Women in Judaism
Although the Hebrew Bible and rabbinic literature present various female role models, religious law treats women in specific ways.
The rise of Kabbalah, which emphasized the shechinah and female aspects of the divine presence and human-divine relationship, and which saw marriage as a holy covenant between partners rather than just a civil contract, had great influence.
Crypto-Jewish women slaughtered their own animals,[citation needed] and followed as many of the Jewish dietary laws (Kashrut or kosher) and life cycle rituals as possible without raising suspicion.
Occasionally, these women were prosecuted by Inquisition officials for suspicious behavior such as lighting candles to honor the Sabbath or refusing to eat pork.
Rabbi Peretz ben Elijah ruled, "The cry of the daughters of our people has been heard concerning the sons of Israel who raise their hands to strike their wives.
"[50] He also ruled that a battered wife could petition a rabbinical court to compel a husband to grant a divorce, with a monetary fine owed to her on top of the regular ketubah money.
One of the most important Ashkenazi rabbanim of the past century, Yisrael Meir Kagan, known popularly as the "Chofetz Chaim", favored Torah education for girls to counteract the French "finishing schools" prevalent in his day for the daughters of the bourgeoisie.
"It would appear that all [these sexist laws] were intended for earlier generations when everyone dwelt in the place of their familial ancestral home and ancestral tradition was very powerful among all to follow the path of their fathers... under such circumstances we could maintain that a woman not study Mishnayos and, for guidance, rely on her righteous parents, but presently, due to our myriad sins, ancestral tradition has become exceptionally weak and it is common that people do not dwell in proximity to the family home, and especially those women who devote themselves to mastering the vernacular, surely it is a now a great mitzvah to teach them Scripture and the ethical teachings of our sages such as Pirkei Avos, Menoras Ha-Ma'or and the like so that they will internalize our sacred faith because [if we do not do so] they are prone to abandon the path of God and violate all principles of [our] faith.
"[66]Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik taught that all religious Ashkenazi Jews, except hardline Hasidim, must teach their girls Gemarah like the boys: "The halakha prohibiting Torah study for women is not indiscriminate or all-encompassing.
[75] In many Orthodox synagogues, women are not entitled to deliver divrei Torah—brief discourses on the weekly Torah portion—after or between services; shiurim are typically limited to men.
A typical mechitzah consists of wheeled wooden panels, often topped with one-way glass to allow women to view the Torah reading.
In making his decision, he relied upon Jewish oral law, including a mishnah in Chulin 2a and a Beit Yoseph in the Tur Yoreh Deah stating that a woman can perform a specific official communal service for her own needs, but not those of others.
In 2010, Sara Hurwitz became the first woman to be ordained as a "Rabba", or female equivalent of a rabbi, when she started serving as an Open Orthodox spiritual leader.
[85][86] In 2014, the first-ever book of halachic decisions was written by women who were ordained to serve as poskot (Idit Bartov and Anat Novoselsky) was published.
[87] They were ordained by Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, after completing Midreshet Lindenbaum women's college's course, as well as passing examinations equivalent to the rabbinate's requirement for men.
[96] In 2016 Ephraim Mirvis created the job of ma'ayan by which women would be advisers on Jewish law in the area of family purity and as adult educators in Orthodox synagogues.
Such arguments focus on cases where the Talmud and other traditional sources express multiple or more liberal viewpoints, particularly where the role of women in the past was arguably broader than in later times.
It consisted of eleven men and three women: attorney Marian Siner Gordon, Assyriologist Rivkah Harris, and author Francine Klagsbrun.
[125] In 1973, 1983, and 1993, individual rabbis and professors issued six major opinions that influenced the Conservative approach, the first and second Sigal, Blumenthal, Rabinowitz, and Roth responsa, and the Hauptman article.
The Rabbinowitz responsum sidestepped the issue of obligation, arguing that a community representative was no longer needed in prayer and hence the question of whether a woman can perform halakhic was moot.
CJLS, unwilling to take either an intrusive approach or repudiate the traditional legal process, did not adopt either and let the JTS faculty vote stand unexplained.
In 1993, Professor Judith Hauptman of JTSA issued an influential paper[132] arguing that women had historically always been obligated in prayer, using more detailed arguments than the Blumenthal and first Sigal responsa.
Consensus is widespread among Reform Jews that traditional distinctions between the role of men and women violate the deeper ethical principles of Judaism.
It includes a version of the High Holy Days prayer Avinu Malkeinu that refers to God as both "Loving Father" and "Compassionate Mother".
[143] Reform Judaism generally holds that the various differences between the roles of men and women in traditional Jewish law are not relevant to modern conditions and no longer applicable.
It was on this basis that Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan called for the full equality of women and men, despite the obvious difficulties reconciling this stance with traditional Jewish practice.
[152] Reconstructionist Judaism allowed women to perform other traditionally male tasks, such as serving as witnesses, leading services,[153] public Torah reading, and wearing ritual prayer garments like kippot and tallitot.
[174][175] OHALAH's Statement of Principles states, "Our local communities will embody egalitarian and inclusive values, manifested in a variety of leadership and decision-making structures, ensuring that women and men are full and equal partners in every aspect of our communal Jewish life.
Because a decision to terminate a pregnancy carries serious, irreversible consequences, it is one to be made with great care and with keen awareness of the complex psychological, emotional, and ethical implications.
Forming the basis for the discussion of women becoming sofrot, Talmud Gittin 45b states: "Sifrei Torah, tefillin, and mezuzot written by a heretic, a star-worshipper, a slave, a woman, a minor, a Cuthean, or an apostate Jew, are unfit for ritual use.".
