Challenge and Conformity

Challenge and Conformity
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- 9781800858725 (eBook)
- 9781802070552 (Paperback)
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Description
Orthodox Jewish women are increasingly seeking new ways to express themselves religiously, and important changes have occurred in consequence in their self-definition and the part they play in the religious life of their communities. Drawing on surveys and interviews across different Orthodox groups in London, as well as on the author’s own experience of active participation over many years, this is a thoroughly researched study that analyses its findings in the context of related developments in Israel and the USA. Sympathetic attention is given to women’s creativity and sophistication as they struggle to develop new modes of expression that will let their voices be heard; at the same time, the inevitable points of conflict with the male-dominated religious establishment are examined and explained. There is a focus, too, on the impact of innovations in ritual: these include not only the creation of women-only spaces and women’s participation in public practices traditionally reserved for men, but also new personal practices often acquired on study visits to Israel which are replacing traditions learned from family members. This is a much-needed study of how new norms of lived religion have emerged in London, influenced by both the rise of feminism and the backlash against it, and also by women’s new understanding of their religious roles.
'Lindsey Taylor-Guthartz's in-depth study of the religious experience of Orthodox women raises questions for the rabbinic establishment... an important new book.'
Simon Rocker, The Jewish Chronicle
'Taylor-Guthartz's precise academic writing, interwoven with her own personal knowledge and experience of the community, gives the women represented here agency and authority, exemplifying how traditional groups and practices do not exist at odds with the modern world, or even in parallel, but rather as an integral part of it, adding rich diversity and colour to the pattern of Jewish life today. This is a timely and important treatise, reflecting modern feminist values and shining a light on a previously unexamined segment of the community.'
Noa Gendler, Jewish Renaissance
'Challenge and Conformity opens up for our understanding a subject of immense importance to Judaism and the Jewish community. The religious lives of Orthodox women is a topic that has previously attracted little research. Taylor-Guthartz approaches it with academic skill and real empathy for the women she interviews and their communities. We learn of the great variety of women’s beliefs, customs and practices that are spread across the Orthodox Jewish world and, through Taylor-Guthartz’s eyes, we gain a greater understanding and appreciation of Jewish life that might otherwise have remained hidden.'
Neville Teller, The Jerusalem Post
Author Information
Table of Contents
Section Title | Page | Price |
---|---|---|
Cover | 1 | |
Contents | 10 | |
List of Tables | 12 | |
Note on Transliteration | 13 | |
Introduction | 14 | |
1. Studying Jewish Women | 23 | |
The Double Invisibility of Orthodox Jewish Women | 25 | |
The Scope of Women’s Religious Lives | 30 | |
Overlapping Worlds I: The Intersection of Men’s and Women’s Religious Lives | 35 | |
Overlapping Worlds II: Living in Jewish and Western Contexts | 43 | |
Power and Patriarchy: Do Orthodox Women Have Agency? | 45 | |
2. Setting the Scene: The Jewish Landscape | 50 | |
Jews in Britain: Historical Background | 50 | |
Community, Communities, Networks, and Identity | 52 | |
The Development of British Orthodoxy and the British Jewish Landscape | 57 | |
Jewish Religious Topography Today | 62 | |
Changing Moods among British Jewish Women | 70 | |
Defining Terms: Talking about the Anglo-Jewish Community | 73 | |
Previous Research on British Orthodox Women | 79 | |
3. The View from the Ladies’ Gallery: Women’s ‘Official’ Life in the Community | 82 | |
Women and the Synagogue | 82 | |
The Changing Place of Women in Other Communal Institutions | 124 | |
4. Contested Prayers and Powerful Blessings: Women’s ‘Unofficial’ Life in the Community | 136 | |
Creating Sacred Spaces | 137 | |
Nurturing the Community | 163 | |
New Developments: Sharing the Sacred with Men | 178 | |
5. The View from the Kitchen: Women’s ‘Official’ Life in the Family | 190 | |
The Sabbath | 192 | |
Food and Kashrut | 196 | |
Passover | 201 | |
Mikveh and ‘Family Purity’ | 204 | |
Modesty | 209 | |
Visiting the Dead | 212 | |
Prayer and Relationship with God | 214 | |
6. Red Threads and Amulets: Women’s ‘Unofficial’ Life in the Family | 221 | |
Questioning the Community: Limitations and Caveats | 222 | |
Definitions and Status of Practices | 225 | |
Testing Stereotypes and Assumptions | 229 | |
Who Practises These Customs? | 231 | |
What Customs Are Practised? | 232 | |
Age as a Factor in the Knowledge and Performance of Customs | 236 | |
Origins and Development | 246 | |
The Question of Magic | 250 | |
Women’s Understandings of Customs and Practices | 255 | |
7. Conclusion | 265 | |
Appendix I: List of Interviewees | 274 | |
Appendix II: The Questionnaire: A Sample Page | 279 | |
Appendix III: Annotated List of Customs from the Questionnaire | 281 | |
Appendix IV: Background Data on Respondents | 297 | |
Glossary | 298 | |
Bibliography | 304 | |
Index | 320 |