Cultural & Literary Portraits of Jewish Women

In a culture which traces back its roots to the most ancient of civilizations, Jewish tradition has only relatively recently begun to interrogate its own historical positioning of women. Defining the appropriate sphere for the operation of a woman's influence and range of activities within a tradition-bound culture has proved to be tumultuous within this century.

To establish an accurate appraisal of women's status and role within Judaism currently serves as two of its most compelling tasks (Ghatan xvii). Understanding the radical alterations in Jewish women's roles may be most appropriately handled in presenting an overview which details the cultural attitudes previously held toward them. Issues which have dominated the depiction of Jewish women include sexuality, racial lineage, domesticity, obedience, leadership, money, prestige and power. Analysis of historical records, the Talmud, and literature across the centuries inclusive of those written by both Jewish and Gentile authors reveals a characterization of Jewish women across variant angles, restricted, idealized, and idiosyncratic. Weight will also be given to the manner in which Jewish women have presented themselves in juxtaposition to how they have been represented by others. The goal for the lives of Jewish women and the sketches presented of them here is to move toward what Rose Schneiderman, the Jewish activist, advocated in 1912, "the right to life, and the sun and music, and art. . . . The worker must

given a new voice which will revitalize the entire Judaic community. As colonial Americans labored to create a haven for those relgiously persecuted, many Puritans ignorantly denied this privilege to their Jewish neighbors. The famed John Cotton, a preeminant early New England divine, viewed Judaism as a rigid and legalistic religion which shaped its worshippers as stubborn and scornful sinners. Although less often attacked than Catholics, Jews in Puritan America were villified for following in the rituals of "the Church of Israel", a "Harlot", where its members "had gone whoring after false gods" (Jaher 93). Cotton compared early American Jews to lepers and, more tellingly, as "witches" (Jaher 93). Jews were seen by Cotton and other Puritans as the ultimate outsiders who indulged in magical tricks and the black arts, worshipped in convenant with devils, and blasted the miracles of Jesus. The problem of power and its allotment to women of Jewish faith looms large today. In Judaism and the New Woman Rabbi Sally Priesand begins her reflections with this pointed question: "If women have always held an honored and respected position in Jewish tradition, why does Halachah (Jewish Law) so obviously discriminate against th