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This month, we celebrate “40 Years of Women on the Bimah,” leading up the 40th anniversary of Rabbi Sally Priesand’s historic ordination as the first female rabbi in the United States. Through May,...
by Rabbi Mary L. Zamore...
“Who’s that guy?” I asked my mom.“He’s the rabbi,” she answered. I stared up at my mom, with a blank gaze on my face.When I was eight years old, my family joined a synagogue for the first time.Even...
With great excitement, tinged with a touch of trepidation, I moved to Israel in the summer of 1996 to begin my first year of rabbinical school at Hebrew Union College. There was so much to learn...
Despite being a Jewish educator, I have never felt a strong, personal connection to our sacred texts. I read the Tanakh as one reads literature, though this particular series of books had way too...
Jewish women for almost five thousand seven hundred seventy years have struggled with a tradition that moved them into a life of modesty, early marriage and motherhood. Formal education was...
by Marc Rosenstein(Originally published in Ten Minutes of Torah and Galilee Diary)The Council of Progressive (Reform) Rabbis in Israel views the Western Wall as an area that does not represent the...
New Year's Eve lost some of its festivity for me after reading the New York Times reporting the reaction to a fatal rape and beating in Delhi, India. Many women there say they are still subject to...
I glance down at my body in the shower, and the first thought that crosses my mind is: "Oh, there's that little belly that I don't like." And then I make the conscious effort to think a different...
From the RAC's Passover Series - why International Women's Day and women's issues are more significant than ever.
I had come to Israel to join my friend Anat Hoffman, who is one the leaders of the Women of the Wall. The previous month, there had been a random decree that as women were coming in, they were not...
I grew up in a home with my single mother and two sisters. My mother had one sister, two nieces, and one nephew. When my mother died, our synagogue shipped in the men of the traveling shiva minyan...
Sport is one of the great equalizers. I often speak about my time in competitive swimming, and all that it gave me. There are really no limits to the values one can learn from team sports. We learn...
Following a court ruling in their favor, leaders of an organization pushing for women's prayer rights at the Western Wall have withdrawn their endorsement of Natan Sharansky’s compromise proposal...
We are in the middle of the summer calm before we erupt into activity for Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur. One fun part about the end of the summer is that we see a rush of new people coming into...
This Shabbat, as we slow down, disconnect and enjoy the day of rest with family and friends, we also have the opportunity to spend some time to reflect on the status of women at home and abroad.
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Last month, the governor of Louisiana signed a bill that will close three of the state’s five abortion facilities. Several days later, the only medical provider offering abortion care in northern...
Great news in our struggle against the exclusion of women in Israel: The Israel Religious Action Center has won our first class-action suit! This is the first class-action suit dealing with gender...
The end of the 113th Congress will mark a milestone for women in politics: for the first time in history, 100 women will serve together in Congress. After Democrat Alma Adams (NC-12) is sworn in...
On January 22, we commemorate the 42nd anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 Supreme Court decision that established the constitutionally protected right of a woman to choose whether...
In case you missed it, this week’s Academy Awards featured a number of acceptance speeches in which many of the winners called attention to important issues of social justice. The stage of the...
I don’t remember the first time I skimmed my skull with a bobby pin and pushed a circle of knitted white cloth and strands of hair into its metal clasp. Wearing a kippah felt like a natural...
I woke up bright and early on Monday morning to head to the Western Wall with my students, participants in the NFTY-EIE study abroad program in Israel. At 7:00 a.m. sharp (OK, maybe we were a few...
Rarely does a 16-year-old Jewish girl from suburban Massachusetts get the chance to look back on her day and recognize that she helped make history. She didn’t just talk about it or write about it;...
When I was in eighth grade, my family and I took a vacation to England. It was an awesome trip, from visiting Oxford (or Hogwarts, as I recognized it) to Big Ben to the London Eye. Something else...
During my first year as a rabbinical student, which was spent on the Jerusalem campus of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, I began to see my homeland in a new light, a light that...
Hafrashat challah (separating the challah) is a practice popular in Orthodox circles, as it is one of three mitzvot (commandments) considered special for women. The practice also offers...
A rabbi with a black hat and beard once told me that a black hat and beard don’t make a Chassid, a pious Jew who goes beyond the law in fulfilling their duties toward others and God – and a...
While the current media climate seems to have no limits as to what’s deemed acceptable, Broad City is proof that it’s still possible to provoke and challenge. The show's creators, as comfortable...
When two colleagues and I created the Israeli Reform haggadah in 2009, we were well aware of the tension between the significant role of women in the Passover story and the relatively little...
Nearly 40 years ago, I stood on the bimah as a bat mitzvah, the first young woman in my family to celebrate my Jewish coming of age. Its significance was totally lost on me, however. Having been...
Most people, if they’ve heard of her at all, connect Emma Lazarus to the most famous phrases of her sonnet, “The New Colossus,” written to help raise money for the Statue of Liberty’s pedestal fund...
So far, my time in Israel has been filled with more questions than answers. One of the things I’m most excited about this year is the opportunity to live in Israel, to experience daily life here,...
It began as many new relationships do: I was curious but tentative. How would this new entity fit into my life? Did I really need it? Could I make room for it in my over-stuffed brain and on my...
Despite the long-held belief that there is no domestic violence in Jewish families, rates of abuse in the Jewish community mirror those in the general public.
My daughter Eleanor is fierce, feisty, and independent – and I want her to stay that way. I want her and her brother, Julian, to always have strong female role models in their lives and to know...
In representing the brave religious women of Beit Shemesh, we did a lot more than remove modesty signs from their town. We now have a legal precedent that can expedite the removal of similar signs...
God Who Blessed our Mothers, we ask Your blessing now on women and men, parents and grandparents, children, and grandchildren as they prepare for tomorrow’s March for Women’s Rights in Washington.
As Reform Jews, we are called, like the generations before us, to build partnerships across lines of difference to advocate for and engage with the oppressed of our day.
The story of Zelophechad’s daughters illustrates not only their triumph in changing the law, but also how Jewish tradition understands the need for Torah to change.
Together, we can end violence against women and foster peace. Here's one of the ways.
May the “Me Too” campaign of this week be blessed with the staying power to live well beyond the news cycle.
In 1987, Congress officially designated March as National Women’s History Month. How do we honor the women who have paved the way for our successes, Jewishly, in our communities?
Praying with the Women of the Wall is a very unique experience. On Rosh Chodesh Adar, I joined 200 other people packed into the very back part of the women's section with a dozen men standing on...
Encouraging girls to explore concepts related to science and engineering helps them discover and harness the power they possess to make a difference in the world.
Today is the commemoration of Bloody Sunday – that day in Selma, AL 50 years ago that is seared into our visual memory, even for those who were not there or not even alive at that time....
Israelis love to sing
When I had the chance go to the Kotel, or the Western Wall, I was able to walk up to the men’s section, find an open section of wall, and run my hands over the coarse, grey stone that I’d...
With the 44th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision approaching, let’s turn to a page in history that led to legal abortion.
Today, Roe v. Wade remains the law of the land. As we celebrate its 45th anniversary, I hope we redouble our commitment to protecting a woman’s right to make her own choices about her body.
