Welcome to the Forward’s Jewish News coverage about feminism and womens issues.
feminism
The Latest
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Life Missing from the Feminist Conversation
It should have been an exciting night. Anita Hill and Letty Cottin Pogrebin were scheduled to be in conversation about “Faith, Feminism, Race and the Ties that Bind” under the auspices of the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute and Interfaithfamily.com. But the two women sat in armchairs on the stage of the Levin Theater in Brandeis University’s student…
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Life Are Religious Women Treated As Second-Class Feminists?
“There is simply no room for women in the beit midrash” “Most guys wouldn’t date you, because you are Student Council President” “I know that you have your career, but I’m the guy, and you know, the parnassah” “You need to go to the back door. Only men can enter through the front.” While there…
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Life Why I’m OK Staying Out of The ‘Orthodox Boys’ Club’
This week I read Rachel Rosenthal’s open letter to Rabbi Willig expressing her frustration and anger about his views on women learning Talmud. I have sympathy for Ms. Rosenthal’s frustration and agree with her that it is in everyone’s best interest to have smart, educated observant Jewish women. But Rabbi Willig’s main point was that…
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Life How Israel’s ‘Sleeve-Gate’ Completely Missed the Point
Have you been witness to men in the workplace behaving unprofessionally and immaturely? Well, Israeli women members of Knessets (MKs) are not having any of it. Just last month, I relished this video of Yesh Atid MK Yael Gerban scolding Likud’s Oren Hazan for interrupting her (Oren, shev be’sheket – sit quietly, she yells like…
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Life What’s Wrong With Women Studying Talmud, Rabbi Willig?
Dear Rabbi Willig, We don’t know each other, and in many ways, I am outside of your target constituency. You, after all, are a , an institution I have never attended. In fact, I would assume that there is little we agree on, other than the binding nature of halakha or Jewish law. However, last…
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Life How Orthodox Day School Made Me a Feminist
An Orthodox day school is not a place many would expect to give young women the skills to become outspoken feminists, but this has been the case in my life. In many ways, my feminism was a reaction to the Orthodox environment around me: my second-grade self, when handed a coloring book on;y featuring pictures…
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Opinion No, It’s Not a ‘Feminist Catfight’ Over Hillary Clinton
“I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is: I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat or a prostitute.” Rebecca West in 1912. It’s 2015, and we still can’t agree on what the F-word really means. In a recent…
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Culture Why Is a Formerly Secular Woman Like Her Running a Chabad Center?
At the age of 13, Keren Blum told her parents that she was an agnostic. Because she also became a vegetarian at that time, her parents, Conservative Jews, were troubled by what they perceived as rebelliousness. They tried to make Judaism joyous and meaningful for her — in vain, at least initially. Blum completed her…
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Fast Forward Why neo-Nazis marched in Ohio this weekend, and almost every weekend in the US
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Opinion The group behind Project 2025 has a plan to protect Jews. It will do the opposite.
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Opinion Just about every interpretation of Trump’s narrow election victory is wrong
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News Texas schools want to add Queen Esther to the curriculum. Here’s why Jews (and many Christians) are opposed.
In Case You Missed It
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Fast Forward Chabad rabbi killed in United Arab Emirates; Israel denounces ‘despicable antisemitic act’
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Fast Forward Rep. Ritchie Torres, outspoken pro-Israel advocate, is dropping hints that he could run for NY governor
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Fast Forward Ursula Haverbeck, infamous German Holocaust denier known as ‘Nazi grandma,’ dies at 96
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Fast Forward A Jewish museum in Tulsa held a funeral for remains of Holocaust victims it kept for years
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