Celebrating Jewish Womanhood

I wanted to celebrate the differences inherent in the sexes, rather than diminish them. To unravel the mysteries of what it meant to be a woman . . . what it meant to be a Jewish woman . . .

The Jewish woman has a unique mission specific to her special qualities and sensitivities. The very future of the Jewish people depends on her success.

“Aren’t there way too many things that you have to do?” “Is there anything in your life that you wish you could do, but you can’t because you’re religious?” The questions came hurtling toward me, one after the next . . .

Yet it wasn’t until a few years later that I learned how to connect to the formal Jewish prayers. Staying over at a friend’s house for Shabbat, I was completely embarrassed when she handed me a prayerbook. I sat on the sofa, pretending to read the Hebrew words like a pro. But I couldn’t fool my friend . . .

It is complacency, not questions, that pose a threat to Judaism. Questions propel us out of the lethargy of our comfort zones to dig deeper and discover the greater truths hidden within our eternal Torah.

The Lubavitcher Rebbe understood that it is women who are the catalysts of change. Through empowering them, one hastens the social, psychological and spiritual revolution of mankind ...

There will come a time, blessed and welcomed by all, when the feminine will have greater access to transcendent consciousness, and when that happens, she will bestow and man will receive from her...

Torah does not support asceticism, the closed walls of a monastery and a life apart from the bones of the body. We are asked to eat the cookie—or kasha—but to ever remain the master of that act . . .

Within the context of our society, women are required to function on a more sophisticated level than ever before, occupying professional positions that require higher knowledge...

I'm often asked: Where are the feminine voices in Jewish history, the feminine role models? Why are they not leading the way?

The Torah’s account of the petition presented to Moses by the daughters of Zelophehad is relevant both to women seeking halachic support for change, and to the rabbis who are ruling on their questions.

I cannot have kids. I wrote to him about the emphasis Orthodox Judaism seems to place on women having many kids.

I would describe myself as a Chassidic feminist. The two terms are not mutually exclusive, though their combination is not without tension...

I had always been fascinated with tefillin (phylacteries), the two black leather boxes with Torah verses of parchment inside, worn on the head and wrapped around the arm. The basic explanation is that it is a way of connecting to our Creator and it is the binding of head, heart and deed...

You can’t do your job as a mother, as a wife, if you’re single, or as a member of a community, and live Jewishly, properly, if you’re not inspired yourself, if you don’t know what it is all about.

My girls were having a heart-to-heart with my friend about the role of women in Judaism, and seeing things through their eyes was just unbelievable...

The issue is even more baffling than you think. Most of the guidelines for prayer, we learned from a lady named Chana who lived about 3000 years ago. Yet all the dominant roles in communal prayer are given to men!

Disagreements in marriage can be a real exercise in humility and maturity and force us to transcend our subjectivity. If we embrace the discomfort of the dispute we can come out with a lot more than a wounded ego...

A woman must cultivate a relationship with her Creator and use her mind to its fullest capacity. Only then, asserts the Akeidat Yitzchak, can a woman fulfill her second role as Chava, 'mother of all life', a role which crowns the role of isha.

...I listened carefully to what Esther Kosovsky and Tamar Frankiel had to say as we talked about some provocative and pointed issues. Their unswerving conviction in their own rich experience as observant Orthodox women speaks for itself.

The opportunities for formal Jewish women's education today are unprecedented, and they have created far strides in the development or our communities, but I think they also indicate a need to compensate for what has been lost...

The innovations and increase in Torah study of recent generations connects to and is emphasized more in relation to women...

Torah learning for Jewish women has been revolutionized. No longer must women strive to learn as men, but rather women are now revealing and celebrating their own unique ability to learn as women.

A circle has no beginning or end, and every point is equidistant from its center; so it is for souls. Truly, it is impossible to rank them, for each is the most beloved in the scale of values that is its perfected virtue...

A personal account of the Lubavitcher Rebbe's attitude towards Feminism

Before we can understand the differences between men and women, we must first understand the differences between masculine and feminine.

The Hebrew name of the first woman, Eve, is Chavah, which means "the source of life." It was Chavah who participated first in the primordial sin, which introduced death to the world. Chavah is the archetypal woman; every woman can thus rectify the primordial sin...

Those who refer to the biblical story of Eve as a Divine endorsement of sexism are overlooking a simple truth: a curse is not something that should to be the way it is -- it's something that should not be the way it is...

Man seeks woman and woman yearns for man. But the trick is learning to contract in order to come together...

First tries are usually chaotic. Yet the Torah offers us different methods of capturing the chaotic energies of beginnings and turning them into productive and stable states that can be used over and over again.

To an ancient Greek or a Hindu, passive stillness is masculine, activity and motion are feminine. To a Taoist, action is masculine and passiveness is feminine. In other words, if it is a virtue it is masculine. The Jew turns the pyramid on its head

When G-d created Adam, at the moment Adam opened his eyes, what was his psychological profile? He had no Oedipus complex because he had no mother. He didn't have a birth trauma, because he wasn't born. He had no sibling rivalry... What was this man like?

Is it true that G-d in Jewish teachings is patriarchal--that is, thoroughly imbued with male characteristics and values?

This week I attended a prayer service with a difference. It was a Torah reading conducted entirely by women. Most were wearing tallises and kippas. Isn't is positive that women are participating more in their Judaism?

Behind every successful man... stands his wife—or so goes the proverbial saying. But what about behind every successful woman?...

Kabbalistic writings insist that females possess a higher soul of superior quality. How so, and what does this mean to us?