Male supremacy has dominated Jewish history in a large variety of different manners. But recently, feminists have been working to create new frameworks for halakhic (Jewish legal) practice that they feel include and celebrate women in ways that have never existed before.
One area of Jewish culture that some feminists are tackling involves the significance of the names that refer to God in holy texts and prayers. God has many names, almost all of which have masculine ties. “Adonai”, for example, translates to “my Lord.” For thousands of years, the entire Jewish community has typically gendered its God as a masculine figure, thus preventing the association of the ultimate Jewish reverence with the female population.
Moving Traditions, a non-profit that “advocat[es] for a more expansive view of gender in Jewish learning and practice,” addresses this issue by promoting one of the few female representations of God, Shehinah. “Shehinah” comes from the root, “to dwell,” and is often translated as “indwelling.” Many interpret this as a reference to the dwelling of God inside us. One of Moving Traditions’ programs, “It’s a Girl Thing,” brings together girls ages 11-18 to play games, have fun, and discuss how gender plays out in their lives. Every month they honor a Jewish female figure and look at ways in which that person can serve as a role model. Shehinah is one of these figures. Learning about Shehinah adds a female presence to these girls’ Jewish education.
Synagogues approach the gender obstacle in a variety of ways. Most orthodox and hasidic communities have not made changes to how God is referenced in Jewish texts. Many less-observant communities, however, have begun to either replace the old language with gender-neutral names, or simply tried to create more of a balance between masculine and feminine expressions.
The categories of Judaism, fundamentally embedded in holy texts, make for another major issue regarding modern Jewish gender. Torah, Israel and God have traditionally been the three cardinal pillars of Judaism. Not only have these categories always been written about in a gendered language (the default of which is masculine), men also wrote virtually all of the ancient Jewish commentary. As a result, a masculine perspective dominates the texts that we use to interpret and grapple with the core symbols and messages of Judaism.
Feminist scholars are currently formulating a variety of approaches in hopes of counteracting this problem. Some, like feminist theologian Judith Plaskow, think that these three categories can stay intact, as long as they are redefined. The chapter concerning God in her book, Standing Again at Sinai, for example, does not dwell on classic interpretations of God but instead discusses “God-language and feminist spirituality.” Conversely, Lori Lefkovitz, the Director of Jewish Studies at Northeastern University, believes we’re better off discarding these categories and starting afresh. She suggests that our categories be “fluids and voices, blood, milk, wells, seawater, and laughter.” Lefkovitz’s goal is to make space “for women’s bodily experiences that standard theological categories exclude.” While some oppose her idea and claim that such a female-oriented model will only further encourage sexism, she does offer a truly cutting-edge image of what Judaism could look like in the future.
Trying to refashion the gender roles of Judaism is a bit like trying to renovate the Pantheon. In both cases, we’re working with something very old and preciously holy that much of the world is too terrified to touch. The remodeling of Judaism is a long journey, most of which is still in front of us.
Susan Fendrick, a writer for Sh’ma: A Journal of Jewish Ideas helps us to organize this movement into three branches: Parallelism, Access and Integration, and Transformation. The first division proposes the creation of opportunities for women that, in the past, only men have had, like allowing women to wear tallitot. The second division refers to “the full and complete involvement of women in every aspect of Jewish life (e.g. female rabbis)” and the third considers “the reshaping and revisioning of Jewish practice and thought, by both women and men, due to women’s involvement and in light of Jewish feminism.”
Some highly religious Jews fear these modifications threaten Judaism, that tampering with sacred Jewish law mutilates the purity of their religion. In reality, however, modern observers live in a far different world than that of the ancient Jews, and adapting the religion to meet the needs of these observers is probably the only way that Judaism will survive.
