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February 2, 2001/Shevet 8, 5761, Vol. 53, No.18
Shedding new light
VICKI CABOT
Contributing Editor
Clockwise from left, Marlyne Freedman, Mark Libsohn, Anne and George Schindler and Rabbi Elana Kanter delve into Jewish liturgy in Kanter's weekly Dare to Daven class, one of many Jewish study options available in the Valley.
Photo by Mark Gluckman |
For generations, women have sought liberation from societies in which their rights and powers have been limited."
So begins a commentary on this week's Torah reading, parshat (portion) Bo (Exodus 10:1-13:16), written by Rabbi Lucy H.F. Dinner and included in the recently published "The Women's Torah Commentary, New Insights from Women Rabbis on the 54 Weekly Torah Portions," edited by Rabbi Elyse Goldstein.
The parshat's story of the Israelites' demand for gold and silver from their Egyptian oppressors reflects an exquisite shift in the balance of power and an enlightening view of faith in God and confidence in human power, writes Dinner.
Such insights shine through the commentaries Goldstein has collected, illuminating the growing body of Jewish women's scholarship and women's
concomitant enrichment of rabbinic discourse.
A portion of the Torah, the five books of Moses, is read in synagogue each Shabbat during the year on a cycle beginning and ending with the holiday of Simchat Torah. Discussion of the biblical narrative is contained in an extensive and growing body of Torah commentary, and serious study includes a close reading and discussion of both text and commentary. Questions often turn on the meaning of a single word or phrase, an oblique reference or a tiny thread of narrative.
"I had heard the same (Torah) stories over and over but had never heard them taught from a woman's perspective," says Goldstein of the purpose of compiling the volume, a comprehensive women's view of the text. She brought together submissions from women rabbis from several countries, representing all movements within Judaism that ordain women - Reform, Conservative and Reconstructionist. The collection contains many original readings of old stories, elucidated by the rabbis' feminist perspectives.
It is only 30 years since the first woman rabbi was ordained, and in the ensuing decades women have increasingly exercised their rights and powers to study and comment on the text. Building on what came before, they are amplifying the discussion.
"We have opened up everyone's way of experiencing Judaism," exalts Goldstein, a Reform rabbi ordained at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 1983. She currently heads Kolel, the Adult Center for Liberal Jewish Learning, in Toronto.
In the past, while some more traditional Jews proscribed teaching Torah to women, in most communities serious study by women was not prohibited - it was simply not encouraged.
"The learning was done by men," says Professor Hava Tirosh-Samuelson, an associate professor of history at Arizona State University. Women's learning was often limited by what was deemed practical for their traditional roles as wives and mothers. The prevailing social attitude was that "there was no need to encourage or cultivate women's (intellectual) learning. It was not what women were geared to do."
And when exceptional women attempted to engage in the discussion, often they were neither recognized nor were their writings published.
"One of the problems has been that history preserved only the male voices," says Rabbi Barton Lee, executive director of Hillel at ASU and a Reform rabbi.
Women "were given short shrift," comments Rabbi Herbert Silberman, a longtime Conservative rabbi formerly with Beth El Congregation in Phoenix and now a teacher at the Melton Adult Mini-School in Phoenix, where 90 percent of the participants in his weekly classes are women. The school, a division of an international program on Jewish living, was established locally in 1997 by the Bureau of Jewish Education in cooperation with Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
Torah commentary by men defined the normative Jewish experience. "What we have called Torah commentary has in fact been the Torah commentary of males," observes Goldstein.
She uses the story of the rape of Dinah, popularized recently in "The Red Tent," a novel by Anita Diamant, as a case in point. Earlier commentaries focus on the act of sexual violation; today, commentators may also look on the story as a lesson in power. Rabbi Lia Bass's essay in Goldstein's collection on parshat Vayislach (Genesis 32:4-36:43), which relates the story of Dinah, is entitled "No means no."
Including women in Torah study has brought new perspectives to the endeavor, elucidating certain themes and changing how women are perceived in Jewish life. And the burgeoning interest in serious Jewish study has crossed the denominational divide; Orthodox women, as well as their more liberal sisters, are asserting their desire to increase their Jewish literacy.
"There is an alertness to issues, to echoes in the text that may not have been noticed," says Rabbi Elana Kanter, a local Jewish educator and conservative rabbi married to Beth El's current spiritual leader, Rabbi Michael Wasserman.
New questions abound as women wrestle with the ancient stories, Kanter says.
"What does it mean when Rebekah makes a commitment to go to a land she has never been to before?" she asks of the matriarch who follows her husband Isaac to a new home. "What about the relationship between Sarah and Hagar (Abraham's wife and concubine, respectively, and mothers of his two sons, Isaac and Ishmael)?"
Kanter says that such questions may have been asked before but not by women who bring their own experiences to the stories. "The (male) rabbis had their own take on these things," she says, "but now we are asking mothers to reflect on them."
Yet Kanter is quick to point out that while women's voices may have been lacking, the rabbis of the past were able to discern the essential human lessons of the text. "Different experiences lead to different voices, but categorizing differences in terms of gender is a risky business," she says.
Tirosh-Samuelson who teaches Jewish history courses at ASU, suggests that a so-called women's perspective may be a result of social conditioning more than of intrinsic intellectual or emotional difference. "It is not clear to me that the brain of a man and the brain of a woman are not wired the same way," she says. "Our socialization may bring us to pay more attention to certain issues."
She warns against bringing marginal biblical characters to center stage and inflating their importance simply to emphasize the significance of women, a tack some feminists have taken. Scholars must be honest about their intentions and serious about what they hope to inspire, she says. "What good does it do? What are we getting out of it? Do we become closer to God as a result?"
Feminist anger at what is written in Torah - and what is left out - does little to advance the essential purpose of Torah study, says Kanter. "What is more helpful is to look at what we can learn from ... the text," she says.
"Women's Torah Commentary" editor Goldstein suggests that women do see the world differently and that a distinctly female interpretation of the text resonates for women scholars. In the introduction to her book she writes, "This commentary is a correction of the so-called neutral commentaries which came before ... (calling) into question the marginality of feminist discussion."
Women's engagement in serious study has helped to elevate the role of women in Jewish life. Collections such as Goldstein's are evidence that "women do have the intellectual capacity to study and this is what happens when they do," observes Tirosh-Samuelson.
And having women rabbis and scholars as role models may encourage other young girls to consider a similar path. Kanter tells of one young woman who was delighted, after days of studying male biblical heroes, to encounter the story of Ruth.
" 'Ah, finally a girl,' " Kanter recalls her student exclaiming. "She was looking for someone she could personally relate to. She wanted to know, 'where is mine?' "
Kanter, who studies by telephone with two different study partners each week, says that having the women's experience in the text helps her connect. "Torah study is a huge part of my life," says Kanter. "I always find some insight in the text, something about how to make that day holy."
Kanter says it is that joy she hopes to impart to her students. "There is always the potential to do for others what it does for me," she says.
Kanter considers openness to learning, more than competence and confidence, as key for beginning students. She further says that study can lead women to prayer, a difficult activity for many to approach.
Tirosh-Samuelson, who defines study as an intrinsic part of Jewish life, says now that the doors are open to women, the question is whether or not they will go in.
"We are not excluded anymore," she says. "Now the charge for Jewish women is, can we move forward in light of our experience, and now that we are included, can we do it with wisdom and justice?"
Philosophy conference
One manifestation of the resurgence of Jewish women's scholarship is a steady increase in the number of women in academic Judaism. A conference entitled "On Being Human: Women in Jewish Philosophy," Feb. 25-26 at Arizona State University in Tempe, will bring together prominent female Jewish philosophers from throughout the United States. The goal is to look at feminism in light of Jewish philosophy and, conversely, to examine Jewish philosophy in light of feminism, says Prof. Hava Tirosh-Samuelson, conference organizer.
For more information, contact Tirosh-Samuelson by phone, 480-965-5778 or e-mail, Hava.Samuelson@asu.edu.
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