JUS 321
Women in Judaism (Also available as an honors class)

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This course considers the religious roles, historical transformation, and cultural expressions of Jewish women in diverse geographies and locations.

This course focuses on the religious role, historical status, and cultural expressions of Jewish women in diverse geographies and locations. Through readings in history, theology and cultural studies we will be able to assess the complex factors that make up the place of women in Jewish life and civilization. The section on history aims at demonstrating both the similarity and difference in status across a three thousand year span. The segment on theology considers concepts, images, and beliefs using gender as a principle of distinction and meaning. We will discuss the implicit problems in some theological representations of the feminine and creative revisions offered by Jewish feminist thinkers. Feminist critiques and re-evaluations will be debated with an eye to understanding differences between the various approaches.

Students are expected to gain and demonstrate a familiarity with Jewish history, religion and culture as these disciplines intersect with gender. They should be able to articulate the major problems feminist scholars raised in the context of each of these areas, and the various approaches and perspectives offered in response to these problems. Their ability to think critically and empathically about a historical narrative, a religious tradition, and a multi-faceted culture will determine the assessment of regular written assignments that will count toward class participation. Synthesis, analysis and dialectical thinking, or the ability to consider problems and issues from opposite and different perspectives will be assessed in three exams, each addressing a specific discipline.

Schedule of Classes

T August 23
Introduction: Judaism and Feminism: History, Theology, Culture

TH August 26
Feminist Approaches to Jewish History
Judith Baskin, “Introduction,” JW 15-24.

T August 30
Susan Niditch, “Portrayals of Women in the Hebrew Bible,” JW, 25-45.
Book of Genesis (Judges optional).


TH September 1
Naomi Graetz, “God is to Israel as Husband is to Wife,” (ER).
Books of Hosea (Jeremiah, Isaiah optional).

T September 6
Judith R. Wegner, “The Image and Status of Women in Classical Rabbinic Judaism,” JW 73-100.
Judith Baskin, “Silent Partners: Women as Wives in Rabbinic Literature,” AV, 19-40.
Judith Hauptman, “Rereading the Rabbis: Introduction” (ER).

TH September 8
Judith Baskin, “Silent Partners: Women as Wives in Rabbinic Literature,” AV, 19-40.
Daniel Boyarin, “Justify My Love,” (ER).
Leila Bronner, “Deborah: Say Your Song” (ER, optional).

T September 13
Judith Baskin, “Jewish Women in the Middle Ages,” JW 101-127(optional).
Rosemary Ruether, “Witches and Jews: The Demonic Alien in Christian Culture,” (ER).

TH September 15
Charlotte Fonrobert, “Menstrual Politics in Early Christian Literature,” (ER).
Renee Levine Melammed, “Sephardi Women in the Medieval and Early Modern Periods,” JW 128-150 (optional).

T September 20
Marion Kaplan, “Tradition and Transition: Jewish Women in Imperial Germany” JW 227-247.
Paula Hyman, “East European Jewish Women in an Age of Transition, 1880-1930,”JW 270-286.

TH September 22
Deborah S. Bernstein, “Daughters of the Nation: Between the Public and Private Spheres in Pre-State Israel,” JW 287-311.
Michael Berkowitz, “Transcending ‘Tzimmes and Sweetness:’ Recovering the History of Zionist Women in Central and Western Europe,” AV, 41-62.

T September 27
Paula E. Hyman, “Gender and the Immigrant Jewish Experience in the United States,” JW 312-336.
Ellen Umansky,“Jewish Women’s Religious Lives in the United States in the 19th and 20th Century,” JW 337-364.

TH September 29
Myrna Goldenberg, “Testimony, Narrative, and Nightmare: The Experiences of Jewish Women in the Holocaust,” AV 94-108.
Joan Ringelheim, “Women and the Holocaust: A Reconsideration of Research, 243-264 (ER).

T October 4

Rosh Hashanah—No Classes

TH October 6
EXAM I

T October 11
Film: Women of the Wall

TH October 13
Film Report Due
Feminist Approaches to Theology
Judith Plaskow, “Setting the Problem,” SAS 1-24.
Miriam Peskowitz, “A Way In,” (ER) (optional).

T October 18
Judith Plaskow, “Torah: Reshaping Jewish Memory,”SAS 25-74.
Rachel Biale, “Introduction: Women and Jewish Law,” (ER).

TH October 20
Judith Plaskow, “Israel: Toward a New Concept of Community,” SAS 75-120.
Esther S. Newman, “Role Changes of Tunisian Women in Israel,” AV, 157-170.

T October 25
Judith Plaskow, “God: Re-imaging the Unimaginable,” SAS, 121-169.
Raphael Patai, “The Sabbath: Virgin, Bride, Queen, and Goddess,” (ER).

TH October 27
Judith Plaskow, “Toward a New Theology of Sexuality,”SAS 170-210.
“Feminist Judaism and Repair of the World,” SAS 211-238.

T November 1
EXAM II

TH November 3
Film: The Return of Sarah’s Daughters

T November 8
Film Report Due
Feminist Approaches to Culture
Maurie Sacks, “Introduction” AV, 1-16.
Judith Baskin, “Women of the Word: Introduction,” (ER).

TH November 10
Debra Renee Kaufman, “Experiencing Hasidism: Newly Orthodox Women’s Perspectives on Sexuality and Domesticity,” AV 142-156.
Susan S. Sered, “Toward an Anthropology of Jewish Women: Sacred Texts and the Religious World of Elderly, Middle Eastern Women in Jerusalem,” AV 203-218.

T November 15
Diane Ashton, “Grace Aguilar and the Matriarchal Theme in Jewish Women’s Spirituality,” AV 79-93.
Anzia Yezierska, “The Fat of the Land,” (ER optional).
“The Feminist Muse: An Introduction,” (ER).

TH November 17
Pamela Nadell and Rita Simon, “Ladies of the Sisterhood: Women in the American Reform Synagogue, 1900-1930,” AV 63-78.
Penina Adelman, “A Drink from Miriam’s Cup: Invention of Tradition Among Jewish Women,” AV 109-124.

T November 22
Adrienne Rich, “Split at the Root,” (ER).
Irena Klepfisz, “Khaloymes/Dreams in Progress: Culture, Politics and Jewish Identity,” (ER).
Melanie K. Kantrowitz, “To Be a Radical Jew in the Late 20th Century,” (ER).

TH November 24
Thanksgiving—No Classes

T November 29
EXAM III

TH December 1
Riv-Ellen Prell, “Why Jewish Princesses Don’t Sweat,” (ER).
Joyce Antler, “Jewish Women on Television: Too Jewish or Not Enough?” (ER).

T December 6
Jewish Feminist History, Theology and Culture
Conclusions and Summary

Grading

3 Exams =25% each = 75%
Film Report= 5% each = 10%
Class Participation= 15%

Film Reports

The report (1-2) pages should explain the main problem the documentary attempts to deal with. How does it present the problem? Does it present a sufficient number of approaches to the problem? Does it treat each point of view fairly? Is the documentary effective? What is your evaluation?

Textbooks

Judith Baskin ed. Jewish Women in Historical Perspective (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1998) (JW).
Judith Plaskow, Standing Again at Sinai (New York: Harper and Row, 1990) (SAS)
Maurie Sacks, Active Voices: Women in Jewish Culture (University of Illinois Press, 1995) (AV).
Electronic Reserves Materials (ER).

All the required articles are available on electronic reserve.
Go to: http://ereserves.library.arizona.edu/ers_search/OSCRsrchform.php3.
Select the course from the drop box. Enter the password and then press “submit.”
All the articles for the course will pop up. Click on the needed article or the pdf symbol to access articles.

Recommended Readings (On Reserve)

Ashkenazy, Nehama. Eve's Journey: Feminine Images in Hebraic Literary Tradition (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1986). (Exellecnt for paper I and III).
Fuchs, Esther. Israeli Mythogynies: Women in Contemporary Hebrew Fiction (New York: State University of New York Press, 1987). (Helpful for paper I and III).
Fuchs, Esther. Sexual Politics in the Biblical Narrative: Reading the Hebrew Bible as a Woman (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 2000). (Excellent for paper I).
Fuchs, Esther. Women and the Holocaust: Narrative and Representation (Lanham: University of America Press, 1999). (Helpful for paper I and III).
Wegner, Judith. Chattel or Person? The Status of Women in the Mishnah (New York: Oxford UP, 1988). (Excellent for paper I).
Bernstein, Deborah S. Pioneers and Homemakers: Jewish Women in Pre-State Israel (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1992).(Helpful for paper I).
Beck, Evelyn T. ed. Nice Jewish Girls: A Lesbian Anthology (Watertown: Persephone, 1982).(Excellent for paper III).
Davidman, Lynn et al eds Feminist Perspectives on Jewish Studies (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1994). (Helpful for paper III).
Davidman, Lynn. Tradition in a Rootless World: Women Turn to Orthodox Judaism (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991). (Excellent for paper II).
Rudavsky, T.M. ed. Gender and Judaism: The Transformation of Tradition (New York and London: New York University Press, 1995). (Helpful for paper II).
Hauptman, Judith. Re-reading the Rabbis: A Woman’s Voice (Boulder: Westview Press, 1998).
Umansky, Ellen and Dianne Ashton eds. Four Centuries of Jewish Women’s Spirituality (Boston: Beacon Press, 1992). (Helpful for paper II).
Baskin, Judith,ed. Women of the Word: Jewish Women and Jewish Writing (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1994). (Helpful for paper III).
Klepfisz, Irena. Dreams of an Insomniac: Jewish Feminist Essays, Speeches and Diatribes (Portland: The Eighth Mountain Press, 1990). (Excellent for paper III).
Kantrowitz, Melanie and Irena Klepfisz eds. The Tribe of Dina: A Jewish Woman’s Anthology (Boston: Beacon Press, 1989). (Helpful for paper III).
Kremer, Lillian. Woman’s Holocaust Writing: Memory and Imagination (Lincoln and Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 1999). (Helpful for paper I).
Carol Rittner and John K. Roth, eds. Women and the Holocaust: Different Voices (New York: Paragon House, 1993). (Helpful for paper I).
Kaufman, Shirley, Galit Hasan-Rokem and Tamar S. Hess eds. The Defiant Muse: Hebrew Feminist Poems from Antiquity to the Present (New York: The Feminist Press 1999). (Helpful for paper I).
Sylvia Barack Fishman, A Breath of Life: Feminism in the American Jewish Community (The Free Press, 1993).(Excellent for paper II).
Joyce Antler, ed. Talking Back: Images of Jewish Women in American Popular Culture (Hanover and London: Brandeis University Press, 1998). (Helpful for paper III).
Tikva Frymer Kensky, In the Wake of the Goddess (The Free Press, 1992).
Amy-Jill Levine ed. Women Like This: New Perspectives on Jewish Women in the Greco-Roman World (Society of Biblical Literature, 1991).
Leila L. Bronner, Rabbinic Reconstructions of Biblical Women (Westminster, 1994).
Judith Hauptman, Rereading the Rabbis: A Woman’s Voice (Westview Press, 1998).
Paula Hyman, Gender and Assimilation in Modern Jewish History (University of Washington Press, 1995).
Dalia Ofer and Lenore Weitzman eds. Women in the Holocaust (Yale University Press, 1998).

Policy

Attendance is mandatory. Three absences will result in a loss of 10% of the final grade. All papers are due on the date indicated in the syllabus.No late submissions will lose 10% per day.

Academic Conduct

According to University of Arizona’s Student Code of Conduct plagiarism (presenting someone else’s work as yours), or cheating (getting unauthorized help on an exam or paper) will be reported to the Dean of Students. If you copy a segment from another source, be sure to acknowledge that source (including internet resources). If you ask help from another person, acknowledge that help in your paper. You have committed plagiarism if you purchase a term paper or submit a paper as your own that you did not write.