Editors' Introduction: Engendering Jewish Knowledges

Feminist Theology, 2008

To engender the Jewish past is to continue to question how and what we think we already know about Jewish history and Jewish memory. In order to imagine other stories, we must risk engaging in other ways of doing Jewish study. Only by repeatedly engaging in these other practices can we begin to undo the assumptions about gender we have come to assume as normal or natural. This paper explores first, what it means to engender the Jewish past and then what a contemporary Jewish Studies informed by feminism looks like.

Nashim: A Journal of Jewish Women's Studies & Gender Issues, 2004

Melilah: Manchester Journal of Jewish Studies, 2019

This is a short introduction to the special issue on gender of Melilah: Manchester Journal of Jewish Studies (Open Access). The issue contains the papers and discussion points from the Sherman Conversations 2017 held at the Centre for Jewish Studies, University of Manchester, and additional papers surveying some of the contributions of gender-sensitive approaches in Jewish Studies. The journal can be accessed for download at http://www.melilahjournal.org

Women in Judaism: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 2006

In her introductory essay to this assorted collection of essays on the theme of gender in Jewish Studies, historian Pamela Nadell argues that gender as a category of analysis, as well as the feminist critique of Jewish Studies, have radically revised our understanding of Jewish history and Jewish Studies in critical ways that are still ongoing.[1] Eight essays in this slim yet dense volume give a sample of the range of work that such approaches have brought to topics such as blood, conversion, marriage and divorce, Zionism, professionalism, biblical interpretation, translation and self-government. Three are works of history, one is a work of feminist theory, another is an essay on biblical studies. There are also articles on literary theory and criticism, feminist translation theory, and cultural studies to complete the assortment. Together they build on more than two decades or so of work utilizing feminist critique and gender studies as a tool through which to review, rework, revise and reinvent our understandings of Jewish studies and Jewish history. I will analyze four essays to give readers a view of what "gendering the Jewish past" looks like from these varied perspectives. For a challenging yet rewarding read, I encourage readers to delve into this book for these and the other essays.

Women in Judaism a Multidisciplinary Journal, 2006

In her introductory essay to this assorted collection of essays on the theme of gender in Jewish Studies, historian Pamela Nadell argues that gender as a category of analysis, as well as the feminist critique of Jewish Studies, have radically revised our understanding of Jewish history and Jewish Studies in critical ways that are still ongoing.[1] Eight essays in this slim yet dense volume give a sample of the range of work that such approaches have brought to topics such as blood, conversion, marriage and divorce, Zionism, professionalism, biblical interpretation, translation and self-government. Three are works of history, one is a work of feminist theory, another is an essay on biblical studies. There are also articles on literary theory and criticism, feminist translation theory, and cultural studies to complete the assortment. Together they build on more than two decades or so of work utilizing feminist critique and gender studies as a tool through which to review, rework, revise and reinvent our understandings of Jewish studies and Jewish history. I will analyze four essays to give readers a view of what "gendering the Jewish past" looks like from these varied perspectives. For a challenging yet rewarding read, I encourage readers to delve into this book for these and the other essays.

Religion Compass, 2009

This article examines the history of the relationship between feminist theory and Jewish studies; it considers feminist theory's role as a transformational force in Jewish studies. Feminist theory is an approach to Jewish studies that problematizes subjectivity and posits that identities are multiple, shifting, and frequently constructed through social discourses and practices. Feminist theory pays special attention to the complicated intersections between masculinist privilege and the institution of heterosexuality as the normative social relation defining family, community, and national identifications as well as designations of Jews, Jewishness, and Judaism even as it pays attention to other forms of social power including race, ethnicity, and class. Jewish Studies and Feminist Theory Feminist Theory has been a transformational force in Jewish Studies, profoundly influencing notions of Jews, Jewishness, and Judaism. This article examines the history of the relationship between feminist theory and Jewish studies, assesses the current status of that relationship, and considers the possibilities both modes of inquiry offer each other moving into the future. In thinking about the relationship between feminist theory and Jewish studies, we note that both of these endeavors are complex and dynamic. They are methodologies and fields of study with porous borders and wide-ranging analytic possibilities. Feminist theory is a multivalenced, fluid, and occasionally contested term. In this article, we think about feminist theory as an analytical tool heavily influenced by post-structuralism and feminist identity politics (De Lauretis 1986); it is an approach to Jewish studies that problematizes subjectivity and posits that identities are multiple and shifting and, for the most part, constructed through social discourses and practices (De Lauretis 1986). 'Feminist' here signifies a strong commitment to challenging the historical asymmetries of power between men and women as they relate to issues of race, class, and sexuality. It also means paying special attention to the complicated intersections between masculinist privilege and the institution of heterosexuality as the normative social relation defining family, community and national identifications as well as, in this case, designations of Jew, Jewishness, and

Re-Making the World: Christianity and Categories: Essays in Honor of Karen L. King, edited by Taylor G. Petrey (Germany: Mohr Siebeck), 2019

This article seeks, in its first part, “to make sense” of what has been termed “feminist research in Judaic sciences" and proposes differentiating between four types of feminist research: critical feminist research, gendered feminist research, mediating feminist research, and research with a “feminist sensitivity.” In light of these distinctions, the article seeks to delineate the similarities and differences between feminist research in Rabbinics and feminist research in the literature pertaining to modern halakhah. These distinctions are not just conceptual and are intended to be used as an analytical tool, an awareness of which could lead to new avenues of research. Therefore, the second part of the article demonstrates, through a case study of Orthodox legal reactions to male homosexuality, how gendered feminist research in the field of modern halakhah produces new knowledge regarding the manner in which masculine identities are constituted and what they entail. This knowledge will expand critical feminist research as well as research with feminist sensibility, adding dimensions of depth, over and above its intrinsic value in and of itself.

Oxford Bibliographies in Jewish Studies, 2021

This article addresses developments and interventions in critical gender analysis in relation to modern Jewish thought, tracking these contributions in secondary literature to increase their visibility, with an eye to expanding the scope and inclusiveness of the canon in the future.

Nashim: A Journal of Jewish Women's Studies & Gender Issues, 2006

2012

Modern Jewish thought is that area of Jewish thought that emerges in response to the Jewish encounter with modernity. It spans the earliest contributions of modern Jewish philosophers and religious reformers in 19th-century Europe to contemporary thinkers from Jewish communities around the world today. Jewish feminist thought also stands out as a vital stream within modern Jewish thought. Although most histories and anthologies of modern Jewish thought do not normatively include Jewish feminist thinkers as significant contributors to this intellectual history, selected Jewish feminist thinkers like Judith Plaskow and Rachel Adler should be integrated into modern Jewish thought's disciplinary narrative. The following discussion of current scholarship in modern Jewish thought, modern Jewish philosophy and Jewish feminism places Jewish feminist thought firmly within the history, methods and subject of modern Jewish thought. Taking seriously the inherent inclusiveness of the term modern Jewish thought and redrawing its boundaries to explicitly include Jewish feminist thinkers exposes the shared concern of each discipline. Doing so foregrounds common themes and questions occasioned by modern Jewish life such as Israel, Jewish identity, tradition and halakha, the status and authority of sacred texts and revelation and the constitution and diversity of Jewish communities. Such a comparative approach also draws attention to dissonance-particularly around questions of gender and sexuality in Judaism that are raised around transgender, gay and lesbian Jewish life and gender and halakah. Modern Jewish thought is that area of Jewish thought that emerges in response to the Jewish encounter with modernity. It spans the earliest contributions of modern Jewish philosophers and religious reformers in 19th-century Europe to contemporary thinkers from Jewish communities around the world. 1 Its methods and questions are scholarly, discursive and primarily (but not exclusively) philosophical and theological. It is similar to other forms of modern religious thought in critically responding to modern critiques of traditional understandings of truth, knowledge and authority that have such serious implications for religion and religious thought. It is a conversation distinguished by its critical relationship to Judaism, modern thought and modern scholarship. Similarly, Jewish feminist thought is the scholarly, discursive and often philosophical and theological, expression of Jewish feminism and its disciplinary conversation is distinguished by its critical relationship to Judaism, feminist thought and modern scholarship. Jewish feminism's earliest iterations are still not well understood but are linked to first wave feminism, 18th-to 20th-century Jewish women's social activism and philanthropy and salon culture. 2 Although the Jewish feminists of the 1970s who were associated with second wave feminism, the civil rights movement and gay liberation have historically overshadowed these Jewish feminist and proto-Jewish feminists, Jewish feminist thought's most basic foundations are bound up in many of the same forces that shaped Jewish experiences of modernity and modern Jewish thought-including liberalism, rationalism, secularism and humanism. While Jewish feminism began with questions about gender