Engendering Judaism: An Inclusive Theology and Ethics

Reform Judaism Magazine
"In this passionately argued envisioning, Adler insists that theology and ethics are meaningful only in practice and proposes strategies, through interpretations of classic texts, that point the way to a 21st-century Judaism of full gender equality."


Judaism
"Rachel Adler has finally published what will surely be the major text of the new Jewish feminism...Engendering Judaism is a crucial work, courageous, dialectical, learned, and persuasive...a truly new Jewish feminism takes wings, ascends upwards, filling our sky with beauty and hope."


Book Description
Winner of the 1998 National Jewish Book Award—the summation of a life's work by a mother of Jewish feminist theology How can women's full participation transform Jewish law, prayer, sexuality, and marriage? What does it mean to "engender" Jewish tradition? Pioneering theologian Rachel Adler gives this timely and powerful question its first thorough study in a book that bristles with humor, passion, intelligence, and deep knowledge of traditional biblical and rabbinic texts. Engendering Judaism challenges both mainstream Judaism and feminist dogma and speaks across Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox movements as well as to Christian theologians and feminists. Beacon's paperback edition of this major work brings it to a wide audience for the first time. "Summarizing the thinking of a lifetime, [this] is the first major work of feminist Jewish theology since Plaskow's Standing Again at Sinai." —Alicia Ostriker, Lilith "Both builds on and departs from earlier feminist work, creating a theology and ethics that are dazzling in their inventiveness and analytic power. . . . [A] rich brew that many progressive Jews will find nourishing and usable, and many non-Jewish feminists will find an important model of the combination of theory and practice." —Judith Plaskow, The Women's Review of Books "Will surely be the major text of the new Jewish feminism." —Arnold Jacob Wolf, Judaism


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Rachel Adler has written a pioneering work on what it means to "engender" Jewish tradition, that is, how women's full inclusion can and must transform our understanding and practice of Jewish law, prayer, sexuality, and marriage. Engendering Judaism challenges both mainstream Judaism and feminist dogma, and speaks across the movements as well as to Christian theologians and feminists. "What would modern Judaism be like if it articulated the commitments, prayers, and visions of both men and women?" The aim of the book is to imagine quite concretely what an engendered Judaism would entail, how it would grapple with the great and diverse body of Jewish tradition, and how it would be lived. Engendering Judaism presents a theology and ethics for Judaism that men and women recreate and renew together as equals. Adler assesses the impact of gender and sexuality on Judaism's classic texts. She brings this assessment to bear on three central areas of Jewish thought and practice: law, liturgy, and the ethics of sexuality and relationship.


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