Rabbis are further encouraged to participate ritually only in weddings in which the couple has signed a halachic prenuptial agreement. Ritual participation includes but is not limited to reading the [[ketubah]], serving as a witness, and making one of the [[sheva berachot]]." This makes the IRF the only Orthodox rabbinical organization in the world to require its members to use a halachic pre-nuptial agreement in any wedding at which they officiate.<ref>[http://www.internationalrabbinicfellowship.org/news/international-rabbinic-fellowship-takes-historic-step-prevent-future-agunot International Rabbinic Fellowship Takes Historic Step to Prevent Future Agunot | International Rabbinical Fellowship<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

Beginning in the 1950s, some Conservative rabbis have used the [[Lieberman clause]], named for Talmudic scholar and [[Jewish Theological Seminary of America|Jewish Theological Seminary]] (JTS) professor [[Saul Lieberman]], in the ''[[ketuba]]'', requiring that a get be granted if a civil divorce is ever issued.  Most Orthodox rabbis have rejected the Lieberman clause, although leaders of the Conservative movement claim that the original intent was to find a solution that could be used by Orthodox and Conservative rabbis alike, and that leaders of Orthodox Judaism's [[Rabbinical Council of America]], and respected Orthodox rabbis, including [[Joseph B. Soloveitchik]], supposedly recognized the clause as valid. Later, because some civil courts viewed the enforcement of a religious document as a violation of the [[U.S. Constitution|constitutional]] principle of the [[separation of church and state]],  Conservative rabbis began to require couples to sign a separate letter, stating that the clause had been explained to them as part of pre-marital counseling, and that both parties understood and agreed to its conditions, recognizing that this letter would constitute a separate civil document, enforceable in a civilian court. However, many Conservative rabbis, including some on the movement's own [[Committee on Jewish Law and Standards|law committee]], had growing misgivings about the clause for religious reasons.

In 1968, by a unanimous vote of the law committee, it was decided that the Joint Bet Din of the Conservative movement could annul marriages as a last resort, based on the Talmudic principle of ''hafka'at kiddushin.'' According to Rabbi Mayer Rabinowitz, the Chairman of the Joint Bet Din of the [[Conservative Judaism|Conservative Movement]], just the threat of this action was sometimes enough to compel the former husband to grant a get.

In 1990 Agunah Day was established by ICAR - The International Coalition for Agunah Rights - to raise public awareness of the plight of the Agunah and galvanize action to solve the problem. It is observed on the [[Hebrew calendar|Jewish calendar]] date of the [[Fast of Esther]].

In 1995 the Israeli parliament gave the rabbinical court expanded legal power to sanction men who refuse to give their wives a ''get'' by suspending their driver's licenses, seizing their bank accounts, preventing travel abroad and even imprisoning those who do not comply with an order to grant a divorce; however, women's groups say the 1995 law is not very effective because the court uses sanctions in less than 2% of cases.<ref>[http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/middleeast/la-fg-israel-divorce-problems-20130726,0,4730957.story Israel divorce law traps women in marriages that died long ago - latimes.com<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

In 2004, Justice Menachem HaCohen of the [[Jerusalem]] Family Court offered new hope to ''agunot'' when he ruled that a man refusing his wife a ''get'' must pay her NIS 425,000 in punitive damages, because "[R]efusal to grant a ''get'' constitutes a severe infringement on her ability to lead a reasonable, normal life, and can be considered emotional abuse lasting several years." He noted that "[T]his is not another sanction against someone refusing to give a ''get'', intended to speed up the process of granting a ''get'', and this court is not involving itself in any future arrangements for the granting of a ''get'', but rather, it is a direct response to the consequences that stem from not granting a ''get'', and the right of the woman to receive punitive damages." This ruling stemmed from the Public Litigation Project initiated by the advocacy organization [[Center for Women's Justice Israel|Center for Women's Justice]] as one of a number of successful lawsuits filed in Israeli civil courts claiming financial damages against recalcitrant husbands.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Weiss|first=Susan|title=The Tort of Get Refusal: Why Tort and Why Not?|journal=Conversations|series=Orthodoxy: Family & Gender Issues|issue=5|url=http://www.jewishideas.org/articles/tort-get-refusal-why-tort-and-why-not|accessdate=July 19, 2011| archiveurl= http://web.archive.org/web/20110703092706/http://www.jewishideas.org/articles/tort-get-refusal-why-tort-and-why-not| archivedate= 3 July 2011 <!--DASHBot-->| deadurl= no}}</ref>

In 2014 the Rabbinate of [[Uruguay]] instituted the requirement for all Jewish couples that marry under its auspices to sign a Rabbinic Pre-nuptial Agreement. The agreement states that in the case of the couple divorcing civilly, the husband is obligated to immediately deliver to his wife a get. The initiative was launched by [[Sara Winkowski]], a director of the Kehila, the Comunidad Israelita del Uruguay (Jewish Community of Uruguay), who is also a Vice President of the World Jewish Congress and longtime activist for the rights of women within Jewish law.<ref>http://www.vosizneias.com/153024/2014/01/23/montevideo-uruguay-chief-rabbi-institutes-rabbinic-pre-nuptial-agreement/</ref>

== Israel and Jewish feminism ==
{{See also|Women in Israel}}

In 1947 [[David Ben-Gurion]] agreed that the authority in matters of marriage and divorce would be invested in the hands of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, and an agreement was signed stating that (among other matters), known as the "status quo letter." <ref>http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/10/civil-marriage-israel-jews-secular-orthodox-rabbinical-court.html</ref> In 1953 the [[Knesset]] enacted the Rabbinical Courts Jurisdiction (Marriage and Divorce) Law, 5713 – 1953.<ref name="jewishvirtuallibrary.org">http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0003_0_02840.html</ref>  Section 1 of the Law states, "Matters of marriage and divorce of Jews in Israel, being citizens or residents of the State, shall be under the exclusive jurisdiction of the rabbinical courts." <ref name="jewishvirtuallibrary.org"/> The substantive provision of section 2 of this Law further states: "Marriages and divorces of Jews shall be performed in Israel in accordance with Jewish religious law" (din torah).<ref name="jewishvirtuallibrary.org"/> However, a Muslim woman in Israel may petition for and receive a divorce through the Sharia courts without her husband's consent under certain conditions, and a marriage contract may provide for other circumstances in which she may obtain a divorce without her husband's consent. A Muslim man in Israel may divorce his wife without her consent and without petitioning the court.<ref name="hr2010">2010 Human Rights Report: Israel and the occupied territories. U.S. Department of state. ''This article incorporates public domain material from this source''.</ref> Christians in Israel may seek official separations or divorces, depending on the denomination, through ecclesiastical courts.<ref name="hr2010"/>

In 2006, Israel’s Supreme Court ruled that women should be allowed to deliver eulogies and that the burial societies, or chevra kadisha, should not impose gender segregation in the cemetery.<ref name="ReferenceB">[http://www.jewishjournal.com/religion/article/israeli_chief_rabbinical_council_oks_eulogies_by_women_20120612 Israeli Chief Rabbinical Council OKs eulogies by women | Religion | Jewish Journal<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> The ruling was in response to an incident in [[Petach Tikvah]] in which a woman was stopped from eulogizing her father.<ref name="ReferenceB"/> However, the court’s ruling was not backed up by the Religious Services Ministry until 2012, when Israel’s Chief Rabbinical Council ruled that women can deliver eulogies at funerals, but that it is up to the community rabbi to decide on a case-by-case basis.<ref name="ReferenceB"/>

In 2010, Israel passed the Civil Union Law, allowing a couple to marry civilly in Israel if they are both registered as officially not belonging to any religion.<ref>http://www.myjewishlearning.com/israel/Contemporary_Life/Society_and_Religious_Issues/Freedom_of_Religion/civil_marriage_in_israel.shtml</ref>

On September 28, 2010, the [[Israeli Supreme Court]] outlawed public gender segregation in Jerusalem's [[Mea Shearim]] neighborhood in response to a petition submitted after extremist Haredi men physically and verbally assaulted women for walking on a designated men's only road. However, in January 2011, a ruling of the [[Israeli High Court of Justice]] allowed the continuation of the gender segregation in public buses on a strictly voluntary basis for a one-year experimental period.<ref name="jpost1">{{Cite news |publisher=Jerusalem Post |title=Court scraps ‘mehadrin’ buses |date=January 6, 2011 |url=http://www.jpost.com/JewishWorld/JewishNews/Article.aspx?ID=202456&R=R1 |accessdate=2011-03-08 | first=Dan |last=Izenberg |first2=Jonah |last2=Mandel}}</ref>

In 2013 the Israeli Orthodox rabbinical organization Beit Hillel issued a [[halacha|halachic]] ruling which allows women, for the first time, to say the [[Kaddish]] prayer in memory of their deceased parents.<ref name="ynetnews.com">http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4396702,00.html</ref>

Also in 2013, the minimum marriage age in Israel became 18 for females and males.<ref>http://www.timesofisrael.com/knesset-raise-minimum-marriage-age-from-17-to-18/</ref>

Also in 2013, the [[Religious Judges Law]] in Israel was amended to say that at least four women must be included in the religious judges' nomination committee, including a female advocate in the religious courts, and that the total number of committee members shall be eleven.<ref>[http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=9919 Israel Hayom | In a first, women to sit on rabbinic judges selection panel<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

Also in 2013, Israel’s [[Chief Rabbinate]] promised to remove the obstacles preventing women from working as supervisors in the state [[kosher]] certification system, and [[Emunah]] announced the first supervisor certification course for women in Israel.<ref>http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/.premium-1.561459</ref>

Also in 2013, the Minister of Religious Affairs and Chief Rabbis issued statements telling ritual bath attendants only to inspect women who want inspection, putting an end to forced inspections of women at mikvehs.<ref>http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/174499#.UqT7w-Jo2kw</ref>

In May 2013, after engaging in [[civil disobedience]] for over two decades, a judge ruled that a 2003 Israeli Supreme Court ruling prohibiting women from carrying a Torah or wearing prayer shawls at the [[Western Wall]] had been misinterpreted and that [[Women of the Wall]] prayer gatherings at the [[Western Wall]] should not be deemed illegal.<ref name=civildisobedience>{{cite news |url=http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/26/world/middleeast/israeli-law-curbing-womens-prayer-up-for-review.html |title=Israel to Review Curbs on Women's Prayer at Western Wall |first=Jodi |last=Rudoren |work=The New York Times |date=December 25, 2012 |accessdate=December 25, 2012}}</ref>

== Jewish feminist theology ==

Various versions of [[feminist theology]] exist within the Jewish community.

Some of these theologies promote the idea that it is important to have a feminine characterisation of God within the [[siddur]] (Jewish prayerbook) and service.

In 1976, [[Rita Gross]] published the article "Female God Language in a Jewish Context" (Davka Magazine 17), which Jewish scholar and feminist [[Judith Plaskow]] considers "probably the first article to deal theoretically with the issue of female God-language in a Jewish context".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.myjewishlearning.com/beliefs/Issues/Gender_and_Feminism/Feminist_Thought/Theology.shtml |title=Jewish Feminist Theology: A Survey |publisher=My Jewish Learning |date= |accessdate=2012-07-17}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dhushara.com/book/torah/cardoza/ssin.htm |title=Standing at Sinai |publisher=Dhushara.com |date= |accessdate=2012-07-17}}</ref> &nbsp;Gross was Jewish herself at this time.<ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=SJs-aLqCiF8C&pg=PA200&dq=rita+gross+jew&hl=en&ei=j1I9T8y6Loy_0QGp4qHpBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=book-thumbnail&resnum=1&ved=0CDYQ6wEwADgU#v=onepage&q=rita%20gross%20jew&f=false |title=Jewish Mysticism and Kabbalah: New Insights and Scholarship - Frederick Greenspahn - Google Books |publisher=Books.google.com |date= |accessdate=2012-07-17}}</ref>

[[Reconstructionist Judaism|Reconstructionist]] [[Rabbi]] [[Rebecca Alpert]] (''Reform Judaism'', Winter 1991) comments:
{{quote|The experience of praying with ''Siddur Nashim'' [the first Sabbath prayer book to refer to God using female pronouns and imagery]  ... transformed my relationship with God. For the first time, I understood what it meant to be made in God's image. To think of God as a woman like myself, to see Her as both powerful and nurturing, to see Her imaged with a woman's body, with womb, with breasts – this was an experience of ultimate significance. Was this the relationship that men have had with God for all these millennia? How wonderful to gain access to those feelings and perceptions.}} ''Siddur Nashim'' was self-published in 1976 by [[Naomi Janowitz]] and [[Margaret Wenig]]. In 1990 [[Margaret Wenig]] wrote the sermon, "[http://books.google.com/books?id=pSGafFWQ4GQC&pg=PA190&dq=%22god+is+a+woman+and+she+is+growing%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=MWzlUfDfHpau4APHtIGwCw&ved=0CDwQ6wEwAQ#v=onepage&q=%22god%20is%20a%20woman%20and%20she%20is%20growing%20older%22&f=false God is a Woman and She is Growing Older]," which as of 2011 has been published ten times (three times in German) and preached by rabbis from Australia to California.<ref>http://huc.edu/faculty/faculty/MargaretWenig.shtml</ref>

Rabbi Paula Reimers ("Feminism, Judaism, and God the Mother", ''Conservative Judaism'' '''46''' (1993)) comments:
{{quote|Those who want to use God/She language want to affirm womanhood and the feminine aspect of the deity. They do this by emphasizing that which most clearly distinguishes the female experience from the male. A male or female deity can create through speech or through action, but the metaphor for creation which is uniquely feminine is birth. Once God is called female, then, the metaphor of birth and the identification of the deity with nature and its processes become inevitable}}

Ahuva Zache affirms that using both masculine and feminine language for God can be a positive thing, but reminds her Reform Jewish readership that God is beyond gender (''Is God male, female, both or neither? How should we phrase our prayers in response to God’s gender?'', in the Union for [[Reform Judaism]]'s iTorah, [http://urj.org/Articles/index.cfm?id=11422]):

{{quote|Feminine imagery of God does not in any way threaten Judaism. On the contrary, it enhances the Jewish understanding of God, which should not be limited to masculine metaphors. All language that humans use to describe God is only a metaphor. Using masculine and feminine metaphors for God is one way to remind ourselves that gendered descriptions of God are just metaphors. God is beyond gender.}}

These views are highly controversial even within liberal Jewish movements.<ref>"This genderless God also represents a profound betrayal of the Torah narrative."  Matthew Berke, "God and Gender in Judaism", in Copyright (c) 1996 ''First Things'' 64 (June/July 1996): 33–38</ref>  [[Orthodox Judaism|Orthodox Jews]] and many [[Conservative Judaism|Conservative Jews]]
hold that it is wrong to use English female pronouns for God, viewing such usage as an intrusion of modern feminist ideology into Jewish tradition.{{Citation needed|date=August 2008}} Liberal prayerbooks tend increasingly to also avoid male-specific words and pronouns, seeking that all references to God in translations be made in gender-neutral language. For example, the [[Liberal Judaism (UK)|UK Liberal movement]]'s ''Siddur Lev Chadash'' (1995) does so, as does the [[Reform Judaism (UK)|UK Reform Movement]]'s ''Forms of Prayer'' (2008).<ref>[http://thejc.com/articles/the-slimline-siddur-a-touch-bob-dylan The slimline siddur with a touch of Bob Dylan | The Jewish Chronicle<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref><ref>[http://www.bwpjc.org/slc.htm Siddur Lev Chadash<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> In [[Mishkan T'filah]], the American Reform Jewish prayer book released in 2007, references to God as “He” have been removed, and whenever Jewish patriarchs are named (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob), so also are the matriarchs (Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, and Leah.) <ref>http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/03/us/03prayerbook.html?_r=1</ref>

In 2003 "The Female Face of God in Auschwitz", the first full-length feminist theology of the Holocaust, written by Melissa Raphael, was published.<ref>[http://www.amazon.com/dp/0415236657 The Female Face of God in Auschwitz: A Jewish Feminist Theology of the Holocaust (Religion and Gender): Melissa Raphael: 9780415236652: Amazon.com: Books<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> [[Judith Plaskow]]’s "Standing Again at Sinai: Judaism from a Feminist Perspective" (1991), and [[Rachel Adler]]’s "Engendering Judaism: An Inclusive Theology and Ethics" (1999) are the only two full-length Jewish feminist works to focus entirely on theology in general (rather than specific aspects such as Holocaust theology.) <ref>[http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/feminist-theology Feminist Theology | Jewish Women's Archive<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> Thus, "Standing Again at Sinai: Judaism from a Feminist Perspective" (1991) is the first book of Jewish feminist theology ever written.

== Orthodox Judaism and Jewish feminism==

===Haredi positions on feminism===

The leaders of [[Haredi Judaism]] regularly pronounce all forms of feminism as "Reform", as non-Jewish, or as a threat to Jewish tradition. An article in Cross-currents criticizing advancing women's leadership writes that: "The entirety of traditional Jewish religious life, including its age-old ritual norms and societal norms, even if they lack formal codification, reflects Torah values, be they halachic or hashkafic; every aspect of our multi-millenia traditional religious communal modality is embedded in or predicated upon halachic or hashkafic axioms. These axioms may not be apparent to the uninitiated, yet failure to perceive them does not grant license to negate, dismiss or reform."<ref>{{cite news|last=Gordimer|first=Avrohom|title=Ordaining Women and the Role of Mesorah|url=http://www.cross-currents.com/archives/2013/06/03/what-about-mesorah-do-you-not-understand/#ixzz2uVOmqFmJ|accessdate=February 26, 2014|newspaper=Cross-currents|date=June 3, 2013}}</ref> The haredi claim is that feminism is changing Torah.

Haredi Judaism also espouses strict essentialist differences between men and women, rooted in ideas about God's will and creation. The haredi worldview espouses the idea of womanhood as expressed in King Solomon's poem "A Woman of Valor," which praises a woman for maintaining the home, care for the family, and food-preparation, practices which the poem admire in women as part of their wisdom, courage, creativity, dedication, selflessness, and perhaps business acumen.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.aish.com/societywork/women/Feminism_and_Judaism.asp |title=Feminism & Judaism |last=Heller |first=Rebbetzin Tziporah |publisher=aish.com |date=8 January 2000 |accessdate=23 July 2012}}</ref>

The most important thrust of haredi education for girls and young women is to educate, train and encourage them to become wives and mothers within large families devoted to the strictest [[Torah Judaism]] way of life. While most haredi women receive schooling in [[Beis Yaakov]] schools designed for them exclusively, the curriculum of these schools does not teach [[Talmud]] and neither encourages nor teaches its female students to study the same subjects as young haredi men in the haredi [[yeshiva]]s. In some haredi communities, the education of girls in secular subjects (such as mathematics) is superior to that of boys.  This is partly because of the greater time devoted to sacred subjects in the case of boys, and partly because many haredi women work in paid jobs to enable their husbands to engage in full-time Torah study or to bring in a second income.

There is currently no movement within haredi Judaism to train women as [[rabbi]]s, and there is no visible movement to advance women's Talmudic knowledge.  Nevertheless, haredi women are exposed to modern ideas and secular education, unlike most haredi men. Prof. Tamar El-or explored changes in women's lives and the impact of mixed educational cultures on women's empowerment in her seminal book, ''Educated and Ignorant'' about the education of women in the Gur Hassidic community.<ref>{{cite book|last=El-Or|first=Tamar|title=Educated and Ignorant: Ultraorthodox Jewish Women and their World .:|year=1994|publisher=Lynne Rienner Pub.|location=Boulder, CO}}</ref>

However, despite this very traditionalist approach to gender, there are some signs of a feminist movement beginning to sprout in the haredi world, especially in Israel. During the 2013 Israeli elections, Esti Shushan led a feminist drive to force haredi political parties to allow women to run on their lists (the parties currently forbid women from running). The campaign, called on haredi women to refuse to vote for parties that exclude women.<ref>{{cite news|last=Jeffay|first=Nathan|title=Israeli elections: Charedi women refuse to vote|url=http://www.thejc.com/news/israel-news/97420/israeli-elections-charedi-women-refuse-vote|accessdate=February 26, 2014|newspaper=The Jewish Chronicle|date=January 10, 2013}}</ref> In addition, during the 2013 municipal elections in Israel, three haredi women took an unprecedented step and ran for their local municipalities—Shira Gergi in Safed, Ruth Colian in Petach Tikva, and Racheli Ibenboim in Jerusalem. Gergi is the only one who was elected, becoming the first haredi woman to sit on a municipal council, and becoming the first woman on the Safed council in twenty years.

One of the most interesting voices of haredi feminism is that of Adina Bar-Shalom, daughter of the late Israeli Sephardic Chief Rabbi [[Ovadia Yosef]]. Bar Shalom established the Haredi College of Jerusalem, regularly speaks out about the importance of women's education and work, and in 2013 established a women's-only political party in the haredi town of Elad. In addition, in early 2014 she considered a bid to become the president of Israel.<ref>{{cite news|last=Haaretz|title=Next goal of Shas leader's daughter: Israeli presidency Adina Bar Shalom, oldest daughter of Ovadia Yosef and founder of ultra-Orthodox college in Jerusalem, said to be angling for Shimon Peres' job.|url=http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/1.569976|accessdate=February 26, 2014|newspaper=Haaretz|date=Jan 22, 2014}}</ref> In March 2014, Bar-Shalom wrote that the haredi feminist revolution is already here. "The train has left the station," she wrote.<ref>{{cite web|last=Bar-Shalom|first=Adidna|title=Haredi feminism is already here|url=http://www.jewfem.com/index.php?option=com_easyblog&view=entry&id=419&Itemid=233|publisher=Translated by Elana Maryles Sztokman}}</ref>

Another emerging haredi voice is that of Esty Reider-Indorsky. She "came out" in March 2014 as a popular haredi columnist who had been writing under a man's name -- "Ari Solomon"—and has a large following under her pseudonym. In an article in YNet, Reider-Indorsky claimed that there is a strong feminist movement brewing in the haredi community, and asked non-haredi women to stay out of their own internal revolution. "Don't patronize us," she writes to non-haredi feminists. "Don't make revolutions for us, or try to clean out our backyard. We are doing it in our own way and we are doing it better: There is an abundance of haredi women lawyers and women in start-up.... There are haredi women who choose an academic career, and there are haredi women leading change in every area imaginable... The change will happen. it's already happening."<ref>{{cite news|last=Rieder-Indosrky|first=Esty|title=Dear Israeli women, don't patronize us|url=http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-4496840,00.html|accessdate=March 9, 2014|newspaper=YNet (Hebrew)|date=March 9, 2014}}</ref>  
 
These are signs of the beginnings of feminist movement in the haredi community in Israel.

===Orthodox Jewish feminism===

Modern Orthodox feminism, unlike its Conservative and Reform/Reconstructionist counterparts, seeks to change the position of women from within [[Halakha|Jewish law]] (''halakha'').

Orthodox feminism works within the halakhic system and works with rabbis and rabbinical institutions to create more inclusive practices within Orthodox communal life and leadership. Orthodox feminism tends to focus on issues, such as the problems of [[agunah]], fostering women's education, leadership, and ritual participation, women's leadership and making synagogue more women-friendly. Unlike other denominations, Orthodox feminists retain the partition in synagogue and do not count women in a minyan. The all-women's prayer group—Women's Tefilla Group, is an Orthodox practice that began in the 1970s and continues today.<ref>{{cite web|last=JOFA|url=http://www.jofa.org}}</ref>

In 1997, [[Blu Greenberg]] founded the [[Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance]] (JOFA) to advocate for women's increased participation and leadership in Modern Orthodox Jewish life and to create a community for women and men dedicated to such change.<ref>[http://www.jofa.org Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance]. Jofa.org (14 April 2011). Retrieved on 18 October 2011.</ref> JOFA has focused on issues including: agunah, bat mitzvah, women's scholarship, women's prayer, ritual, women's synagogue leadership, and women's religious leadership.

Also in 1997, Gail Billig became the first female president of a major Orthodox synagogue, at Congregation Ahavath Torah in Englewood, N.J.<ref name="womensenews.org">Klein, Abigail. (2007-07-13) [http://womensenews.org/story/religion/070713/leaders-lift-spirit-in-orthodox-womens-section Leaders Lift Spirit in Orthodox Women's Section]. Women's eNews. Retrieved on 18 October 2011.</ref>

In 2012, the first [[partnership minyan]] was established—Shira Hadasha in Jerusalem, and Darkhei Noam in New York City. These are Orthodox communities that maximize women's participation in the prayer to the full extent possible within halakha. Although critics of partnership minyan argue that these are not "Orthodox", the communities themselves vehemently insist that they are Orthodox. The fact that the synagogues have partitions and do not count women as part of the minyan (and thus do not allow women to lead any parts of services that require a quorum) demonstrate the loyalty to Orthodox practice. Dr. Elana Sztokman, former Executive Director of JOFA, wrote extensively about this phenomenon in her book The Men's Section: Orthodox Jewish Men in an Egalitarian World, and examined this dynamic in which the partnership minyan considers itself Orthodox but is often rejected as Orthodox by other members of the community. Today there are over 35 partnership minyans around the world.<ref>{{cite book|last=Sztokman|first=Elana|title=The Men's Section: Orthodox Jewish Men in an Egalitarian World|year=2011|publisher=Brandeis University Press}}</ref>

Another major historical event of Orthodox feminism occurred in 2009, when Rabba Sara Hurwitz became the first publicly ordained Orthodox woman rabbi. Supported by Rabbi Avi Weiss, she launched a training school for Orthodox women in rabbinic positions, Yeshivat Maharat (acronym for "Morah hilkhatit rabbanit toranit"—a rabbinic, halakhic Torah teacher.) Rabbi Weiss had originally announced that graduates would be called "rabba", but when the Rabbinical Council of America threatened to oust him, he recanted and created the term Maharat.<ref>{{cite news|title=Sara Hurwitz Adopts the Title of Maharat|url=http://jwa.org/thisweek/jan/27/2010/sara-hurwitz|newspaper=Jewish Women's Archives|date=January 27, 2010}}</ref>  The first cohort of Maharats graduated in June 2013: Maharats Ruth Balinksy-Friedman, Rachel Kohl Finegold and Abby Brown Scheier.<ref>{{cite news|last=Reimer-Torn|first=Susan|title=Maharats March Into Jewish World  First-ever ordination at Orthodox women’s seminary seen as ‘sea change,’ but steep hurdles persist.|url=http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/national-news/maharats-march-jewish-world|accessdate=February 26, 2014|newspaper=The Jewish Week|date=2013-06-19}}</ref>

In January 2013 Tamar Frankiel became the president of the [[Academy for Jewish Religion (California)|Academy for Jewish Religion]] in California, making her the first Orthodox woman to lead an American rabbinical school.<ref name="ajrca.org">[http://ajrca.org/faculty/dr-tamar-frankiel/ Dr. Tamar Frankiel | Academy for Jewish Religion, California<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref><ref name="jewishjournal.com">[http://www.jewishjournal.com/los_angeles/article/orthodox_woman_a_first Orthodox woman, a first | Los Angeles | Jewish Journal<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> The school itself is transdenominational, not Orthodox.<ref name="jewishjournal.com"/>

In 2013 the Israeli Orthodox rabbinical organization Beit Hillel issued a [[halacha|halachic]] ruling which allows women, for the first time, to say the [[Kaddish]] prayer in memory of their deceased parents.<ref name="ynetnews.com"/>

Also in 2013, the first class of female [[halacha|halachic]] advisers trained to practice in the US graduated; they graduated from the North American branch of [[Nishmat]]’s yoetzet halacha program in a ceremony at Congregation Sheartith Israel, Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue in Manhattan.<ref>http://www.timesofisrael.com/landmark-us-program-graduates-first-female-halachic-advisers/</ref> However, this event was met with only faint enthusiasm among Orthodox feminists for several reasons. One is that Nishmat consistently distances itself from feminism, as its founder Chana Henkin often pronounces that she is not a feminist and that the women who graduate from Nishmat do not adjudicate halakha but always ask male rabbis. Another reason is that against the backdrop of the graduation of women from Yeshivat Maharat, in which women are full leaders with complete authority to adjudicate and function as communal rabbis this event does not necessarily represent the greatest advancement for Orthodox women and is arguably a step backward. That is, women counseling women only on "women's issues" without any real halakhic authority of their own keeps women in a somewhat more official version of traditional gender roles.<ref>{{cite book|last=Graetz|first=Naomi|title=Women and Religion in Israel|year=2003|publisher=Brandeis University Press|location=in Melanie Rich and Kalpana Misra, Jewish feminism in Israel|page=37}}</ref>

== Women in [[halacha|Jewish religious law]], schools, and rituals ==

In 1955, the [[Committee on Jewish Law and Standards]] of Conservative Judaism declared that women were eligible to chant the blessings before and after the reading of the Torah.<ref name="ReferenceA">[http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/conservative-judaism-in-united-states Conservative Judaism in the United States | Jewish Women's Archive<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> In the late 1960s, the first Orthodox Jewish women's [[tefillah]] (prayer) group was created, on the holiday of [[Simhat Torah]] at [[Lincoln Square Synagogue]] in Manhattan.<ref>[http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/womens-tefillah-movement Women's Tefillah Movement | Jewish Women's Archive<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> In 1973, the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards passed a takkanah (ruling) allowing women to count in a [[minyan]] equally with men.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> Also in 1973, the United Synagogue of America, Conservative Judaism’s congregational association (now called the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism) resolved to allow women to participate in synagogue rituals and to promote equal opportunity for women for positions of leadership, authority, and responsibility in congregational life.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> In 1974, the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards adopted a series of proposals that equalized men and women in all areas of ritual, including serving as prayer leaders.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

In 1972, a group of ten New York Jewish feminists calling themselves ''Ezrat Nashim'' (the [[Mechitza|women's section in a synagogue]], but also "women's help"), took the issue of equality for women to the 1972 convention of the [[Conservative Judaism|Conservative]] movement's [[Rabbinical Assembly]], presenting a document on 14 March that they named the "[http://books.google.com/books?id=vVETCrICwO8C&pg=PA116&dq=%22jewish+women+call+for+a+change%22&hl=en&ei=euiXT8TILIL30gHN2onxBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=book-thumbnail&resnum=2&ved=0CEAQ6wEwAQ#v=onepage&q=%22jewish%20women%20call%20for%20a%20change%22&f=false Call for Change]."  The rabbis received the document in their convention packets, but ''Ezrat Nashim'' presented it during a meeting with the rabbis' wives. The Call for Change demanded that women be accepted as witnesses before Jewish law, be considered as bound to perform all [[Mitzvah|mitzvot]], be allowed full participation in religious observances, have equal rights in marriage and be allowed to initiate divorce, be counted in the [[minyan]], and be permitted to assume positions of leadership in the synagogue and within the general Jewish community. [[Paula Hyman]], who was a member of ''Ezrat Nashim'', wrote that: "We recognized that the subordinate status of women was linked to their exemption from positive time-bound ''mitzvot'' (commandments), and we therefore accepted increased obligation as the corollary of equality."<ref>[http://jwa.org/feminism/_html/JWA039.htm Paula Hyman], ''Jewish Women and the Feminist Revolution'', Jewish Women's Archive. (2006)</ref>

In 1973, the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards of Conservative Judaism voted to count men and women equally as members of a [[minyan]].<ref>[http://www.jta.org/1973/09/11/archive/women-equal-with-men-in-minyan Women Equal with Men in Minyan | Jewish Telegraphic Agency<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

In 1976, the first women-only Passover seder was held in [[E. M. Broner|Esther M. Broner's]] New York City apartment and led by her, with 13 women attending, including [[Gloria Steinem]], [[Letty Cottin Pogrebin]], and [[Phyllis Chesler]].<ref>[http://jwa.org/thisweek/mar/01/1993/em-broner This Week in History – E.M. Broner publishes "The Telling" | Jewish Women's Archive]. Jwa.org (1 March 1993). Retrieved on 18 October 2011.</ref>  Esther Broner and Naomi Nimrod created a women's haggadah for use at this seder.<ref>[http://www.jbooks.com/nonfiction/NF_Groner.htm Non-Fiction: The Many Seders of Passover]. JBooks.com. Retrieved on 18 October 2011.</ref>  In the spring of 1976 Esther Broner published this “Women’s Haggadah” in Ms. magazine, later publishing it as a book in 1994; this haggadah is meant to include women where only men had been mentioned in traditional haggadahs, and it features the Wise Women, the Four Daughters, the Women’s Questions, the Women’s Plagues, and a women-centric “[[Dayenu]]”.<ref>[http://www.amazon.com/dp/006061143X The Women's Haggadah (9780060611439): E. M. Broner, Naomi Nimrod: Books]. Amazon.com. Retrieved on 18 October 2011.</ref><ref>[http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/broner-esther-m Esther M. Broner | Jewish Women's Archive]. Jwa.org. Retrieved on 18 October 2011.</ref> The original Women's Seder has been held with the Women's Haggadah every year since 1976, and women-only seders are now held by some congregations as well.<ref name="jwa.org">[http://jwa.org/feminism/_html/JWA006.htm Jewish Women and the Feminist Revolution (Jewish Women's Archive)]. Jwa.org (17 June 2005). Retrieved on 18 October 2011.</ref><ref>[http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-16241579.html Women-Only Seder Held in Westmoreland County - Tribune-Review/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review | HighBeam Research<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref><ref>[http://brittdurgin.com/writing/women-celebrate-non-traditional-seder Women celebrate non-traditional Seder – Britt Durgin Journalism]. Brittdurgin.com (2 October 2010). Retrieved on 18 October 2011.</ref>  Some seders (including the original Women's Seder, but not limited to women-only seders) now set out a cup for the prophet Miriam as well as the traditional cup for the prophet Elijah, sometimes accompanied by a ritual to honor Miriam.<ref name="jwa.org"/><ref>[http://www.miriamscup.com/RitualFirst.htm Miriam's Cup: Miriam's Cup rituals for the family Passover seder]. Miriamscup.com. Retrieved on 18 October 2011.</ref>  According to Jewish feminist writer [[Tamara Cohen]], the practice of filling a cup with water to symbolize Miriam’s inclusion in the seder originated at a [[Rosh Chodesh]] group in Boston in 1989.<ref name="dropbox1">http://dl.dropbox.com/u/23825268/JewishBoston.JWA.Haggadah.pdf</ref> Miriam is associated with water because rabbis attribute to Miriam the well that traveled with the Israelites throughout their wandering in the desert.<ref name="dropbox1"/>
In the [[Book of Numbers]], the well dries up immediately following Miriam’s death.<ref name="dropbox1"/> Furthermore, some Jews include an orange on the seder plate. The orange represents the fruitfulness for all Jews when all marginalized peoples are included, particularly women and gay people.<ref>{{cite web| author=Tamara Cohen | url = http://www.myjewishlearning.com/holidays/Jewish_Holidays/Passover/The_Seder/Seder_Plate_and_Table/Orange.shtml | title = An Orange on the Seder Plate | accessdate = 28 March 2010}}</ref> An incorrect but common rumor says that this tradition began when a man told [[Susannah Heschel]] that a woman belongs on the bimah as an orange on the seder plate; however, it actually began when in the early 1980s, while when speaking at Oberlin College Hillel, Susannah Heschel was introduced to an early feminist Haggadah that suggested adding a crust of bread on the seder plate, as a sign of solidarity with Jewish lesbians (as some would say there's as much room for a lesbian in Judaism as there is for a crust of bread on the seder plate).<ref name="ritualwell">[http://www.ritualwell.org/holidays/passover/onthesedertable/primaryobject.2005-07-08.9776011383 Jewish Rituals for On the Seder Table]. Ritualwell.org. Retrieved on 18 October 2011.</ref> Heschel felt that to put bread on the seder plate would be to accept that Jewish lesbians and gay men violate Judaism like [[chametz]] violates Passover.<ref name="ritualwell" /> So, at her next seder, she chose an orange as a symbol of inclusion of gays and lesbians and others who are marginalized within the Jewish community.<ref name="ritualwell" /> In addition, each orange segment had a few seeds that had to be spit out – a gesture of spitting out and repudiating the homophobia of traditional Judaism.<ref name="ritualwell" />

In 1981 the Jewish feminist group "B'not Esh", Hebrew for "Daughters of Fire", was founded.<ref>[http://jwa.org/feminism/_html/JWA057.htm Jewish Women and the Feminist Revolution (Jewish Women's Archive)<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref><ref name="muse.jhu.edu">[http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/bridges_a_jewish_feminists_journal/summary/v016/16.1.brettschneider.html Project MUSE - A Congenial Anarchy: An Affirmation of Jewish Feminist Space<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> As of 2011, this group meets for five days every year over [[Memorial Day]] weekend at the Grail, a Catholic laywomen's retreat center in Cornwall-on-Hudson, New York.<ref name="muse.jhu.edu"/> There they, to quote [[Merle Feld]], one of their members, "explore issues of spirituality, social change, and the feminist transformation of Judaism." <ref>[http://books.google.com/books?id=gZtDEvQSI_wC&pg=PA244&lpg=PA244&dq=bnot+esh+jewish+feminist&source=bl&ots=61-zUkb6Xb&sig=pbM9JPHEkr-xIYNvjZkBHYc_8rc&hl=en&sa=X&ei=o76CUebcItKG0QHJkICQBA&ved=0CGkQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=bnot%20esh%20jewish%20feminist&f=false A Spiritual Life: A Jewish Feminist Journey - Merle Feld - Google Books<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

In October 1983, the [[Jewish Theological Seminary of America|Jewish Theological Seminary]] (JTS), the main educational institution of the Conservative movement, announced its decision to accept women as rabbis and cantors. [[Paula Hyman]] took part in the vote as a member of the JTS faculty.

In 1997 Gail Billig became the first female president of a major Orthodox synagogue, at Congregation Ahavath Torah in Englewood, N.J.<ref name="womensenews.org"/>

In 2002, the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards of Conservative Judaism adapted a [[responsum]] by Rabbi David Fine, [http://www.rabbinicalassembly.org/teshuvot/docs/19912000/oh_55_1_2002.pdf ''Women and the Minyan''], which provides an official religious-law foundation for counting women in a minyan and explains the current Conservative approach to the role of women in prayer.<ref>{{PDFlink|[http://www.rabbinicalassembly.org/teshuvot/docs/19912000/oh_55_1_2002.pdf]|194&nbsp;KB}}</ref> This responsum holds that although Jewish women do not traditionally have the same obligations as men, Conservative women have, as a collective whole, voluntarily undertaken them. Because of this collective undertaking, the Fine responsum holds that Conservative women are eligible to serve as agents and decision-makers for others.  The responsum also holds that traditionally-minded communities and individual women can opt out without being regarded by the Conservative movement as sinning.  By adopting this responsum, the CJLS found itself in a position to provide a considered Jewish-law justification for its egalitarian practices, without having to rely on potentially unconvincing arguments, undermine the religious importance of community and clergy, ask individual women intrusive questions, repudiate the ''halakhic'' tradition, or label women following traditional practices as sinners.

In 2005, the [[Kohenet Institute]] was founded by Rabbi Jill Hammer and Holly Shere.<ref>[http://jwa.org/thisweek/aug/14/2006/kohenet-hebrew-priestess-institute This Week in History - Kohenet: the Hebrew Priestess Institute, Launches its first Training Institute in Accord, NY | Jewish Women's Archive<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> The [[Kohenet Institute]], based at the [[Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center]] in Connecticut, offers a two-year course of study to women who are then ordained as Jewish priestesses.<ref name="kohenet.org">[http://www.kohenet.org/institute/ Kohenet: Hebrew Priestess Institute<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref><ref name="jweekly.com">[http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/68940/jewish-american-priestess-kohenet-institute-ordains-women-for-a-new-jewish-/ Jewish American Priestess: Kohenet Institute ordains women for a new Jewish world | j. the Jewish news weekly of Northern California<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>  “Kohenet” is a feminine variation on “kohan,” meaning priest.<ref name="jweekly.com"/> The Kohenet Institute's training involves earth-based spiritual practices that they believe harken back to pre–rabbinic Judaism; a time when, according to Kohenet’s founders, women took on many more (and much more powerful) spiritual leadership roles than are commonly taken by women today.<ref name="jweekly.com"/> A Jewish priestess may, according to Kohenet, act as a rabbi, but the two roles are not the same.<ref name="kohenet.org"/>

In 2006, the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards of Conservative Judaism adopted three [[responsum|responsa]] on the subject of [[niddah]], which reaffirmed an obligation of Conservative women to abstain from sexual relations during and following [[menstruation]] and to immerse in a [[mikvah]] prior to resumption, while liberalizing observance requirements including shortening the length of the [[niddah]] period, lifting restrictions on non-sexual contact during niddah, and reducing the circumstances under which spotting and similar conditions would mandate abstinence.<ref name="RabbiIntro">[http://www.rabbinicalassembly.org/docs/Mikveh_Introduction.doc Rabbi Miriam Berkowitz, Mikveh and the Sanctity of Family Relations, Committee on Jewish Law and Standards, Rabbinical Assembly, December 6, 2006]</ref><ref name="RabbiGrossman">[http://www.rabbinicalassembly.org/docs/Grossman-Niddah.pdf Rabbi Susan Grossman, MIKVEH AND THE SANCTITY OF BEING CREATED HUMAN, Committee on Jewish Law and Standards, Rabbinical Assembly, December 6, 2006]</ref><ref name="RabbiReisner">[http://www.rabbinicalassembly.org/docs/Reisner-Niddah.pdf Rabbi Avram Reisner, OBSERVING NIDDAH IN OUR DAY: AN INQUIRY ON THE STATUS OF PURITY AND THE PROHIBITION OF SEXUAL ACTIVITY WITH A MENSTRUANT, Committee on Jewish Law and Standards, Rabbinical Assembly, December 6, 2006]</ref><ref name="RabbiBerkowitz">[http://www.rabbinicalassembly.org/docs/Berkowitz-Niddah.pdf Rabbi Miriam Berkowitz, RESHAPING THE LAWS OF FAMILY PURITY FOR THE MODERN WORLD, Committee on Jewish Law and Standards, Rabbinical Assembly, December 6, 2006]</ref>

In January 2013 Tamar Frankiel became the president of the [[Academy for Jewish Religion (California)|Academy for Jewish Religion]] in California, making her the first Orthodox woman to lead an American rabbinical school.<ref name="ajrca.org"/><ref name="jewishjournal.com"/> The school itself is transdenominational, not Orthodox.<ref name="jewishjournal.com"/>

In October 2013, Rabbi [[Deborah Waxman]] was elected as the President of the [[Reconstructionist Rabbinical College]].<ref name="thejewishweek.com">http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/national-news/reconstructionists-pick-first-woman-lesbian-denominational-leader</ref><ref>http://forward.com/articles/185252/trailblazing-reconstructionist-deborah-waxman-reli/?p=all</ref> As the President, she is believed to be the first woman and first lesbian to lead a Jewish congregational union, and the first female rabbi and first lesbian to lead a Jewish seminary; the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College is both a congregational union and a seminary.<ref name="thejewishweek.com"/><ref>http://www.rrc.edu/sites/default/files/ORPHAN_PDFs/RRC_WaxmanPresidentElect-ForPress3.pdf?hero=1615</ref>

In 2013 [[Malka Schaps]] became the first female [[haredi]] dean at an Israeli university when she was appointed dean of Bar Ilan University's Faculty of Exact Sciences.<ref>http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/1.550156</ref>

In 2013 the Israeli Orthodox rabbinical organization Beit Hillel issued a [[halacha|halachic]] ruling which allows women, for the first time, to say the [[Kaddish]] prayer in memory of their deceased parents.<ref name="ynetnews.com"/>

In 2013 SAR High School in Riverdale, New York began allowing girls to wrap tefillin during Shacharit-morning prayer; it is probably the first Modern Orthodox high school in the U.S. to do so.<ref>http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/nyc-orthodox-high-school-lets-girls-put-on-tefillin/2014/01/20/</ref>

=== Women as ''sofrot'' (scribes) ===
A Sofer, Sopher, Sofer SeTaM, or Sofer ST"M (Heb: "scribe", סופר סת״ם) is a Jewish scribe who can transcribe Torah scrolls, tefillin and mezuzot, and other religious writings.  (ST"M, סת״ם, is an abbreviation for Sefer Torahs, Tefillin, and Mezuzot. The plural of sofer is "soferim", סופרים.) Forming the basis for the discussion of women becoming soferim, [[Talmud|Talmud Gittin]] 45b states: "Sifrei Torah, tefillin and mezuzot written by a heretic, a star-worshipper, a slave, a woman, a minor, a [[Cuthean]], or an [[Apostasy in Judaism|apostate Jew]], are unfit for ritual use."<ref>http://www.geniza.net/ritual/women.shtml</ref> The rulings on [[Mezuzah]] and [[Tefillin]] are virtually undisputed among those who hold to the [[Talmud|Talmudic Law]]. While [[Arba'ah Turim]] does not include women in its list of those ineligible to write Sifrei Torah, some see this as proof that women are permitted to write a Torah scroll.<ref>Tur, [[Wikisource:Shulchan Aruch/Orach Chaim/271|Orah Hayyim 271]].</ref> However today, virtually all Orthodox (both Modern and Ultra) authorities contest the idea that a woman is permitted to write a [[Sefer Torah]]. Yet women are permitted to inscribe [[Ketubah|Ketubot]] (marriage contracts), STaM not intended for ritual use, and other writings of [[Sofrut]] beyond simple STaM. In 2003 Canadian [[Aviel Barclay]] became the world's first known traditionally trained female sofer.<ref>http://www.forward.com/articles/3614/</ref><ref>http://jwablog.jwa.org/soferet</ref> In 2007 [[Jen Taylor Friedman]], a British woman, became the first female sofer to scribe a [[Sefer Torah]].<ref>http://www.forward.com/articles/11604/</ref> In 2010 the first [[Sefer Torah]] scribed by a group of women (six female sofers, who were from Brazil, Canada, Israel, and the United States) was completed;<ref>http://jta.org/news/article/2010/10/15/2741313/womens-torah-dedicated-in-seattle</ref> this was known as the [[Women's Torah Project]].<ref name="ReferenceC">http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/59670/cjms-resident-scribe-takes-part-in-group-torah-project-in-seattle/</ref>

From October 2010 until spring 2011, [[Julie Seltzer]], one of the female sofrot from the Women's Torah Project, scribed a [[Sefer Torah]] as part of an exhibition at the [[Contemporary Jewish Museum]] in [[San Francisco]]. This makes her the first American female sofer to scribe a [[Sefer Torah]]; Julie Seltzer was born in Philadelphia and is non-denominationally Jewish.<ref name="ReferenceC"/><ref>http://www.thecjm.org/index.php?option=com_ccevents&scope=prgm&task=detail&fid=8&oid=563</ref><ref>http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/08/arts/design/08sfculture.html</ref><ref>http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/61328/cjm-to-celebrate-end-of-groundbreaking-torah-project</ref> From spring 2011 until August 2012 she scribed another [[Sefer Torah]], this time for the Reform congregation Beth Israel in San Diego.<ref name="jpost.com">http://www.jpost.com/JewishWorld/JewishFeatures/Article.aspx?id=286912</ref><ref>http://www.cbisd.org/news-and-stories/87-news-and-stories/1158-a-special-open-house-with-torah-scribe-julie-seltzer-observe-the-completion-of-our-torah</ref> Seltzer was taught mostly by [[Jen Taylor Friedman]].<ref name="jpost.com"/> On September 22, 2013, [[Congregation Beth Elohim]] of New York dedicated a new Torah, which members of Beth Elohim said was the first Torah in New York City to be completed by a woman.<ref>http://brooklyn.news12.com/news/congregation-beth-elohim-in-park-slope-dedicates-new-torah-for-150th-anniversary-1.6119015</ref> The Torah was scribed by Linda Coppleson.<ref>http://torah.cbebk.org/about/our-soferet/</ref>

== Women in Humanistic Judaism ==
[[Humanistic Judaism]] is a movement in [[Judaism]] that offers a nontheistic alternative in contemporary Jewish life. It defines Judaism as the cultural and historical experience of the Jewish people and encourages humanistic and secular Jews to celebrate their Jewish identity by participating in Jewish holidays and life cycle events (such as weddings and bar and bat mitzvah) with inspirational ceremonies that draw upon but go beyond traditional literature. Humanistic Judaism ordains both men and women as rabbis, and its first rabbi was a woman, [[Tamara Kolton]], who was ordained in 1999.<ref name="shj">{{cite web|url=http://www.shj.org/shjbios.htm |title=Society for Humanistic Judaism - Rabbis and Leadership |publisher=Shj.org |date= |accessdate=2012-03-12}}</ref> Its first cantor was also a woman, [[Hazzan Deborah Davis|Deborah Davis]], ordained in 2001; however, Humanistic Judaism has since stopped ordaining cantors.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jmwc.org/Women/womend.html |title=Contributions of Jewish Women to Music and Women to Jewish Music |publisher=JMWC |date= |accessdate=2012-07-09}}</ref> The [[Society for Humanistic Judaism]] issued a statement in 1996 stating in part, "we affirm that a woman has the moral right and should have the continuing legal right to decide whether or not to terminate a pregnancy in accordance with her own ethical standards. Because a decision to terminate a pregnancy carries serious, irreversible consequences, it is one to be made with great care and with keen awareness of the complex psychological, emotional, and ethical implications." <ref>[http://www.shj.org/Choice.htm Society for Humanistic Judaism - Reproductive Choice Abortion<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> They also issued a statement in 2011 condemning the then-recent passage of the “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act” by the U.S. House of Representatives, which they called "a direct attack on a woman’s right to choose".<ref>[http://www.shj.org/NewsAbortionFunding.html Society for Humanistic Judaism Condemns Limit on Choice<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> In 2012 they issued a resolution opposing conscience clauses that allow religious-affiliated institutions to be exempt from generally applicable requirements mandating reproductive healthcare services to individuals or employees.<ref>http://www.shj.org/ConscienceClauses.html</ref> In 2013 they issued a resolution stating in part, "Therefore, be it resolved that: The Society for Humanistic Judaism wholeheartedly supports the observance of [[Women's Equality Day]] on August 26 to commemorate the anniversary of the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution allowing women to vote; The Society condemns gender discrimination in all its forms, including restriction of rights, limited access to education, violence, and subjugation; and The Society commits itself to maintain vigilance and speak out in the fight to bring gender equality to our generation and to the generations that follow." <ref>http://www.shj.org/WomensEqualityDay.html</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Agunot]]
* [[Gender and Judaism]]
* [[Homosexuality and Judaism]]
* [[Jewish view of marriage]]
* [[Jewish Women’s Archive]]
* [[List of Jewish feminists]]
* [[Ms. (magazine)#Advertising policy|''Ms.'' magazine rejects AJC advertisement honoring three Israeli women]]
* [[Orthodox Jewish feminism]]
* [[Partnership minyan]]
* [[Role of women in Judaism]]
* [[Women in Judaism]]

== Notes ==
{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZM05nJb3s7A

== Further reading ==
*Feldman, Emmanuel. {{PDFlink|[http://www.ou.org/publications/ja/5760winter/orthodox%20feminism.pdf "Orthodox Feminism and Feminist Orthodoxy"]|101&nbsp;KB}}. ''[[Jewish Action]]'', Winter 1999
*[http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/newscontent.php3?artid=13679 "Girls Just Wanna Be 'Frum': JOFA conference speaker says feminism lags at Talmud study programs in Israel"], ''NY Jewish Week'', February 2007.
* [[Anita Diamant]]. [http://www.patheos.com/Resources/Additional-Resources/Holding-Up-Half-the-Sky-Feminist-Judaism.html "Holding Up Half the Sky: Feminist Judaism"], ''[[Patheos]]''
* Melissa Scholten-Gutierrez. [http://www.patheos.com/Resources/Additional-Resources/Ever-Evolving-Judaism.html "An Ever-Evolving Judaism: Women Meeting the Needs of the Community"], ''[[Patheos]]''
*''[http://www.jwa.org/feminism/ Jewish women and the feminist revolution], an exhibit of the Jewish Women's Archive'' <small>([[Adobe Flash|Flash]] interactive site)</small>
*[http://www.jofa.org Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance (JOFA)]
*[[Rachel Adler|Adler, Rachel]]. "The Jew Who Wasn't There: Halakha and the Jewish Woman," in Heschel, S. (ed). ''On Being a Jewish Feminist: A Reader'', Schocken, 1983.
*Adler, Rachel. ''Engendering Judaism: An Inclusive Theology and Ethics.'' Beacon Press, 1998.
*Adler, Rachel. [http://www.crosscurrents.org/Adlerwinter2002.htm "Feminist Judaism: Past and Future"], ''Crosscurrents'', Winter 2002, Vol. 51, No 4.
*[[Blu Greenberg|Greenberg, Blu]]. "Will There Be Orthodox Women Rabbis?". Judaism 33.1 (Winter 1984): 23–33.
*"Is Now the Time for Orthodox Women Rabbis?". Moment Dec. 1992: 50–53, 74.
*[[Tova Hartman|Hartman, Tova]], ''Feminism Encounters Traditional Judaism: Resistance and Accommodation''. Brandeis University Press, 2007. ISBN 1-58465-658-1.
*[[Paula Hyman|Hyman, Paula]]. "The Other Half: Women in the Jewish Tradition" in E. Koltun. ''The Jewish Woman: New Perspectives'', Shocken 1976.
*Hyman, E. Paula & Dash Moore, Deborah. (eds) (1997) ''[http://ajhs.org/publications/pages/JewishWomen.cfm Jewish Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia'']. Routledge, ISBN 0-415-91934-7
*Hyman, E. Paula & Dalia Ofer. (eds) (2006) [http://jwa.org/encyclopedia ''Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia'']. Jewish Publication Society CD-ROM
*Lavie, Smadar. "Mizrahi Feminism and the Question of Palestine." Journal of Middle East Women Studies. Vol. 7 (2): 56-88 https://www.academia.edu/1804726/Mizrahi_Feminism_and_the_Question_of_Palestine_JMEWS_
*Ner-David, Haviva.  ''Life on the Fringes: A Feminist Journey Toward Traditional Rabbinic Ordination.''  Needham, MA: JFL Books, 2000.
*Nussbaum Cohen, Debra. "The women’s movement, Jewish identity and the story of a religion transformed," ''[[The Jewish Week]]'', 17 June 2004
*Ozick, Cynthia. "Notes toward finding the right question" in Heschel, S. ''On Being a Jewish Feminist: A Reader''. Schocken, 1983.
*[[Judith Plaskow|Plaskow, Judith]]. "The right question is theological" in Heschel, S. ''On being a Jewish Feminist: A Reader'', Shocken, 1983(a).
*"Language, God and Liturgy: A Feminist Perspective," ''Response'' 44:3–14, 1983(b).
*Plaskow, Judith. ''Standing again at Sinai: Judaism from a Feminist Perspective'', Harper and Row, 1990(a)
*"Beyond Egalitarianism," ''Tikkun'' 5.6:79–81, 1990(b).
*"Facing the Ambiguity of God," ''Tikkun. 6.5:70-1, 1991.
* [[Adele Reinhartz|Reinhartz, Adele]].
*[[Danya Ruttenberg|Ruttenberg, Danya]]., ed. "Yentl's Revenge: The Next Wave of Jewish Feminism." Seal Press, 2001.
*Teman, Elly. "Birthing a Mother: the Surrogate Body and the Pregnant Self." Berkeley: University of California Press, 2010.
*Umansky, E. & Ashton, D. (eds) ''Four Centuries of Jewish Women's Spirituality: A Sourcebook'', Beacon, 1992.
*Wolowelsky, Joel B. "Feminism and Orthodox Judaism", ''Judaism'', 188, 47:4, 1998, 499–507.

{{Jews and Judaism}}
{{Theology}}

[[Category:Feminism and spirituality]]
[[Category:Jewish feminism| ]]
[[Category:Jewish feminists| ]]
[[Category:Jewish views|Feminism]]
[[Category:Women's rights in religious movements]]