Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Life

‘Feminist’ Feels More Political Than I Am

This is the second entry in an ongoing series about Jewish feminism.

It’s difficult to be “for” something I have never lived without.

I don’t remember a bimah without women. When I was growing up, my mother was the cantor at our makeshift shul on Fire Island, so my Jewish practice always had a female face. I don’t remember learning Judaism without women because some of my most formative Jewish teachers — Miri Kubovy, Mychal Springer, Jennifer Krause and Angela Buchdahl — were strong, scholarly women. I have only known integrated, egalitarian Judaism, just as I have only known an egalitarian home — my parents’ and now my own.

Radical as it may sound, I never really experienced sexism, just as I didn’t encounter anti-Semitism. I know both still fester, and that they were once controlling and insidious, but thanks, in significant part, to the work of my mother and her compatriots, we live in a different world now.

So where does that leave my identity as a “Jewish feminist?” I don’t squirm at the word, feminist, except when it conjures the word “activist,” and I’ve never been one.

I was raised by someone who was unmistakably active — always pushing against the maddening status quo. I could not be more proud of her courage and indefatigability, but I never had a similar impulse to rebel or upend. I don’t own the term “Jewish feminist” because I’ve never felt the need to label an identity which I was simply born into. The label feels more political than I am.

I am Jewish. I believe in equality. But I’ve never introduced myself by putting words “Jewish” and “feminist” together. I imagine it would feel unnatural to start now.

Abigail Pogrebin is the author of “Stars of David: Prominent Jews Talk About Being Jewish,” “One and the Same,” and “Showstopper.” She has written for New York Magazine, the Daily Beast, Salon, and Tablet, among others, and she wrote all the biographies for Newsweek’s top rabbis list last year. Abby has her own interview series with newsmakers at The JCC in Manhattan.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.