Feminism and Heresy: The Construction of a Jewish Metanarrative

Ferziger, Adam S.

doi:10.1093/jaarel/lfp044

Cited by 9 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…Questions of gender and rabbinic authority are also major internal fault lines, given that scholars have diagnosed a deep internal "identity crisis" and fragmentation within Religious Zionist society (Sheleg 2019;Schwartz 2012;Ettinger 2019). As a result, critiquing gender injustice in Jewish life is perceived as threatening, undermining and even heretical (Ferziger 2009;Hartman 2007). An even riskier endeavor is to practice "devoted resistance"-to insist on critiquing while remaining rooted within religious communities, and articulating claims in religious terms and for Halakha's sake (Zion-Waldoks 2015).…”

Section: Why "Within" Matters: Boundary Patrols and Strategically Str...mentioning

confidence: 99%

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The “Tempered Radical” Revolution: Multifocal Strategies of Religious-Zionist Feminism in Israel

Zion-Waldoks

2021

Religions

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Agunah activism, a flagship struggle of Religious-Zionist feminism, links gender politics, Jewish-Orthodox politics, and national Israeli politics. This qualitative study focuses on agunah activists’ strategies and conceptions of change, highlighting the complex ways religious women radically transform conservative contexts, complicated by intersections of religion, gender, and state. It examines dynamic boundary-work and how activists deploy the inner workings of “the Halakhic framework” to shift creatively between social positioning, ideological or cultural positioning, and a political positioning to create “change from within”. My case study troubles the premise that religion and feminism are antithetical, and that distinct identities or set social locations predetermine social movements’ frames or actions. I expand upon the term “tempered radicals” which challenges reformist/revolutionary and conservative/radical binaries. “Tempered radical” strategies are two-pronged: a tempered mode of modulation and moderation to rock the boat without falling out (avoid the red lines, find “the right way”) and a radical mode of stirring the sea and creating horizons (arrive there, one way or another). Dynamically holding both modes together, through a “multifocal lens”—the world-as-it-is and the world-as-it-should-be—enables their strategic maneuverings. They remain “within” while radically transforming individuals, communities, Jewish law, Orthodox society and the Israeli public sphere. This study demonstrates how religious and gendered structures are at once constitutive and mutable.

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Section: Why "Within" Matters: Boundary Patrols and Strategically Str...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, not every interpretation is equally valid and not all change is easily incorporated as "re-interpretation". Nor are all change makers cast as authentic disciples-some are seen as rebellious troublemakers, even heretics (Ferziger 2009). Religious-Zionist women promoting greater gender equality within religious and national contexts are a case in point.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The “Tempered Radical” Revolution: Multifocal Strategies of Religious-Zionist Feminism in Israel

Zion-Waldoks

2021

Religions

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“…At the same time, American haredi leaders have been categorically critical of the religious feminism and women's leadership initiatives emanating from Modern Orthodoxy (Ferziger 2009a). The following accusatory statement appears, for example, at the end of a discussion of Orthodox feminism in a sourcebook on Jewish women published by Ner Leelef:…”

Section: The Female Future Of Haredi Outreachmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…From the 1960s through the early 1980s, the Reform movement, and especially Conservative Judaism, debated the issue of women's rabbinical ordination sharply before reaching an affirmative decision (Wenger 1997). More recently, efforts by Modern Orthodox feminists to expand female ritual functions and formal leadership have become a major internal battleground and met with fierce criticism by some of Orthodoxy's most prominent rabbinical figures (Ferziger 2009a;Israel-Cohen 2012). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Beyond Bais Ya'akov: Orthodox Outreach and the Emergence of Haredi Women as Religious Leaders

Ferziger

2015

Journal of Modern Jewish Studies

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“…Moreover, parallel to the adoption of haredi approaches to gender separation, an Orthodox feminist movement has asserted itself both in America and Israel since the late 1970s and has generated both a great deal of positive interest and antagonism. See, for example,Ferziger (2009b) andGurock (2009, 273-311).…”

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confidence: 99%

Holocaust, Hurban, and Haredization: Pilgrimages to Eastern Europe and the Realignment of American Orthodoxy

Ferziger

2010

Cont Jewry

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The article describes and analyzes the evolution of trips to Poland for post-high school American Orthodox young adults studying in Israel. It contends that beyond exposing the students to aspects of the Holocaust in an unusually visceral and intense manner, these excursions increasingly serve as ''pilgrimages of particularistic Orthodox identity.'' Indeed, while they are aimed at products of Modern Orthodox homes and schools, over time they have adopted some of the religious stances and celebrated Jewish cultural models that were heretofore more consistent with haredi Orthodox practice and ideals. As such, these voyages offer insight and may even play a role in the process of religious intensification of American Modern Orthodoxy that has been examined from a broader sociological and historical point of view by a number of prominent scholars.

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Feminism and Heresy: The Construction of a Jewish Metanarrative

Cited by 9 publications

References 12 publications

The “Tempered Radical” Revolution: Multifocal Strategies of Religious-Zionist Feminism in Israel

The “Tempered Radical” Revolution: Multifocal Strategies of Religious-Zionist Feminism in Israel

Beyond Bais Ya'akov: Orthodox Outreach and the Emergence of Haredi Women as Religious Leaders

Holocaust, Hurban, and Haredization: Pilgrimages to Eastern Europe and the Realignment of American Orthodoxy

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