Feminism and Traditional Judaism

The feminist movement changed the way many women viewed their roles in society; women were becoming less accepting of traditional male and female roles. Jewish women in particular experienced feelings of separation between their religion and their own self-worth. Blu Greenburg, describes in her essay, "On Women and Judaism: A View from Tradition", her female responsibilities as a young women and even as a young wife, in her Orthodox Jewish community. She remembers sitting in the women's section of the synagogue with her friends without any feelings of resentment for being separated from the males. On the contrary, she and along with the other women in her community were extremely content with the ways of the traditional Jewish women. The separation of males and females is a practice in Orthodox Judaism in which women sit behind a mehitzah. A mehitzah, as described by Dufour, is a divider in a synagogue, often times a curtain that is between men and women. In Greenburg's experience, reading Betty Friedan's, Feminist Mystique (1963), gave the feminist movement relevance in her own life. The feminist movement led to a sub-group known as inclusionist Jewish feminists, which believed that women should be considered equal to men in religious participation.

The traditional roles of men and women are no longer accepted by inclusionist Jewish feminist. In order for these women to accept Judaism, the religion must allow women to take on any role that a man can, as well as be allowed to participate in any religious activity that was once reserved for men only. Inclusionist Jewish women ask to be part of practices such as the Minyan, a daily prayer service including ten adult men, and even the Bat Mitzvah which is equivalent to a Bar Mitzvah: a party for young men entering their puberty.

Inclusionist women do not reject their religion or feel oppression because of their religion, despite the fact that they may not entirely agree with many of the practices. Like Greenburg, Inclusionist Jewish women find a way to include themselves in the religion by creating new roles for women. Greenburg believes that Jewish have been conditioned to maintain traditional values, yet this does not mean they cannot be challenged.

References

Greenburg, Blu. "On Women and Judaism: A View from Tradition". Jewish Publication

Society of American. 1981. Mathisen, Robert R. Critical Issues in American Religious History. Waco Texas. Baylor University Press. 2005. Pg. 757-760.

Dufour,Lynn Resnick. "Sifting through Tradition: The Creation of Jewish Feminist Identities". Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Vol. 39, No. 1 (Mar., 2000), pp. 90-106. JSTOR Web. 20 November 2009.