When I began writing this series of Torah commentaries for ReformJudaism.org I forgot that, because the Reform movement celebrates only one day of Shavuot, we read Parashat Naso over two weeks to align with the traditional calendar of Torah readings. I therefore thought I could skip writing about the sotah ritual—a trial by ordeal for a woman suspected of infidelity.
Did you know that Gloria Steinem’s grandmother, Pauline Perlmutter Steinem , was not only a sisterhood president of her Reform congregation, but also a suffragist? The legacy of activism in the Steinem family, paired with lessons learned from Parashat Naso, reminds us to be on guard against gender-based discrimination meant to preserve an unjust status quo.
Torah Commentary
The Opposite of Faith
Women Facing Abuse as Suffragists and in the Torah
Did you know that Gloria Steinem’s grandmother, Pauline Perlmutter Steinem , was not only a sisterhood president of her Reform congregation, but also a suffragist? The legacy of activism in the Steinem family, paired with lessons learned from Parashat Naso, reminds us to be on guard against gender-based discrimination meant to preserve an unjust status quo.