Engendering Judaism: An Inclusive Theology and Ethics

About the Book

Rachel Adler has written a pioneering work on what it means to "engender" Jewish tradition, that is, how women"s full inclusion can and must transform our understanding and practice of Jewish law, prayer, sexuality, and marriage. Her writing bristles with passion, sharp intelligence, serious study of traditional biblical and rabbinic texts, and trenchant humor. Engendering Judaism challenges both...

About the Author

Rachel Adler ---

Rachel Adler is one of the mothers of feminist Jewish theology. She has published a series of groundbreaking articles. She holds a Ph.D. in Religion and Social Ethics from the University of Southern California conjointly with Hebrew Union College, Los Angeles, where she now teaches.

Contents

Preface by David Ellenson

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Chapter 1. Prelude: The Female Rapist and Other Inversions

Chapter 2. Here Comes Skotsl: Renewing Halakhah

Chapter 3. And Not Be Silent: Toward Inclusive Worship

Chapter 4. Justice and Peace Shall Kiss: An Ethics of Sexuality and Relationship

Chapter 5. B"rit Ahuvim: A Marriage Between Subjects

Epilogue: On Seeds and Ruins

Appendix

Notes

Index of Bible Citations

General Index

An Excerpt from the Book

At the very beginning of our people's story, our foremother Sarah has a misunderstanding with an angel about sex. Three divine messengers appear before Sarah and Abraham's tent by the terebinths of Mamre, as we are told: Then one said, “I will return to you when life is due, and your wife Sarah shall have a son.” Sarah was listening at the entrance of the tent, which was behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years; Sarah had stopped having the periods of women. And S...

Reviews

In this passionately argued envisioning, Adler insists that theology and ethics are meaningful only in practice and proposes strategies, through interpretations of classic texts, that point the way to a 21st-century Judaism of full gender equality.

- Reform Judaism Magazine

Rachel Adler has finally published what will surely be the major text of the new Jewish feminism...Engendering Judaism is a crucial work, courageous, dialectical, learned, and persuasive...a truly new Jewish feminism takes wings, ascends upwards, filling our sky with beauty and hope.

- Judaism

The first full-length Jewish feminist theology since Standing Again at Sinai, it both builds on and departs from earlier feminist work, creating a theology and ethics that are dazzling in their inventiveness and analytic power.

- Judith Plaskow,Feminist Review of Books

With searing intelligence and a deep knowledge of the sacred texts, the author crosses the borders of movements both conservative and radical to tackle the question of how women can shape the future of Juadaism, from laws and prayer to sexuality and marriage.

- The Reader’s Catalog

[Adler’s] ideas are original and provocative.... Her inclusion of Talmudic texts, accompanied by an innovative feminist interpretation, solidly roots her varied proposals in tradition.

- Dr. Judith Hauptman, Professor of Talmud, Jewish Theological Seminary