Women and Judaism

The lives of Jewish women throughout the ages are illuminated and celebrated in this dynamic anthology, which features the insights and research of historians, sociologists, artists, theologians, and philosophers. Jewish women in antiquity are examined from several perspectives: D. W. Griffith’s often-overlooked film masterpiece Judith of Bethulia; the “domestication” of Sarah from Hebrew scriptures to Hellenistic Jewish renderings; “nice Jewish girls” like Ruth and Esther who used wine to achieve power; the portrayal of Miriam in the Dead Sea Scrolls; and the impact of rabbinical decisions to exempt women from festive rituals. Later medieval and early modern Jewish women are the subjects of chapters that examine women as prophets and visionaries in Judaism, the depiction of Jewish women in anti-Semitic art caricature, and the history of intermarriage in the early twentieth century. A discussion of the stories of Martin Buber, S. Y. Agnon, and I. L. Peretz highlights the experiences of modern Jewish women, while a wide-ranging examination of current Jewish feminist scholarship finds the discipline “between a rock and a hard place.” Also of note are an investigation into the activity of traditional women’s theatrical groups in Israel, the living memories of American Jewish women via oral narratives, the contributions of women to American Reform Judaism, and two series of posters from the Jewish Women’s Archive of Boston, which provide insight into the lives of extraordinary Jewish women.