New Jewish Feminism: Probing the Past, Forging the Future

Jewish Feminism: What Have We Accomplished? What Is Still to Be Done?

"When you are in the middle of the revolution you can't really plan the next steps ahead. But now we can. The book is intended to open up a dialogue between the early Jewish feminist pioneers and the young women shaping Judaism today…. Read it, use it, debate it, ponder it."
―from the Introduction

This empowering anthology looks at the growth and accomplishments of Jewish feminism and what that means for Jewish women today and tomorrow. It features the voices of women from every area of Jewish life―the Reform, Reconstructionist, Conservative, Orthodox and Jewish Renewal movements; rabbis, congregational leaders, artists, writers, community service professionals, academics, and chaplains, from the United States, Canada, and Israel―addressing the important issues that concern Jewish women:

• Women and Theology
• Women, Ritual and Torah
• Women and the Synagogue
• Women in Israel
• Gender, Sexuality and Age
• Women and the Denominations
• Leadership and Social Justice

Contributors: Beth Cooper Benjamin, EdD • Rabbi Donna Berman, PhD • Ellen Bernstein • Marla Brettschneider, PhD • Shifra Bronznick • Anita Diamant • Rabbi Jacqueline Koch Ellenson • Ruth Andrew Ellenson • Rabbi Sue Levi Elwell, PhD • Rabbi Tirzah Firestone • Idana Goldberg, PhD • Rabbi Elyse Goldstein • Jodie Gordon • Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb • Rabbi Jill Hammer, PhD • Sara Hurwitz, Madricha Ruchanit (Religious Mentor)• Rabbi Jill Jacobs • Rabbi Valerie Joseph • Rabbi Karyn D. Kedar • Rabbi Naamah Kelman • Rabbi Gail Labovitz, PhD • Lori Hope Lefkovitz, PhD • Anne Lapidus Lerner, PhD • Rahel Lerner • Rabbi Jane Rachel Litman • Rabbi Dalia Marx, PhD • Rabbi Joseph B. Meszler • Rabbi Haviva Ner-David, PhD • Cantor Barbara Ostfeld • Rabbi Barbara Penzner • Judith Plaskow, PhD • Rabbi Irit Printz • Rabbi Einat Ramon, PhD • Rabbi Geela Rayzel Raphael • Rosie Rosenzweig • Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg • Rabbi Rachel Sabath Beit-Halachmi • Rabbi Rona Shapiro • Margalit Shilo, PhD • Rabbi Alana Suskin • Wendy Zierler, PhD

Rabbi Elyse Goldstein, one of the leading rabbis of a new generation, is director of Kolel: The Adult Center for Liberal Jewish Learning, a full-time progressive adult Jewish learning center. Goldstein lectures frequently throughout North America. She is also editor of The Women's Torah Commentary: New Insights from Women Rabbis on the 54 Weekly Torah Portions; and The Women's Haftarah Commentary: New Insights from Women Rabbis on the 54 Weekly Haftarah Portions, the 5 Megillot and Special Shabbatot; and author of the award-winning New Jewish Feminism: Probing the Past, Forging the Future and ReVisions: Seeing Torah through a Feminist Lens (all Jewish Lights).

Rabbi Elyse Goldstein is available to speak on the following topics:

• Women and Judaism
• Reform Judaism
• Jewish Parenting
• General Judaica

Anita Diamant is author of The Red Tent; The New Jewish Wedding; Bible Baby Names: Spiritual Choices from Judeo-Christian Sources; and The New Jewish Baby Book(Jewish Lights), among other books. She is a founder of Mayyim Hayyim, Living Waters Community Mikveh and the Paula J. Brody Family Education Center in Newton, Massachusetts.

Rabbi Donna Berman, PhD, is the executive director of the Charter Oak Cultural Center in Hartford, Connecticut. She holds a PhD in religion and social ethics from Drew University and is rabbi emerita of Port Jewish Center in Port Washington, New York. Rabbi Berman was the editor of a special edition of the Journal of Reform Judaism, celebrating twenty-five years of women in the rabbinate and is the author of numerous articles. She recently co-edited The Coming of Lilith: Essays on Feminism, Judaism, and Sexual Ethics, 1973–2003 with Judith Plaskow.

Ellen Bernstein is the founder of Shomrei Adamah―Keepers of the Earth, the first institution dedicated to cultivating the ecological thinking and practices integral to Jewish life. She is author of Ecology and the Jewish Spirit: Where Nature and the Sacred Meet and currently works as director of community building at the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia.

Ellen Bernstein is available to speak on the following topics:

• Reading the Bible Ecologically
• Prayer from an Ecological Perspective
• Why Judaism Needs Ecology and Why the Environmental Movement Needs a Spiritual Approach
• Creation Theology
• Why (and How) to Start a Synagogue Garden or Farm!

Marla Brettschneider, PhD, is associate professor of political science and women's studies at the University of New Hampshire, where she also coordinates the queer studies program. She served as the executive director of Jews for Racial and Economic Justice (JFREJ) from 2002 to 2004. Her books include The Family Flamboyant: Race Politics, Queer Families, Jewish Lives; Democratic Theorizing from the Margins; and Cornerstones of Peace: Jewish Identity Politics and Democratic Theory.