In defense of the sanctimonious women's studies set || First feminist blog on the internet

Very cool.

Jill

The Reform Judaism movement is introducing a new prayer book — and it sounds like another step in the right direction from an already progressive denomination:

Traditional touches coexist with a text that sometimes departs from tradition by omitting or modifying some prayers and by using language that is gender-neutral. References to God as “He” have been removed, and whenever Jewish patriarchs are named — like Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, so are the matriarchs — like Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah. The prayer book took more than 20 years to develop and was tested in about 300 congregations. Its release has been delayed for a year because the initial printed product was shoddy, said people involved with the project. But the book is expected to be released in about a month — too late, however, for the High Holy Days, which begin Sept. 13.

“It reflects a recognition of diversity within our community,” said Rabbi Elyse D. Frishman, the editor of the prayer book. “We have interfaith families. We have so many visitors at b’nai mitzvah ceremonies that I could have a service on Shabbat morning where a majority of people there aren’t Jewish,” she said, referring to bar and bat mitzvah ceremonies on Saturday mornings.

Sounds like a positive step to me.

11 thoughts on Very cool.

  1. Today I am even more proud to be a Jew. I have to say, even though I was born Jewish and raised in the faith, I’ve never been tempted to convert because I love Judaism so much (and yes, I was raised Reform). I have gone to churches of all denominations and studied a bit about Buddhism, but Judaism just seems to be the most accepting, realistic, generous religion.

  2. The Reform movement is progressive compared to the Conservative and Orthodox movements, but they are at least 20 years behind the Reconstructionist movement, which added the matriarchs to the prayers in the 1970s and eliminated all gendered references to G-d. The Reconstructionist Rabbinical college was the first rabbinical school to ordain openly gay and lesbian rabbis.

    I was raised Reform, but wouldn’t go back for the world. We can’t undo the patriarchal roots of Judaism, but Reconstructionist Judaism has given me the opportunity to live and learn and worship as Jew without compromising my values.

  4. This is an interesting twist- in Judiasm, women are seen as inferior to men. In the ancient world, Jewish women were the property of their fathers, until they were “sold” to a husband- then they became the property of their husband.
    You could write several books on all of the various ways women are disenfranchised in Judiasm, but one of the most interesting examples to me is the definition of adultery. In traditional Judiasm, adultery is defined as a man sleeping with another man’s wife. Period. If a married man sleeps with an unmarried woman, it is not adultery. Why? Women are property. If you sleep with another man’s wife, you’re messing with his property. By the way, since women were property, polygamy was common, especially in the ancient world. We have lying ministers that claim that monogamy is “Biblical”, but they all know that monogamy is actually a pagan concept.

  5. The naming of the matriarchs alongside the patriarchs thing isn’t that new; my (Conservative) congregation has had prayerbooks in that format for quite some time (I’d guess around a decade).

    Still, progress is progress.

  6. It seems that to call this progress, one would have to be a) religious, b) Jewish and c) religiously liberal. If one is not religious period, the discussion is at least not directly relevant. If one is religious and not Jewish, likely the entire discussion is either irrelevant or a continuation of worshipping in the “wrong” [sic] religion. If one is Jewish, religious but not religiously liberal, changing the prayer book might be considered either inappropriate, an affront against tradition or a total disaster.

    On the other hand, those who, like myself, fail any or all of the tests have no standing to comment either, let alone criticize. Certainly a secular-minded person like me can take enjoyment in a fellow blogger’s celebration of long-deferred progress in her community, in reference to which a hearty “glad to hear it” to you Jill, in between your ever-flowing liters of fermented hops.

  7. The naming of the matriarchs alongside the patriarchs thing isn’t that new; my (Conservative) congregation has had prayerbooks in that format for quite some time (I’d guess around a decade).

    Yeah, I was confused by this, because every shul I’ve gone to for the past decade has already done all these things. I could have sworn that we had egalitarian prayer books when I was in Hebrew school twenty years ago. Maybe we were one of the beta-testing congregations?

  9. The most progressive, and frankly the only meaningful change in stance the Reform Judaism could attempt would be to separate Zionism from the Jewish religion.
    It’s Reform Judaism’s only chance to survive, but I’ll doubt they’ll take it.
    Land trumps religion, any day, even if the land exists only in a Reform fantasy.
    In that, my fellow Jews are no different than anybody else. A land of Jewish advantage must be a tenet of the Jewish religion, what else could be more important?

  10. I remain puzzled why Reform Judaism officially supports all sorts of Israeli causes, when Israel does not concede that it exists as a real branch of Judaism. Hold out all the money for a bit, watch how quickly Reform marriages and conversions etc are allowed.

    Like many people, I found that the local Reform synagogue has long used the matriarchs every single time the patriarchs are mentioned, which — they’re mentioned a LOT, can’t they take turns or something?

    I don’t see why non-Jews (as is, I believe, Jill) cannot have an opinion about this.

  11. Oh goody! Jay has started the my form of the religion has a bigger dick than your form of the religion!

    Everyone get to your penis guns!

Comments are currently closed.