New Jewish Feminism: Probing the Past, Forging the Future

This volume, the runner-up for the 2008 Barbara Dobkin Award for Women’s Studies, contains a rich collection of articles by Jewish feminists across the spectrum. It represents all denominations and includes international as well as American voices. It looks at the flowering of Jewish feminism, its accomplishments, and the variety of challenges that Jewish feminists face. JOFA readers will be gratified to see thoughtful and sophisticated pieces by Idana Goldberg, Sara Hurwitz, Haviva Ner David, and Wendy Zierler, as well as an insightful piece by Jerusalem scholar Margalit Shilo which analyzes the first decade of Kolech: Religious Women’s Forum, in many ways JOFA’s sister organization in Israel. But what is most valuable is that this book enables Orthodox feminists to put our paths, our achievements, and the challenges we face in a broader context and to become more aware of shared concerns. As Orthodox women committed to halakha, our challenges and options are often different from those of other women striving for feminist goals within Judaism, but it is important to get a sense of the vibrancy of Jewish women from different backgrounds who are addressing a range of ritual, theological, and political issues. There is a freshness in the articles in this book that is quite remarkable as the contributors both look back and look ahead. Some of the articles are necessarily less directly relevant to Orthodox women, but all of them, representing both the early Jewish feminist pioneers and the generation of young leaders (as well as the up and coming leaders), are vital reading for all of us interested in the future of contemporary Judaism.