Book Reviews

In this book, Margalit Shilo, a professor in the Land of Israel Studies Department at Bar-Ilan University and a leading scholar of women’s studies in Israel, opens up for the reader the world of Orthodox women in Jerusalem towards the end of Ottoman rule in the Holy Land. She gives us a rich and detailed […]

Aviad Hacohen teaches Constitutional Law, Religion and State Law and Jewish Law at the Hebrew University and at Bar-Ilan University in Israel. He is also principal of the Center for Jewish Law at the Shaarey Mishpat Law College. In this book, edited by JOFA founding President Blu Greenberg, Dr. Hacohen argues that in certain cases

As we read the parashot of Sefer Bereshit, we all look to understand the roles of the imahot in the foundation of the Jewish people. What we can learn from their experiences and to what extent we can take them as role models for our very different lives today? While the biblical text itself gives

Wendy Zierler is assistant professor of modern Jewish literature and feminist studies at H.U.C.-J.I.R and has spoken at JOFA conferences. In this trail-blazing book, she uses the story of Rachel and the teraphim in the Book of Genesis as a paradigm for women taking hold of a man’s tradition and making it their own. There

This book deals with family relationships in medieval Jewish communities in Northern France and Germany, concentrating on the special roles of mothers and children. Using a wonderful array of sources, Baumgarten, a lecturer in Jewish history and in the Gender Studies Program at Bar-Ilan University, opens a window for us into aspects of pregnancy, midwifery,

The theme of this book is the spiritual meaning that Judaism brings to pregnancy and birth. Written by a ba’alat teshuva from Baltimore who lives in Jerusalem, this intensely moving book contains the author’s interviews with 24 Orthodox mothers in Jersualem about their pregnancies. Most of them are “Anglo Saxon” immigrants; many only became observant

In this book, Abraham Grossman, professor of Jewish History at the Hebrew University, presents a clear and penetrating analysis of the status and role of Jewish women in Europe between 1000 and 1300. He lays out ten ways in which the status of women improved markedly in Germany and France in this period, particularly when

For women seeking a window into the inner lives of our foremothers, as well as a precedent for women’s prayers, the tkhine literature is a wonderful resource. However, the tkhines, written in Yiddish and often printed in a specific typeface called vaybertaytsh, are mainly inaccessible to today’s English readers. Devra Kay’s book is a valuable

This small volume should prove extremely valuable to the modern Orthodox family. It contains kiddush, zemirot and birkat hamazon, but goes way beyond the standard bentcher, including texts for Yom Ha’atzma’ut (Israel’s Independence Day) meals, a dedication of a new house and a Tu be’shvat Seder. It contains the additional symbolic foods for Rosh Hashanah,

There is a long tradition of women’s siddurim. Traditionally, a bride received a siddur as a wedding present; in Ashkenazi communities this was often called a sivlonos siddur. These siddurim were sometimes bound in silver or mother of pearl. One siddur in Eastern Europe known as a Korban Minchah Siddur was probably first published around