Women and Judaism

Jeffrey Woolf contributes to the Lehrhaus Symposium on the recent OU statement regarding female clergy.

How successful is the new book, Reclaiming Dignity: A Guide to Tzniut for Men and Women, at setting forth a new Torah-based vision for modesty? Laurie Novick offers a careful review, carefully considering both the personal essays and halakhic/hashkafic analyses set forward in this important work.

Twelve years after the passing of R. Menachem Froman, his daughter-in-law, the scholar and activist Tchiya Froman, considers R. Froman’s literary critique of the Gush Emunim settlement enterprise and his determination that Judaism requires a feminine revolution.

Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein, ztz"l, on the need for women's Talmud study, presented at the dedication of Ma'ayanot High School. 

Mali Brofsky argues that often, "Manels" are a product of women's conscious personal decisions. Agree or disagree?

In her winning Ateret Zvi essay, Leah Sarna explores two simultaneously true stories about pregnancy: it is at once a beautiful, incredible miracle, and also a demanding journey, both physically and mentally, that often feels more like a catastrophe. Studying the Torah's accounts of pregnancy in Tazria and Rivkah's life, Sarna offers a moving analysis of what it means to hear, tell, and live these stories.

Yaakov Jaffe explains how Biblical grammar and parables come together in Amos to teach us about women's Talmud Torah.

Rabbi Judah Goldberg offers his suggestions to raise the bar of advanced Torah study for women.

There was a time when many day schools featured home ec classes, but those days are behind us. Lindsey Bodner makes the case for reintroducing an updated version of this course in our curricula.

Natalie Zemon Davis, a Jewish historian known for shining a light on the lives of marginalized people in the early modern period, passed away in October. Ronnie Perelis commemorates Dr. Zemon Davis by reflecting on the experience of teaching her revolutionary work to his students at Stern College for Women.