How has a legal tradition determined by men affected the lives of women? What are the traditional Jewish views of marriage, divorce, sexuality, contraception, abortion? Women and Jewish Law gives contemporary readers access to the central texts of the Jewish religious tradition on issues of special concern to women. Combining a historical overview with a thoughtful feminist critique, this pathbreaking study points the way for “informed change” in the status of women in Jewish life.

Rabbi Moshe Meiselman addresses the attitude of Jewish law to women and how the Jewish tradition views the contemporary challenge of feminism. He discusses in detail such current issues as creative ritual, women in a minyan, aliyot for women, talit and tefillin. The question of agunah is also given lengthy consideration. The author mixes current issues with scholarly ones and gives full treatment to other issues such as learning Torah by women, women position in court both as witnesses and as litigants, the marriage ceremony & marital life. — Amazon.com.

Baile provides sources on issues such as marriage, divorce, birth control, abortion, lesbianism, and communal worship and rape.

Provocative essays address the question of women's menstrual rituals in Jewish law, history, and culture.

Berkowitz examines the status of women in halacha. He offers suggestions from the tradition to improve that status, particularly in the areas of divorce, and ritual practice.

This collection of revised and new essays explores Jewish women's history. Topics include portrayals of women in the Hebrew Bible, the image and status of women in the diaspora world of late antiquity, and Jewish women in the Middle Ages.

A classic for more than 20 years, this thought-provoking volume explores the role of Jewish women in the synagogue, in the family, and in the secular world. Greenberg offers ways to change present Jewish practices so that they more readily reflect feminine equality.

For the past few decades, manu Orthodox leaders have reacted to the overall friction between some aspects of feminist ideology and halakhah (Jewish las and ethics) by treating suggestions for increased women's participation in religious activities with suspicion. They feared that these proposals, while benign in appearance, could legitimize feminism in the eyes of the halakhic community. It is now time, argues the author, to move past this fear of feminism. We are fast approaching a "post-feminist" era in which accepting certain initiatives originally promoted by feminists no longer carries with it the implications that we accept feminist ideology as a whole. We should not continue to fight yesterday's battles, confusing a genuine desire to grow in Torah with an attack on Torah values. It is obvious to people who have firsthand contact with women engaged in advanced Torah education in Israeli schools like Michlelet Lindenbaum, Matan, or Nishmat or in American schools like Drisha and Stern College that it is the unparalleled high levels of education attained by these women that now drives this concern, not by any particular feminist agenda. This book explores how this drive for increased women's expression in our homes, at life-cycle events, in our synagogues and in our schools can be realized with complete fidelity to halakhah.

A classic for more than 20 years, this thought-provoking volume explores the role of Jewish women in the synagogue, in the family, and in the secular world. Greenberg offers ways to change present Jewish practices so that they more readily reflect feminine equality.

"This book represents engaged scholarship at its very best. Cohen presents the vast range of texts at his command with brevity and wit. Elegantly written, this is a very stimulating book that is sure to provoke admiration, discussion, and controversy."—David Biale, author of Cultures of the Jews "A distinguished and wide-ranging work of scholarship. Cohen’s definitive discussion of the covenant of circumcision enhances our understanding of Jewish identity formation, women’s status in Judaism, Jewish-Christian polemic, and the impact of diverse cultural environments on the evolution of Jewish tradition."—Judith R. Baskin, author of Midrashic Women