7 Jewish Feminist Highlights of 2017

2017 has been a doozy of a year. It’s tempting to fall into despair or to become inured to news that goes from bad to worse. But we need to resist and to persist—and to do that, we need sustenance. The following have functioned as Jewish feminist manna for me this year, and I hope that Lilith readers find these 7 highlights of 2017 nourishing as well. (For those curious, 7 is the number associated with creation and blessing in Jewish tradition!) 

1) Thanks to a lawsuit brought by Renee Rabinowitz, a retired lawyer and Holocaust survivor in her 80s, El Al airlines will no longer be able to ask women to change their seats to accommodate ultra-Orthodox men. As someone who wrestled with such a request on my first trip to Israel, I am inspired by Rabinowitz’s pursuit of justice and gender equality. 

2) Jewish feminists had a banner year at the movies, with Gal Gadot playing Wonder Woman and Orthodox director Rama Burshtein showing her range with The Wedding Plan, whose comic pathos sharply contrasts with the intensity of her 2012 Fill the Void. But my favorite flick this year was The Women’s Balcony, (directed by Emil Ben Shimon and written by Shlomit Nehama) about the religious intolerance, activism, and alliances that result when a slick but nefarious rabbi inserts himself into a spiritual void. This smart movie with heart and hope tackles the issue of Jewish communities riven by gender fundamentalism.

https://www.menemshafilms.com/womens-balcony

https://www.menemshafilms.com/womens-balcony

6 comments on “7 Jewish Feminist Highlights of 2017

  1. Afsaneh on

    You stupid, insane, brainwashed crazy women. In the mean time, all handsome, successful Jewish men have married garbage non Jews, leading to what hitler did not achieve, genocide of Jews.
    What’s the difference between Trump and Jewish Democrats? Trump will have Jewish descendants.

  2. Afsaneh on

    While you speak non sense, Trump declared Jerusalem capital of Israel while Obama repeatedly betrayed Israel, Israeli flag was burned at the DNC and Israel was booed. When are you gonna get that the DNC has turned its back on Israel and has become the party of Moslems?

  3. Lisa on

    These comments have nothing to do with the article above. Are we sure they’re in the right section?

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