As Rabbi Andrea Weiss discussed the book of Exodus, the female rabbis listening were captivated by the new lessons being taught.
The Israelites’ flight from Egypt is told using masculine imagery, Weiss said, with God as a manly warrior defeating the enemies of Israel. But after the Israelites cross the sea, Exodus tells miraculous stories of God feeding his people, raining manna from the heavens.
“This can be seen as the female image of God, providing food and drink,” said Weiss, assistant professor at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York.
The provocative theological discussion, held this week at the Allerton Hotel in Chicago, offered a sneak peek into a new women’s commentary on the Torah, the first comprehensive commentary written entirely by female rabbis and Jewish scholars.
“The Torah: A Women’s Commentary,” which URJ Press will publish in the fall, took more than a decade to produce and includes essays, commentaries and interpretations from more than 80 of the world’s leading Jewish female Bible scholars, rabbis, historians, philosophers and archeologists.
“This commentary is likely to open up a whole new conversation about gender,” said Rabbi Hara Person, editor in chief of URJ Press. “With this, gender becomes another lens through which we can study the text.”
“I think for a long time we’ve been left out,” said Rachel Havrelock, professor of Jewish Studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago and a contributor to the groundbreaking project. “The purpose of this is to help women feel at home in our own faith.”
The preview of the commentary was presented to more than 100 women from the United States and Israel at a conference of female rabbis. Judaism’s Reform movement began ordaining women in 1972, and since then some 400 women have been ordained.
Person said the women’s commentary gives deeper dimension to women’s voices found in the Torah. At the same time, it takes risks by confronting controversial topics such as passages in Leviticus about menstruation and sex.
“We deal with the treatment of women and their exclusion at times,” Person said. “We deal with the difficult issues of menstrual blood in Leviticus, and we talk about the role of blood in the Torah and in our lives. We deal with that stuff head-on and don’t shy away from it.”
Though the commentary is geared toward women, the hope is that Jewish men also will learn from it and find relevance to the women in their own lives.
“I think this will make them contemplate women in a different way,” Havrelock said.
Indeed, some Jewish men who reviewed advance copies have already offered praise.
“For generations, the task of interpreting the texts of Torah has been almost exclusively the province of men,” wrote Rabbi David Ellenson, president of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. “In our generation, this has changed and the voices of women and their understanding of the Torah have enriched our people. This commentary will be a valuable addition to every synagogue, Torah study group, and Jewish home.”
For Jews, the concept of Torah sometimes refers to all of traditional Jewish learning. But the written Torah usually refers to the five books of Moses: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Readings from the Torah are central to the Sabbath morning service, and its stories, laws, and poetry stand at the center of Jewish culture.
The idea for a women’s commentary came from Cantor Sarah Sager in a 1993 speech at the Women of Reform Judaism Assembly in San Francisco. Sager spoke about Jewish women’s spirituality and listening to the hidden voice of Sarah, her matriarchal namesake. She challenged the women to produce a historic Torah commentary that would incorporate women’s history and experience into the living memory of Jewish people.
“Imagine women feeling permitted, for the first time, feeling able, feeling legitimate in their study of Torah,” Sager said in the speech. “If we are really serious about women’s spirituality, about liberating the concepts of God and community, about integrating the Torah of our tradition into the Torah of our lives, then there is something very concrete that we can do.”
Motivated by those words, the women got to work. A commentary committee formed, and by 2001 Tamara Cohn-Eskenazi, professor of Bible at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles, became lead editor of the project and selected one of her former students, Rabbi Andrea Weiss, as associate editor.
Weiss, who led the sneak peek in Chicago, said the women’s commentary is unique because it incorporates contemporary approaches.
. The project not only examines women found in the Torah but also analyzes portions where women are absent and asks why.
Weiss also said the volume pulls together much of the research on Jewish women that has been amassed in the last few decades.
“Many of these women have been doing this research for years,” she said. “So part of the mission was finding out how to collect together all that material and put it out there in an accessible form.”
During the preview, many rabbis expressed interest in using the book for religious education classes at their temples. Weiss said some excited rabbis urged her to appear on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” to discuss the book.
“Hey, if you can get me on ‘Oprah,’ I’ll do it,” Weiss said, laughing.
Though some worried that men might feel isolated by the text, Rabbi Lisa Greene of North Shore Congregation Israel in Glencoe said she felt the commentary held lessons for everyone.
“I’m looking forward to sitting down with my colleagues and finding out the best ways to use this,” Greene said. “To me, it’s thrilling.”
maramirez@tribune.comAs Rabbi Andrea Weiss discussed the book of Exodus, the female rabbis listening were captivated by the new lessons being taught.
The Israelites’ flight from Egypt is told using masculine imagery, Weiss said, with God as a manly warrior defeating the enemies of Israel. But after the Israelites cross the sea, Exodus tells miraculous stories of God feeding his people, raining manna from the heavens.
“This can be seen as the female image of God, providing food and drink,” said Weiss, assistant professor at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York.
The provocative theological discussion, held this week at the Allerton Hotel in Chicago, offered a sneak peek into a new women’s commentary on the Torah, the first comprehensive commentary written entirely by female rabbis and Jewish scholars.
“The Torah: A Women’s Commentary,” which URJ Press will publish in the fall, took more than a decade to produce and includes essays, commentaries and interpretations from more than 80 of the world’s leading Jewish female Bible scholars, rabbis, historians, philosophers and archeologists.
“This commentary is likely to open up a whole new conversation about gender,” said Rabbi Hara Person, editor in chief of URJ Press. “With this, gender becomes another lens through which we can study the text.”
“I think for a long time we’ve been left out,” said Rachel Havrelock, professor of Jewish Studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago and a contributor to the groundbreaking project. “The purpose of this is to help women feel at home in our own faith.”
The preview of the commentary was presented to more than 100 women from the United States and Israel at a conference of female rabbis. Judaism’s Reform movement began ordaining women in 1972, and since then some 400 women have been ordained.
Person said the women’s commentary gives deeper dimension to women’s voices found in the Torah. At the same time, it takes risks by confronting controversial topics such as passages in Leviticus about menstruation and sex.
“We deal with the treatment of women and their exclusion at times,” Person said. “We deal with the difficult issues of menstrual blood in Leviticus, and we talk about the role of blood in the Torah and in our lives. We deal with that stuff head-on and don’t shy away from it.”
Though the commentary is geared toward women, the hope is that Jewish men also will learn from it and find relevance to the women in their own lives.
“I think this will make them contemplate women in a different way,” Havrelock said.
Indeed, some Jewish men who reviewed advance copies have already offered praise.
“For generations, the task of interpreting the texts of Torah has been almost exclusively the province of men,” wrote Rabbi David Ellenson, president of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. “In our generation, this has changed and the voices of women and their understanding of the Torah have enriched our people. This commentary will be a valuable addition to every synagogue, Torah study group, and Jewish home.”
For Jews, the concept of Torah sometimes refers to all of traditional Jewish learning. But the written Torah usually refers to the five books of Moses: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Readings from the Torah are central to the Sabbath morning service, and its stories, laws, and poetry stand at the center of Jewish culture.
The idea for a women’s commentary came from Cantor Sarah Sager in a 1993 speech at the Women of Reform Judaism Assembly in San Francisco. Sager spoke about Jewish women’s spirituality and listening to the hidden voice of Sarah, her matriarchal namesake. She challenged the women to produce a historic Torah commentary that would incorporate women’s history and experience into the living memory of Jewish people.
“Imagine women feeling permitted, for the first time, feeling able, feeling legitimate in their study of Torah,” Sager said in the speech. “If we are really serious about women’s spirituality, about liberating the concepts of God and community, about integrating the Torah of our tradition into the Torah of our lives, then there is something very concrete that we can do.”
Motivated by those words, the women got to work. A commentary committee formed, and by 2001 Tamara Cohn-Eskenazi, professor of Bible at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles, became lead editor of the project and selected one of her former students, Rabbi Andrea Weiss, as associate editor.
Weiss, who led the sneak peek in Chicago, said the women’s commentary is unique because it incorporates contemporary approaches.
. The project not only examines women found in the Torah but also analyzes portions where women are absent and asks why.
Weiss also said the volume pulls together much of the research on Jewish women that has been amassed in the last few decades.
“Many of these women have been doing this research for years,” she said. “So part of the mission was finding out how to collect together all that material and put it out there in an accessible form.”
During the preview, many rabbis expressed interest in using the book for religious education classes at their temples. Weiss said some excited rabbis urged her to appear on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” to discuss the book.
“Hey, if you can get me on ‘Oprah,’ I’ll do it,” Weiss said, laughing.
Though some worried that men might feel isolated by the text, Rabbi Lisa Greene of North Shore Congregation Israel in Glencoe said she felt the commentary held lessons for everyone.
“I’m looking forward to sitting down with my colleagues and finding out the best ways to use this,” Greene said. “To me, it’s thrilling.”
maramirez@tribune.comAs Rabbi Andrea Weiss discussed the book of Exodus, the female rabbis listening were captivated by the new lessons being taught.
The Israelites’ flight from Egypt is told using masculine imagery, Weiss said, with God as a manly warrior defeating the enemies of Israel. But after the Israelites cross the sea, Exodus tells miraculous stories of God feeding his people, raining manna from the heavens.
“This can be seen as the female image of God, providing food and drink,” said Weiss, assistant professor at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York.
The provocative theological discussion, held this week at the Allerton Hotel in Chicago, offered a sneak peek into a new women’s commentary on the Torah, the first comprehensive commentary written entirely by female rabbis and Jewish scholars.
“The Torah: A Women’s Commentary,” which URJ Press will publish in the fall, took more than a decade to produce and includes essays, commentaries and interpretations from more than 80 of the world’s leading Jewish female Bible scholars, rabbis, historians, philosophers and archeologists.
“This commentary is likely to open up a whole new conversation about gender,” said Rabbi Hara Person, editor in chief of URJ Press. “With this, gender becomes another lens through which we can study the text.”
“I think for a long time we’ve been left out,” said Rachel Havrelock, professor of Jewish Studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago and a contributor to the groundbreaking project. “The purpose of this is to help women feel at home in our own faith.”
The preview of the commentary was presented to more than 100 women from the United States and Israel at a conference of female rabbis. Judaism’s Reform movement began ordaining women in 1972, and since then some 400 women have been ordained.
Person said the women’s commentary gives deeper dimension to women’s voices found in the Torah. At the same time, it takes risks by confronting controversial topics such as passages in Leviticus about menstruation and sex.
“We deal with the treatment of women and their exclusion at times,” Person said. “We deal with the difficult issues of menstrual blood in Leviticus, and we talk about the role of blood in the Torah and in our lives. We deal with that stuff head-on and don’t shy away from it.”
Though the commentary is geared toward women, the hope is that Jewish men also will learn from it and find relevance to the women in their own lives.
“I think this will make them contemplate women in a different way,” Havrelock said.
Indeed, some Jewish men who reviewed advance copies have already offered praise.
“For generations, the task of interpreting the texts of Torah has been almost exclusively the province of men,” wrote Rabbi David Ellenson, president of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. “In our generation, this has changed and the voices of women and their understanding of the Torah have enriched our people. This commentary will be a valuable addition to every synagogue, Torah study group, and Jewish home.”
For Jews, the concept of Torah sometimes refers to all of traditional Jewish learning. But the written Torah usually refers to the five books of Moses: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Readings from the Torah are central to the Sabbath morning service, and its stories, laws, and poetry stand at the center of Jewish culture.
The idea for a women’s commentary came from Cantor Sarah Sager in a 1993 speech at the Women of Reform Judaism Assembly in San Francisco. Sager spoke about Jewish women’s spirituality and listening to the hidden voice of Sarah, her matriarchal namesake. She challenged the women to produce a historic Torah commentary that would incorporate women’s history and experience into the living memory of Jewish people.
“Imagine women feeling permitted, for the first time, feeling able, feeling legitimate in their study of Torah,” Sager said in the speech. “If we are really serious about women’s spirituality, about liberating the concepts of God and community, about integrating the Torah of our tradition into the Torah of our lives, then there is something very concrete that we can do.”
Motivated by those words, the women got to work. A commentary committee formed, and by 2001 Tamara Cohn-Eskenazi, professor of Bible at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles, became lead editor of the project and selected one of her former students, Rabbi Andrea Weiss, as associate editor.
Weiss, who led the sneak peek in Chicago, said the women’s commentary is unique because it incorporates contemporary approaches.
. The project not only examines women found in the Torah but also analyzes portions where women are absent and asks why.
Weiss also said the volume pulls together much of the research on Jewish women that has been amassed in the last few decades.
“Many of these women have been doing this research for years,” she said. “So part of the mission was finding out how to collect together all that material and put it out there in an accessible form.”
During the preview, many rabbis expressed interest in using the book for religious education classes at their temples. Weiss said some excited rabbis urged her to appear on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” to discuss the book.
“Hey, if you can get me on ‘Oprah,’ I’ll do it,” Weiss said, laughing.
Though some worried that men might feel isolated by the text, Rabbi Lisa Greene of North Shore Congregation Israel in Glencoe said she felt the commentary held lessons for everyone.
“I’m looking forward to sitting down with my colleagues and finding out the best ways to use this,” Greene said. “To me, it’s thrilling.”
maramirez@tribune.comAs Rabbi Andrea Weiss discussed the book of Exodus, the female rabbis listening were captivated by the new lessons being taught.
The Israelites’ flight from Egypt is told using masculine imagery, Weiss said, with God as a manly warrior defeating the enemies of Israel. But after the Israelites cross the sea, Exodus tells miraculous stories of God feeding his people, raining manna from the heavens.
“This can be seen as the female image of God, providing food and drink,” said Weiss, assistant professor at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York.
The provocative theological discussion, held this week at the Allerton Hotel in Chicago, offered a sneak peek into a new women’s commentary on the Torah, the first comprehensive commentary written entirely by female rabbis and Jewish scholars.
“The Torah: A Women’s Commentary,” which URJ Press will publish in the fall, took more than a decade to produce and includes essays, commentaries and interpretations from more than 80 of the world’s leading Jewish female Bible scholars, rabbis, historians, philosophers and archeologists.
“This commentary is likely to open up a whole new conversation about gender,” said Rabbi Hara Person, editor in chief of URJ Press. “With this, gender becomes another lens through which we can study the text.”
“I think for a long time we’ve been left out,” said Rachel Havrelock, professor of Jewish Studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago and a contributor to the groundbreaking project. “The purpose of this is to help women feel at home in our own faith.”
The preview of the commentary was presented to more than 100 women from the United States and Israel at a conference of female rabbis. Judaism’s Reform movement began ordaining women in 1972, and since then some 400 women have been ordained.
Person said the women’s commentary gives deeper dimension to women’s voices found in the Torah. At the same time, it takes risks by confronting controversial topics such as passages in Leviticus about menstruation and sex.
“We deal with the treatment of women and their exclusion at times,” Person said. “We deal with the difficult issues of menstrual blood in Leviticus, and we talk about the role of blood in the Torah and in our lives. We deal with that stuff head-on and don’t shy away from it.”
Though the commentary is geared toward women, the hope is that Jewish men also will learn from it and find relevance to the women in their own lives.
“I think this will make them contemplate women in a different way,” Havrelock said.
Indeed, some Jewish men who reviewed advance copies have already offered praise.
“For generations, the task of interpreting the texts of Torah has been almost exclusively the province of men,” wrote Rabbi David Ellenson, president of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. “In our generation, this has changed and the voices of women and their understanding of the Torah have enriched our people. This commentary will be a valuable addition to every synagogue, Torah study group, and Jewish home.”
For Jews, the concept of Torah sometimes refers to all of traditional Jewish learning. But the written Torah usually refers to the five books of Moses: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Readings from the Torah are central to the Sabbath morning service, and its stories, laws, and poetry stand at the center of Jewish culture.
The idea for a women’s commentary came from Cantor Sarah Sager in a 1993 speech at the Women of Reform Judaism Assembly in San Francisco. Sager spoke about Jewish women’s spirituality and listening to the hidden voice of Sarah, her matriarchal namesake. She challenged the women to produce a historic Torah commentary that would incorporate women’s history and experience into the living memory of Jewish people.
“Imagine women feeling permitted, for the first time, feeling able, feeling legitimate in their study of Torah,” Sager said in the speech. “If we are really serious about women’s spirituality, about liberating the concepts of God and community, about integrating the Torah of our tradition into the Torah of our lives, then there is something very concrete that we can do.”
Motivated by those words, the women got to work. A commentary committee formed, and by 2001 Tamara Cohn-Eskenazi, professor of Bible at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles, became lead editor of the project and selected one of her former students, Rabbi Andrea Weiss, as associate editor.
Weiss, who led the sneak peek in Chicago, said the women’s commentary is unique because it incorporates contemporary approaches.
. The project not only examines women found in the Torah but also analyzes portions where women are absent and asks why.
Weiss also said the volume pulls together much of the research on Jewish women that has been amassed in the last few decades.
“Many of these women have been doing this research for years,” she said. “So part of the mission was finding out how to collect together all that material and put it out there in an accessible form.”
During the preview, many rabbis expressed interest in using the book for religious education classes at their temples. Weiss said some excited rabbis urged her to appear on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” to discuss the book.
“Hey, if you can get me on ‘Oprah,’ I’ll do it,” Weiss said, laughing.
Though some worried that men might feel isolated by the text, Rabbi Lisa Greene of North Shore Congregation Israel in Glencoe said she felt the commentary held lessons for everyone.
“I’m looking forward to sitting down with my colleagues and finding out the best ways to use this,” Greene said. “To me, it’s thrilling.”
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maramirez@tribune.com
