Book Reviews

This book is not just about Jewish ritual practices but about the dynamics of innovation and continuity in contemporary Jewry and the tensions between the two. Vanessa Ochs, an anthropologist of religion and Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Virginia, outlines many new rituals and asks several important questions: What gives rise to […]

All of us interested in issues of gender and the relationships between men and women recognize the significance of the first chapters of Bereishit and the narrative of Adam and Eve. In “Eternally Eve,” Anne Lapidus Lerner, Professor of Jewish Literature and Director of the Program in Jewish Women’s Studies at Jewish Theological Seminary, explores

In 1855, Fanny Neuda, widow of a Moravian rabbi, published a collection of prayers and devotions in German for women, in the tradition of the Yiddsh tekhine literature. She wrote in German because, by the end of the 18th century, women in German lands under the influence of the Enlightenment no longer understood Yiddish. Neuda

This is a volume that should be in the home of all JOFA Journal readers. A remarkable achievement, it is a compilation of prayers, songs, and poetry that transcends the Birkon that is at its center. It was conceived and compiled by Adena Berkowitz and Rivka Haut, two women who have strong associations with JOFA.

Tzniut, incorporating Jewish standards of modesty in behavior and in dress, is a much debated topic. The major focus of this book is a discussion of Jewish legal sources dealing with women’s dress codes and the mingling of the sexes, and an examination of how these have been implemented by contemporary halakhic authorities. Rabbi Henkin,

This Hebrew and English Bible features commentaries by Jewish women of all denominations. For the Orthodox reader there is a great deal of stimulating and accessible commentary with new insights. It will serve as an introduction to the work of Jewish women scholars outside the Orthodox world. Many years in preparation, this scholarly and extremely

Following their book on Sefer Bereshit, “The Passion of the Matriarchs” (2004), the authors focus on the Women of the Exodus, including Yocheved, Miriam, Batya the daughter of Pharaoh, and Zipporah. The book uses talmudic and midrashic sources and a vast range of traditional commentators to bring these women to life. The authors make accessible

In this book, which won the Jewish Book Council Award for Women’s Studies in 2007, Tova Hartman, well known to JOFA conference attendees, brings tradition and feminism into dialogue with one another. With intellectual clarity, Hartman draws on her own life, her experience as an academic and psychologist, and Jewish scholarship, to discover “creative tensions”

First published in Hebrew in 2002, this book has become the accepted guide in the Israeli national-religious community to marriage and the laws of family purity. The English version offers young couples a clear discussion of issues relating to marital intimacy and sexuality, providing halakhic guidelines and sources in an accessible manner and dealing respectfully

Many JOFA readers have had the privilege of hearing Bryna Levy lecture at MaTaN or other venues in Jerusalem. This book is based on lectures that Levy gave at MaTaN exploring the biblical and liturgical readings associated with the Tishri holidays from Rosh Hashanah through Simhat Torah. Levy, one of the leading biblical scholars in