Between Feminism and Orthodoxy in Israel

Abstract

The research on which this article is based was carried out in Israel among Orthodox women who are strongly advocating a feminist agenda in the religious public sphere. They are actively engaged in attempting to achieve increased participation of Orthodox women in synagogue ritual and in the hierarchy of religious authority — possibly reaching the ultimate objective of the rabbinical Orthodox ordination of women, eventually. Other Jewish religious denominations have largely succeeded in reaching these goals. The Orthodox women interviewed for this study represent a wide range of attitudes about the strategies to be employed. They are acutely aware that there has been a movement in Israel recently towards religious fundamentalism, often referred to as haredization. They, on the other hand, are trying to lead in the opposite direction: towards the liberalization of Orthodoxy. That movement of Orthodox women with a feminist agenda is well-known in the United States but it has not received a great deal of attention about its activities in Israel. In fact, many very significant changes have been occurring in the position of Orthodox women within Israeli society