Rachel Atwood

Date of Award

2012

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Marks, Susan

Keywords

Judaism, Women, Education, Israel, Orthodoxy, Women's Leadership

Area of Concentration

Religion

Abstract

This thesis explores effects of midrashot, post-secondary Jewish education programs for women, on women's roles and identities in Israel's religious-Zionist community. In order to approach this topic, I explore the difficulties of studying Orthodoxy from a liberal Jewish feminist perspective, mitigating personal biases and evaluating scholarly sources through a process of self-reflection. The thesis goes on to find that women have integrated study into their private identities as Jewish women in ways that are different from current male notions of study and from those of their mothers. Then, I look at the religious leadership positions that have opened to women due to their more sophisticated Jewish educations, providing women more opportunities to influence Jewish law and help other women navigate the laws related to women. Overall, the thesis argues that these changes are part of the internal Orthodox dialogue over how to practice and interpret Jewish laws related to women in the modern age.

Rights

This bibliographic record is available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication. The New College of Florida, as creator of this bibliographic record, has waived all rights to it worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law.

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