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Judaism from Feminist Perspective: An Attempt for Re-Constitution

Year 2021, Volume: 20 Issue: 1, 139 - 166, 30.06.2021
https://doi.org/10.14395/hid.879736

Abstract

The increasing popularity of the feminist movement in the North America in 1960’s and 1970’s did not take long before effecting Jewish tradition. While roles of women in American social life changed, Jewish women began to question and criticize the situation of women in Jewish social and religious life. By introducing the growing post-modern research approaches into feminist questions and critics, Jewish feminism at this point, as a critical thinking method, is reconfiguring the tradition from its foundations. The feminist influence can be felt even among the most traditional groups. The aim in this article is to examine the process of transformation in Jewish feminism beginning as the equality demands, and in time turning to attempts to re-constitute the tradition.
The first effect of feminism among Jewish groups began through the publications of Jewish women which criticized the tradition. Rachel Adler argued that the asymmetry between genders appeared at Mount Sinai and existed throughout Jewish history. Judith Plaskow pointed that feminist critics claiming social reformation must focus on Jewish theology which is the basis of the problem. Tamar Ross suggested alternative Bible interpretations to eliminate the patriarchal attitudes. Although it is not possible to sum up Jewish feminist researches with these women’s works, Adler, Plaskow and Ross are among pioneer names. As we cannot talk about a singular feminism, it is neither possible to discuss Jewish feminist researchers as a unified group. While writing from within Orthodox, Reform, Conservative and Reconstructive groups, even though these women have different approaches and priorities, they all have a common purpose which is to improve women’s position within Jewish tradition.
This research first addresses the encounter of Jewish tradition with feminist movement. In this first period, reasons that the tradition was criticized were usually asymmetries between genders in Halakha. They demanded changes in religious practices to remove these inequalities. As a result, some reformative actions came up such as creating Bible study groups, updating prayer language and producing rituals for women. After pointing out this critical period, the questioning and then refusal of traditional authority of Bible, rabbinic tradition and Halakha among Jewish feminists are discussed. The feminist researches worked to expose the patriarchal structure within the foundations of Jewish theology such as the language and images about God, place of Torah in Judaism, God-human relationship, and chosen people of Israel. Even those in the most traditional Orthodox groups openly expressed that Torah was a patriarchal text. These discussions led to the conclusion that the authority of Torah comes from the society, not God. Then, the article discusses the approaches of Jewish feminists to solve the problem of ignoring women in historical records. By working to form a Jewish tradition including women, the aim was to fill in the lost pieces. The most interesting approach used for this purpose is to refer to sources other than Talmudic texts through interdisciplinary methods. These works making gender the main analytical category, on one hand undermine the authority of the tradition, on the other hand, provide new perspectives for the understanding of the tradition.
To sum up, by applying feminist thought to Jewish tradition, Judaism are being re-formed from its foundations. Jewish theology and law produced through readings of traditional texts yield to the recovering of non-Talmudic sources through an interdisciplinary approach. This change in method dislocated the center from classical texts to genuine interdisciplinary research using gender as an analytical category.

References

  • Adler, Rachel. “The Jews who wasn’t There: Halacha and the Jewish Woman”. Off Our Backs 2/6 (1972), 16-17.
  • Aranoff, Deena. “Mother’s Milk: Child-Rearing and the Production of Jewish Culture”. Journal of Jewish Identities 12/1 (2019), 1–17.
  • Baker, Cynthia. Rebuilding the House of Israel: Architectures of Gender in Jewish Antiquity. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2002.
  • Baskin, Judith. Midrashic Women: Formations of the Feminine in Rabbanic Literature. Hannover: University Press of New England, 2002.
  • Baumgarten, Elisheva. Practicing Piety in Medieval Ashkenaz: Men, Women, and Everyday Religious Observance. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2014.
  • Belser, Julia Watts. “Making Room for the Divine She”. In American Jewish Thought since 193. Ed. Michael Marmur and David Elleson. 235-239. Waltham, MA: Brandeis University Press, 2020.
  • Benjamin, Mara. “Tracing the Contours of a Half Century of Jewish Feminist Theoloji”. Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion 36/1 (2020), 11-31.
  • Brettler, Marc. “Women and Psalms: Toward an Understanding of the Role of Women’s Prayer in the İsraelite Cult”. In Gender and Law in the Hebrew Bible and the Ancient Near East. Ed. Victor Matthews, Tikva Frymer- Kensky, Bernard Levinson. 25-56. B.y.: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2009.
  • Boyarin, Daniel. Unheroic Conduct: The Rise of Heterosexuality and the Invention of the Jewish Men. University of California Press, 1997.
  • Davidman, Lynn and Shelly Tenenbaum. “Introduction”. In Feminist Perspectives on Jewish Studies. B.y.: Yale University Press, 1996.
  • Eisen, Arnold. Rethinking Modern Judaism: Ritual, Commandment, Community. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998.
  • Eskenazi Tamara and Andrea Weiss. The Torah: A Women’s Commentary. New York: Women of Reform Judaism, 2008.
  • Falk, Marcia. “Notes on Composing New Blessings toward a Feminist-Jewish Reconstruction of Prayer”. Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion 3/1 (1987), 39-53.
  • Falk, Marcia. Book of Blessings. New York: Harper San Francisco, 1996.
  • Farneth, Molly. “Feminist Jewish Thought as Postliberal Theology”. Modern Theology 33/1 (2017), 31-46.
  • Fonrobert, Charlotte Elisheva. “Regulating the Human Body: Rabbanic Legal Discourse and the Making of Jewish Gender”. In Cambridge Companion to the Talmud and Rabbanic Litrature. Ed. Charlotte Elisheva Fonrobert and Martin Jaffee. 270-294. B.y.: Cambridge University Press, 2007.
  • Fuchs, Esther. “The Literary Characterization of Mothers and Sexual Politics in the Hebrew Bible”. Semeia 1 (1989), 151-166.
  • Goldstein, Elyse. The Women’s Torah Commentary: New Insights from Women Rabbis on the 54 Weekly Torah Portions. Woodstock: Jewish Lights Publishing, 2004.
  • Green, Arthur. “Vride, SPouse, Daughter: Images of the Feminine in Classical Jewish Sources”. In The Heart of the Matter: Studies in Jewish Mysticism and Theology. Ed. Graham Greene and James Wood. 75-86. B.y.: University of Nebraska Press, 2015.
  • Heschel, Susannah. “Introduction”. In On Being a Jewish Feminist. Ed. Susannah Heschel. xxi–xxxiii. New Yorks: Schocken, 1983.
  • Hyman, Paula. Gender and Assimilation in Modern Jewish History: The Roles and Representation of Women. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1995.
  • Irshai, Ronit. “Toward a Gender Critical Approach to the Philosophy of Jewish Law”. Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion 26/2 (2010), 55-77.
  • Janowitz Naomi & Maggie Wenig. Siddur Nashim: a Sabbath Prayer Book for Women. Providence, 1976.
  • Joseph, Norma Baumel. “Women in Ortodoxy: Conventional and Contentious”. In Women Remaking American Judaism. Ed. Riv-Ellen Prell. 135-152. Detroit: Wayne University Press, 2007.
  • Moore, Deborah Dash and Andrew Bush. “Mitzvah, Gender, and Reconstructionist Judaism”. In Women Remaking American Judaism. Ed. Riv-Ellen Prell. 135-152. Detroit: Wayne University Press, 2007.
  • Ozick, Cynthia. “Notes toward Finding the Right Question: A Vindication of the Rights of Jewish Women”. In American Jewish Thought since 1934. Ed. Michael Marmur and David Elleson. 221-225. Waltham, MA: Brandeis University Press, 2020.
  • Peskowitz, Miriam. Spinning Fantasies: Rabbis, Gender, and History. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997.
  • Plaskow, Judith. “The Right Question is Theological”. In On Being a Jewish Feminist. Ed. Susannah Heschel. 223-232. New York: Schocken Books, 1983.
  • Plaskow, Judith. Standing Again at Sinai: Judaism from a Feminist Perspective. New York: Harper and Row, 1990.
  • Plaskow, Judith. “Jewish Theology in Feminist Perspective”. In Judith Plaskow: Feminism, Theology, and Justice. Ed. Hava Tirosh-Samuelson and Aaron Hughes. 45-67. Boston: Brill, 2014.
  • Ross, Tamar. Expanding the Palace of Torah: Orthodoxy and Feminism. Hanover, NH: Brandeis University Press, 2004.
  • Ross, Tamar. “Modern Orthodoxy and the Challenge of Feminism”. In Jews and Gender: The Challenge to Hierarchy. Ed. Jonathan Frankel. 3–38. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.
  • Setel, Drorah. “Feminist Reflections on Separation and Unity in Jewish Theology”. Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion 2 (1986), 113-118.
  • Sheridan, Sybil. Hear Our Voice: Women Rabbis Tell Their Stories. London: SCM, 1994.
  • True-Weiss, Rosmarin. “Unfreedom of Jewish Women”. Jewish Spectator 35/7 (1970).

Feminist Perspektiften Yahudilik: Bir Yeniden İnşa Girişimi

Year 2021, Volume: 20 Issue: 1, 139 - 166, 30.06.2021
https://doi.org/10.14395/hid.879736

Abstract

1960-1970’lerde Kuzey Amerika’da etkinliğini artıran feminist hareket çok geçmeden Yahudi geleneğini de etkilemiştir. Amerika’da toplumsal hayatta kadınların rolü değiştikçe Yahudi kadınlar da kendi sosyal ve dinî hayatlarında varlıklarını sorgulamaya ve eleştirmeye başlamıştır. Bu sorgulama ve eleştirilere akademide giderek artan post-modern araştırma yaklaşımlarının da eklenmesi ile Yahudi feminizmi bugün gelinen noktada bir eleştirel düşünme metodu olarak, Yahudi geleneğini tanrı ve vahiy anlayışı gibi temel ögelerinden başlayarak yeniden ele almaktadır. Kadınların dinî hayata dâhil edilmesinin ötesine geçilerek Yahudi teolojisi ve hukuku en temel yapı taşlarından başlanarak incelenmekte ve kadınların dışlanmadığı bir Yahudilik anlayışı oluşturulmaya çalışılmaktadır. Bu feminist yaklaşımlar yeni bir Yahudi cemaati veya alternatif bir Yahudilik anlayışı ortaya koymaktan çok, çeşitli Yahudi grupların kendi anlayışlarını yeniden gözden geçirmelerine neden olabilen bir eleştirel tutum olarak farklı grupları etkilemektedir. Öyle ki feminist eleştirilerin ve okumaların etkisi en geleneksel gruplar içinde dahi net bir şekilde görülebilmektedir. Bu çalışmanın amacı Yahudi feminizminin kadınlar için sosyal ve dinî hayatta eşitlik talepleri olarak başlayıp zaman içinde eleştirel bir akademik yaklaşıma dönüşme sürecini ve Yahudi geleneğini temellerinden ele alarak kadınların marjinalleştirilmediği bir Yahudilik anlayışı veya anlayışları oluşturma çabalarını değerlendirmektir. Feminist hareketin Yahudi dinî gruplar üzerindeki etkisinin anlaşılması daha geniş çerçevede feminizmin din ile ilişkisinin anlaşılmasına katkı sağlayacak ve bu konuda yapılacak yeni çalışmalara zemin hazırlayacaktır.
Yahudi feminist çalışmaları bunlarla özetlemek mümkün olmamakla beraber Adler, Plaskow ve Ross feminist hareketin öncüsü olan isimlerdendir. Ortak bir feminizm tanımından bahsetmenin mümkün olmaması gibi Yahudi feminist araştırmacıları da tekil bir grup olarak ele almak mümkün görünmemektedir. Farklı yaklaşım ve önceliklere sahip olsalar da Ortodoks, Muhafazakâr, Reform veya Yeniden Yapılandırmacı grupların içinden yazan kadınların hepsi Yahudi kadının gelenek içindeki yerini iyileştirme noktasında ortak bir amaca sahiptir.
Bu çalışmada ilk olarak Yahudi geleneğinin feminist düşünce ile karşılaşma evresine değinilmiş ve bu dönemin nitelikleri ortaya konulmuştur. İlk dönemde geleneğin eleştirilmesine neden olan şeyler genelde Halaha’da göze çarpan cinsiyetler arası asimetridir ve bu asimetriyi ortadan kaldırmak için uygulamada bazı değişikliklere gidilmesi talep edilmiştir. Bunun sonucu olarak kadınlar için Talmud çalışma grupları oluşturmak, ibadet dilini güncellemek ve kadınlara özel ritüeller oluşturmak gibi yeniliklere gidilmiştir. İlk dönemin eleştirel tutumuna değinildikten sonra Yahudi feministler arasında Tevrat, rabbani gelenek ve Halaha gibi geleneksel otoritelerin kaynaklarının sorgulanması ve ardından bu otoritelerin ilahi kaynaklı olma iddialarına karşı çıkılması ele alınmaktadır. Tanrı dili ve imgeleri, Tevrat’ın statüsü, Tanrı-insan ilişkisi ve İsrail’in seçilmişliği gibi Yahudi inancını oluşturan temel unsurların şekillenmesinde etkili olan ataerkil yapı açığa çıkarılmaya çalışılmıştır. Geleneğe bağlılığı en yüksek olan Ortodoks gruplar içindeki feministler bile radikal bir şekilde Tevrat’ın ataerkil bir metin olduğunu dile getirmişlerdir. Bu tartışmalar, Tevrat’ın otoritesini Tanrı’dan değil onu oluşturanların toplumsal gücünden aldığı şeklinde sonuçlanmıştır. Ardından kadınların görmezden gelindiği bir tarih ve gelenek problemini çözmek için feminist Yahudilerin ortaya koyduğu yaklaşımlara değinilmektedir. Kadınların dâhil olduğu bir Yahudi teolojisi ve hukuku oluşturmaya çalışırken ilk yapılması amaçlanan geleneğin içinde bulunamayan Yahudi kadınların deneyimlerine dair kayıp parçaların yerlerinin doldurulmasıdır. Bu amaç için en dikkat çeken yöntem disiplinlerarası metotlar kullanarak Talmud, Halaha veya Rabbani metinler gibi dinî kaynakların dışında kalan kaynaklara başvurmaktır. Cinsiyetin temel analitik parametre olarak kullanıldığı bu çalışmalar bir taraftan geleneksel otoriteleri sarsarken diğer taraftan geleneğin anlaşılmasına yönelik yeni yaklaşımlar ortaya koymaktadır.
Sonuç olarak feminist düşüncenin Yahudi geleneğine uygulanması ile Yahudilik temel ögelerinden itibaren yeniden şekillendirilmeye başlanmıştır. Geleneksel olarak metinlerin kendi içinde incelenmesiyle ortaya konulan teoloji ve hukuk, yerini disiplinlerarası bir yaklaşımla klasik metinler dışında kalan kaynakların değerlendirilmesine bırakmıştır. Bu metot değişikliği, otoritenin merkezini klasik metinlerden cinsiyetin analitik bir kategori olarak kullanıldığı özgün disiplinlerarası araştırmalara kaydırmıştır.

References

  • Adler, Rachel. “The Jews who wasn’t There: Halacha and the Jewish Woman”. Off Our Backs 2/6 (1972), 16-17.
  • Aranoff, Deena. “Mother’s Milk: Child-Rearing and the Production of Jewish Culture”. Journal of Jewish Identities 12/1 (2019), 1–17.
  • Baker, Cynthia. Rebuilding the House of Israel: Architectures of Gender in Jewish Antiquity. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2002.
  • Baskin, Judith. Midrashic Women: Formations of the Feminine in Rabbanic Literature. Hannover: University Press of New England, 2002.
  • Baumgarten, Elisheva. Practicing Piety in Medieval Ashkenaz: Men, Women, and Everyday Religious Observance. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2014.
  • Belser, Julia Watts. “Making Room for the Divine She”. In American Jewish Thought since 193. Ed. Michael Marmur and David Elleson. 235-239. Waltham, MA: Brandeis University Press, 2020.
  • Benjamin, Mara. “Tracing the Contours of a Half Century of Jewish Feminist Theoloji”. Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion 36/1 (2020), 11-31.
  • Brettler, Marc. “Women and Psalms: Toward an Understanding of the Role of Women’s Prayer in the İsraelite Cult”. In Gender and Law in the Hebrew Bible and the Ancient Near East. Ed. Victor Matthews, Tikva Frymer- Kensky, Bernard Levinson. 25-56. B.y.: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2009.
  • Boyarin, Daniel. Unheroic Conduct: The Rise of Heterosexuality and the Invention of the Jewish Men. University of California Press, 1997.
  • Davidman, Lynn and Shelly Tenenbaum. “Introduction”. In Feminist Perspectives on Jewish Studies. B.y.: Yale University Press, 1996.
  • Eisen, Arnold. Rethinking Modern Judaism: Ritual, Commandment, Community. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998.
  • Eskenazi Tamara and Andrea Weiss. The Torah: A Women’s Commentary. New York: Women of Reform Judaism, 2008.
  • Falk, Marcia. “Notes on Composing New Blessings toward a Feminist-Jewish Reconstruction of Prayer”. Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion 3/1 (1987), 39-53.
  • Falk, Marcia. Book of Blessings. New York: Harper San Francisco, 1996.
  • Farneth, Molly. “Feminist Jewish Thought as Postliberal Theology”. Modern Theology 33/1 (2017), 31-46.
  • Fonrobert, Charlotte Elisheva. “Regulating the Human Body: Rabbanic Legal Discourse and the Making of Jewish Gender”. In Cambridge Companion to the Talmud and Rabbanic Litrature. Ed. Charlotte Elisheva Fonrobert and Martin Jaffee. 270-294. B.y.: Cambridge University Press, 2007.
  • Fuchs, Esther. “The Literary Characterization of Mothers and Sexual Politics in the Hebrew Bible”. Semeia 1 (1989), 151-166.
  • Goldstein, Elyse. The Women’s Torah Commentary: New Insights from Women Rabbis on the 54 Weekly Torah Portions. Woodstock: Jewish Lights Publishing, 2004.
  • Green, Arthur. “Vride, SPouse, Daughter: Images of the Feminine in Classical Jewish Sources”. In The Heart of the Matter: Studies in Jewish Mysticism and Theology. Ed. Graham Greene and James Wood. 75-86. B.y.: University of Nebraska Press, 2015.
  • Heschel, Susannah. “Introduction”. In On Being a Jewish Feminist. Ed. Susannah Heschel. xxi–xxxiii. New Yorks: Schocken, 1983.
  • Hyman, Paula. Gender and Assimilation in Modern Jewish History: The Roles and Representation of Women. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1995.
  • Irshai, Ronit. “Toward a Gender Critical Approach to the Philosophy of Jewish Law”. Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion 26/2 (2010), 55-77.
  • Janowitz Naomi & Maggie Wenig. Siddur Nashim: a Sabbath Prayer Book for Women. Providence, 1976.
  • Joseph, Norma Baumel. “Women in Ortodoxy: Conventional and Contentious”. In Women Remaking American Judaism. Ed. Riv-Ellen Prell. 135-152. Detroit: Wayne University Press, 2007.
  • Moore, Deborah Dash and Andrew Bush. “Mitzvah, Gender, and Reconstructionist Judaism”. In Women Remaking American Judaism. Ed. Riv-Ellen Prell. 135-152. Detroit: Wayne University Press, 2007.
  • Ozick, Cynthia. “Notes toward Finding the Right Question: A Vindication of the Rights of Jewish Women”. In American Jewish Thought since 1934. Ed. Michael Marmur and David Elleson. 221-225. Waltham, MA: Brandeis University Press, 2020.
  • Peskowitz, Miriam. Spinning Fantasies: Rabbis, Gender, and History. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997.
  • Plaskow, Judith. “The Right Question is Theological”. In On Being a Jewish Feminist. Ed. Susannah Heschel. 223-232. New York: Schocken Books, 1983.
  • Plaskow, Judith. Standing Again at Sinai: Judaism from a Feminist Perspective. New York: Harper and Row, 1990.
  • Plaskow, Judith. “Jewish Theology in Feminist Perspective”. In Judith Plaskow: Feminism, Theology, and Justice. Ed. Hava Tirosh-Samuelson and Aaron Hughes. 45-67. Boston: Brill, 2014.
  • Ross, Tamar. Expanding the Palace of Torah: Orthodoxy and Feminism. Hanover, NH: Brandeis University Press, 2004.
  • Ross, Tamar. “Modern Orthodoxy and the Challenge of Feminism”. In Jews and Gender: The Challenge to Hierarchy. Ed. Jonathan Frankel. 3–38. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.
  • Setel, Drorah. “Feminist Reflections on Separation and Unity in Jewish Theology”. Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion 2 (1986), 113-118.
  • Sheridan, Sybil. Hear Our Voice: Women Rabbis Tell Their Stories. London: SCM, 1994.
  • True-Weiss, Rosmarin. “Unfreedom of Jewish Women”. Jewish Spectator 35/7 (1970).
There are 35 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language Turkish
Subjects Religion, Society and Culture Studies
Journal Section Articles
Authors

Hesna Serra Aksel 0000-0003-4584-4154

Publication Date June 30, 2021
Submission Date February 15, 2021
Published in Issue Year 2021 Volume: 20 Issue: 1

Cite

ISNAD Aksel, Hesna Serra. “Feminist Perspektiften Yahudilik: Bir Yeniden İnşa Girişimi”. Hitit İlahiyat Dergisi 20/1 (June 2021), 139-166. https://doi.org/10.14395/hid.879736.

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