While there are plenty of serious, discussion-worthy things going on in Israel this week, I’m going to take a walk on the lighter side and turn to a more frivolous subject. Underwear. In particular, irreverently Jewish themed underwear for women. The company is called JewButt, the panties come in two styles (available only online… Read more »
I’ve spent the past few days defending Jewish women against all sorts of stereotypes and criticisms, and, frankly, I’m exhausted. I personally know so many amazing Jewish women, and I report on amazing Jewish women I don’t personally know all the time. So all this complaining by Jewish men about Jewish women makes me think… Read more »
Last week I wrote about the way that the ideals of religion and feminism have the potential to come together to create a new breed of woman – the religious feminist – who plays by her own rules, not seeking approval from either secular feminists or right-wing religionists. This week I present a real-life example… Read more »
The current issue of Lilith magazine includes a conversation between our own Melanie Weiss and London-based author Sally Berkovic, titled “Orthodox and Feminist: The Dreaded ‘F’ Word,” about this year’s Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance conference. This brought to mind two other recent articles in other publications: Noah Feldman’s by-now infamous NYT Magazine piece “Orthodox Paradox”… Read more »
A Woman’s Place…Is in the Workplace An article in last week’s Contra Costa Times discusses what some consider to be the “stained-glass ceiling” for female clergy in many religious denominations: “More women are graduating from seminaries, but in most faiths few are senior or solo clergy.” This phenomenon is particularly true in Reform Judaism, which,… Read more »
This week I had the privilege of attending the closing brunch and plenary session of the 93rd Annual Hadassah National Convention, in which newly elected president Nancy Falchuk was officially installed. I went as a reporter rather than as a member of Hadassah, as I am not one, nor did I grow up in what… Read more »
So the verdict, er, that is, the plea bargain, is in. Israel’s now-former president Moshe Katsav, who faced rape charges that could have put him in prison for up to 20 years, has struck a deal, pleading guilty to lesser sexual harassment offenses in exchange for a suspended sentence and having to pay fees to… Read more »
Israel’s Rabbinic courts released data last Tuesday that contradict the claims of groups who fight for the cause of agunot [women “chained” to men who won’t grant them a Jewish divorce]. The Jerusalem Post reports that, according to the courts, “at the end of 2006 there were only 180 women in Israel who could not… Read more »
When I started writing about women and Jewish life for the Jewess blog, I was really excited about the opportunity to create discussion about women’s issues in a Jewish context and to celebrate women’s contributions to the Jewish community and the world at large. I did not expect that some of my most avid and… Read more »
