Early Sunday morning, I shlepped my tired self through the rain — taking the subway up to Columbia University — to cover the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance conference. At the end of a long day, I came away energized. At the First International Conference on Feminism & Orthodoxy back in 1997, there was something electric…
It’s been three years since JOFA’s last national conference in New York, which may explain the seam-bursting program, with more 50 different sessions in the less than 24 hours. It seems that organizers of the 2010 conference, which begins Saturday night, have decided to cram three-years’ worth of pent-up Jewish feminist activity and thought into…
It’s seems like an effort to put the rabba back in the hat. Rabbi Avi Weiss, who is not usually known for backing down from a fight, on Friday announced via a statement from the Rabbinical Council of America that after discussions with officials there, he is rescinding his decision to describe the women who…
“We’re not ready,” said Gloria Steinem to Rosh Kehilla Dina Najman, the spiritual leader of Congregation Kehilat Orach Eliezer (KOE), when she encountered her on a plane last April, in the heat of the Democratic primaries. Steinem was talking about Americans not being ready for a female president, but Najman brought up the anecdote during…
One of the highlights of the High Holy Days is the blowing of the shofar, and the best shofar-blowing I ever heard was by a woman. Her tekiah gedolah was — the long blast sounded at the end of each shofar-blowing sequence on Rosh Hashanah and at the very end of the Neilah service on…
One of Sara Hurwitz’s sons recently said more, related to the recent conferral of her new title of Maharat, than many others publicly have. Four-year-old Zacharya told her “only boys can be rabbis.” Hurwitz laughed it off — explaining that her kids don’t get to see her working in her position of leadership at the…
There were a couple of notable things about the annual dinner held on Mother’s Day by the Drisha Institute for Jewish Education. The dinner celebrated the 30th anniversary of Drisha — a small but influential center for women’s advanced Torah study where I’m concluding a year of learning as an Arts Fellow. Drisha’s currently most…
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