What Others Have Said

New Reform chumash showcases depth of women scholars

By Lee Chottiner
Executive Editor
Jewish Chronicle of Pittsburgh

February 6, 2008

There's a difference, Rabbi Sue Levi Elwell will tell you, between the Talmud and the chumash recently published by the Reform movement.

Well, maybe several differences, but one difference in particular.

"Most of the people who contributed to this volume have the ability to meet in time because they are still alive," Elwell said. The scholars who contributed to the Talmud lived over a period of centuries and never met - except through their timeless written discourse, which is kept alive through Torah study.

For Elwell, that difference can't be underestimated. In the last 100 years, the rise of women scholarship in all four streams of Judaism has been dramatic. Now, with the recent publication of the chumash, "The Torah: A Women's Commentary," the voices of those scholars have been given a platform on which to become better known and studied.

Elwell, who sat on the editorial board of the chumash and shepherded the work on an entire section of the book, introduced it last week to a special gathering of the Greater Pittsburgh Rabbinic Association. Rabbis from all four movements studied parshat Mishpatim as it is interpreted by the new chumash. "The Torah: Women's Commentary," differs in some distinct ways from other chumashim (the five books of the Torah).

It contains core, post-biblical and contemporary commentary on each parshah. But there is a fourth section - or "doorway" as Elwell described it - to the text: specially selected poetry, which falls under the title "Voices."

"I love poetry; I've used a great deal of poetry when I worked in liturgy," said Elwell, a student of English before entering the rabbinate. Almost all the poems in the chumash, while adding a new perspective to the parshiot, also include citations that take the reader back to the text.

The book has some other notable differences, including no breaks between the aliyot and no haftorahs. But it also has an outline at the beginning of each parshah that breaks the section down into its components. The book's editors believe that addition will be invaluable to b'nai mitvah students.

And of course, with the exception of great talmudic scholars of the post-biblical period, this chumash is written entirely by Jewish women.

Fourteen years in the making, the 1,400-page chumash is the product of the combined work of 100 theologians, historians, sociologists, scholars, anthropologists, poets, rabbis and cantors in the United States and Canada.

"Our contributors address the entire parshah, not only issues concerning women," said Tamara Cohn Eskenazi, the principle editor of the chumash. "In Mishpatim (the parshah the GPRA studied) there are so many issues other than gender that the contributor is addressing."

"We came up with a model that can bridge the past with the present and the future, that carries the voice of Sinai to the community, but also hears the voices of the community listening to Sinai, which is what the 'Voices' section is. We have this multilayered dialogue in the commentary."

The chumash, which was co-published by the Women of Reform Judaism and the Union for Reform Judaism, has just about sold through its first printing, and a second printing has already been ordered, Eskenazi said.

Closer to home, the feedback from the GPRA rabbis was generally enthusiastic.

Rabbi Michael Werbow of Congregation Beth Shalom called the chumash "another voice [that] goes along with the many voices I have on my shelf," and suggested it would make a good learning tool for classes at his congregation.

"It's part of the explosion of different resources, different options we have for study," said Rabbi Anna Rosenfield of Beth Samuel Jewish Center in Ambridge. And Rabbi Sara Rae Perman of Congregation Emanu-El Israel in Greensburg lauded the poetry in the chumash as "a different way to look at the Torah."

The new chumash is meant to be read by men and women, Elwell said. It is not meant to replace any other chumashim in use at synagogues, but to enhance the experience of Torah study by adding voices that heretofore may not have been heard.

"We never study Torah with one book," Elwell said. "We want this book to be at the table [but] it shouldn't be the only book."

Women’s Torah commentary – a historical first

By AARON HOWARD
Jewish-Herald Voice

31.JAN.08

Torah never has been limited strictly to the first five books of the Hebrew Bible. Torah also includes the interpretations – in particular, the classical rabbinic texts – that grew up around Torah. Both written Torah and oral Torah (encompassing unwritten statutes and interpretations) are understood to be authoritative teaching.

Historically, none of the classical authorities were women. Although rabbinic authorities wrote entire Talmudic tractates about women’s issues – from marriage to vows to menstruation – women were neither the authors nor the authorities – until now, with the publication of “The Torah: A Women’s Commentary.” The 1,350-page Torah and commentary is the culmination of 14 years and the contributions of more than 100 women theologians, rabbis, historians, anthropologists and poets.

Changes in the past 100 years have made this book historically possible. These include many of the positive changes in women’s status: widespread religious education for girls as well as boys, which opened an egalitarian and progressive approach to Judaism; and technology, which enlarged women’s access to learning opportunities.

Then, there’s Jewish feminism, with its goal of “engendering Judaism” and “reclaiming Torah as our own.”

“There have been many different kinds of intellectual movements that in different ways have added to our toolbox of how we can study our sacred texts,” said managing editor Rabbi Hara Person. “As Jews, we have the luxury of being able to use many techniques. Not one of them is more privileged than another. We can study Torah through the lens of the classical rabbinic commentaries. But we also can study Torah through such tools as archaeology, philology, anthropology and feminism. All of these give us more ways into the texts. They don’t cancel each other out. They all add to the mix, giving it more layers, so we can understand the text on a spiritual level, historically and so on. As liberal Jews, we understand that all of the tools for studying can coexist at one time.”

The women’s commentary should also be placed within Reform Judaism’s philosophy of “progressive revelation.” If one simply asks, “Who hears the divine voice?” then the answer obviously is not limited to one gender. The Reform movement went further with its concept of Progressive Revelation or the idea that G-d continues to speak to every generation. “In a nutshell, the idea is that revelation didn’t happen just once,” Rabbi Person said. “Revelation isn’t over. It is ongoing and it happens in different ways in different times for people. Each generation has the opportunity to experience revelation.”

Thus, in the women’s commentary, Ellen M. Umansky writes that one cannot fully hear the voice of G-d without hearing the voices of women.

“The book deals with the idea that, up to now, we’ve only had an incomplete relationship with our sacred text and therefore, with G-d. If we don’t include women’s voices in the mix, then we’re not fully partners in this relationship with G-d. I do believe that this book is a very important contribution to the long history of Torah commentary because it gives voice to women for the first time in a comprehensive and multi-vocal way.”

At the Society of Biblical Literature Conference in November, the book was introduced to the academic world. Judith Plaskow commented it was the biggest thing to happen to Judaism “since the ordination of women.” One of the things that the women’s commentary invites readers to do is to meet Torah text on new terms, through new eyes. For example, the commentary offers poetry and prose pieces in a section called “Voices” at the end of each Parshah.

“To me, that’s an important part of the book and one of its major contributions,” Rabbi Person said. “It recognizes we respond to G-d and Torah in all kinds of ways. By allowing the poetry to coexist with academic scholarly pieces, we’re making an important statement to all the ways we can respond to Torah. The poetic voice creates another kind of doorway into the study of text, allowing us to connect in perhaps an artistic and emotional way. The Torah, itself, contains poetry as well as legal texts and narrative. So it also has that balance. We’re allowing for a response that echoes that full spectrum in Torah.”

Although written by scholars, the book was funded and came into being because of laywomen from Women for Reform Judaism. They raised $1.5 million to finance the project.

The women’s commentaries also signify another historical first: it’s the first time in history when a critical mass of senior women Bible scholars exists in the United States, Israel and elsewhere. “Although we’ve had individual women in the past, we’ve never had the critical mass we have now,” Rabbi Person said. “The writers in this book are from the US, Israel, Europe and one from South America. They are cross-denominational, from Modern Orthodox to Reconstructionist. So, the range of voices is remarkable. This book has a lot to offer Conservative women and to modern Orthodox circles.

“I hope this book will encourage women on all levels – men as well – to find their voices, to connect with Torah in personal ways, and to make Torah meaningful in their lives. How wonderful it would be if we inspired another generation of scholars, poets and, of course, clergy.”

Why A Women’s Torah Commentary?

New volume enriches understanding of the text.

Rabbi Andrea L. Weiss
JTA

December 21, 2007

This week marks the debut of The Torah: A Women’s Commentary, which brings together the scholarship and insights of women from all segments of the Jewish community and from around the world.

For the past two years, in advance of the commentary’s publication, I have previewed drafts in congregations across the country. Inevitably, when I conclude my teaching, a male member of the audience raises his hand and asks one of the following questions:
“Why should men be interested in a women’s Torah commentary?”
“Why would you create a commentary that only speaks to half of the community?”
“In this day and age, shouldn’t we create a work that brings together women and men instead of segregating them?”

For much of the long and illustrious history of Jewish biblical exegesis, commentaries have been written by men. Such commentaries typically aim to elucidate the plain sense of the text and make the Bible meaningful for subsequent generations. The Torah: A Women’s Commentary strives to do the same.

To achieve these goals, The Torah: A Women’s Commentary presents five forms of commentary for each Torah portion. The Central Commentary contains the Hebrew text and a gender-accurate English translation, along with a verse-by-verse explanation of the biblical text, highlighting female characters and issues involving women.

A shorter, Another View essay focuses on a specific element in the parashah in a way that complements, supplements or sometimes challenges the Central Commentary. The Post-Biblical Interpretations section gathers teachings from rabbinic writings and classical Jewish commentaries, showing how traditional Jewish sources responded to texts pertaining to women.

A more philosophical essay called Contemporary Reflection explores various aspects of the Torah portion and challenges readers to consider how it speaks to us as contemporary Jews. Finally, the Voices section offers a collection of creative responses to the portion, mainly poetry.

No one questions why women should read a Torah commentary written by men; for the longest time, that is all we had. So why should anyone ask whether or not men should read a Torah commentary written by women?

If a Torah commentary sheds light on the biblical text and its enduring meaning, should anyone wonder about its relevance for both women and men? If a commentary showcases the most up-to-date research on the Bible and ancient Israel, offers insightful readings of the biblical text and wrestles with its complexities, should anyone doubt its value for all those who study Torah?

The new commentary does not seek to supplant existing Torah commentaries but to supplement them, adding an array of new voices to our collective conversation about the Torah.

Take one brief example from Naomi Steinberg’s Central Commentary in the parashah Vayigash. Steinberg observes that the story of the reconciliation of Joseph and his brothers “presents a study in the human capacity for lasting change” and the importance of forgiveness.

How can we explain the transformation we witness in Judah? Steinberg answers this question by speculating on the effect of Judah’s earlier encounter with his daughter-in-law Tamar, who deceived Judah in order to become pregnant.

She writes: “While not mentioned in this parashah, Tamar has been a pivotal figure in Judah’s own growth. Their encounter in Genesis 38 best accounts for Judah’s new capacity to sympathize with his father.”

Last month, the annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature and American Academy of Religion featured a panel of scholars gathered to celebrate the publication of the women’s commentary and to reflect on its significance. One of the panelists was the renowned Jewish feminist theologian Judith Plaskow, the author of the influential 1990 book “Standing Again at Sinai.” Plaskow is a contributor to the commentary and a member of its editorial board.

She characterized the publication of the commentary as a “watershed event,” perhaps as important as the ordination of the first woman rabbi. When she used the word “watershed,” she referred to the figurative meaning of the word: an event or period marking a turning point in a course of actions or state of affairs.

How is the publication of this commentary a turning point? One answer to that question became clear when the panel ended and I spoke to one of our authors, a Bible professor who wrote one of the Central Commentaries in Leviticus.

The professor said she did not fully appreciate the significance of this project until she taught the commentary she wrote to the sisterhood group at her local synagogue. She explained that for the first time, many of the women saw themselves as part of the implicit audience of the Torah. They were no longer bystanders listening in on a conversation aimed at someone else. Instead, they sensed that the Torah was speaking to and about them. They were able to see how the text was relevant to them as contemporary women and how their lives as women were relevant to the interpretation of the biblical text.
On a literal level, a watershed is an area of land that channels all the streams and rainfall to a common outlet. This is, in fact, an ideal metaphor for “A Women’s Commentary.”
This volume gathers five forms of exegesis into a single location. It collects the wisdom of several hundred Jewish women — scholars, clergy, poets and other writers — into one place. It assembles the writings of Reform, Conservative, Reconstructionist, Orthodox and secular Jews into a common source.

As women and men study its words, it has the potential to bring people together, enriching our evolving understanding of our most sacred text.

Rabbi Andrea L. Weiss is assistant professor of Bible at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York and associate editor of The Torah: A Women’s Commentary. The commentary was initiated and funded by the Women of Reform Judaism and published by URJ Press. It was unveiled officially this week at the Union for Reform Judaism biennial in San Diego.

New Reform Torah commentary provides lessons of matriarchy
By Rabbi Hara Person
JTA Global News Service
November 21, 2006

The Torah teaches us to revere our mother and father (Lev. 19:3). This mitzvah is embedded within the Holiness Code. In observing it, we achieve holiness, as well as the wholeness of learning from the wisdom of both our patriarchy and our matriarchy. A new Torah commentary written by women, The Torah: A Women’s Commentary, currently in progress at the URJ Press, does just that. With significant help from Women of Reform Judaism, this Torah commentary — which includes the work of women scholars, clergy and poets — is meant to complement and supplement what has gone before, not to replace. The goal of this project is to place women’s voices alongside the male voices of our tradition.

When women join the conversation, new ways of studying the text emerge that add depth to the experience for students of Torah. Familiar tales are reframed, new understandings surface, and traditional readings are challenged. The women in the text become not simply secondary characters, but primary in their own right.

The story of Yehudah and Tamar in Genesis 38, for example, becomes no longer just one episode in the life of Judah, but rather a complete and rich tale about insights into broken promises, being a childless widow in biblical society, and the avenues of redress that were open to women. When Reuven sleeps with his father’s concubine Bilhah, we read the incident not only as a part of the larger Ya’acov and Yosef narratives, but also as a story about male and female power, and the nexus of sexuality, jealousy, anger and revenge.

References to biology are not skipped over or left unexplored. Though the women of the Bible may have heard God’s voice, or lived lives of heroic struggle, like all women they also bled and nursed and gave birth and dealt with infertility and the fear of rape. Whereas these details may be mentioned only in passing in the text, and may be only minor events in the big picture of the biblical narrative, they are recognized as potential windows into women’s lives. We also take note of the ways in which the texts treat the generic female body. We study the laws about a woman being taken by force, the laws surrounding birth and menstruation, the laws of purity and contamination. From these questions we gain insights into the lives of our ancestors as well as into our own.

We ask what tools women had to work with in order to become active participants in the narrative, and the ways in which power and powerlessness motivate actions. Tamar used clothing to hide her identity and seduce her father-in-law in order to get what was rightfully hers. Rivka used clothing and food to help Ya’acov trick Yitzhak. What do these motifs teach us about women’s lives in ancient times, and now? How are biblical characters forced to act when their access to power is limited, and what light does this shed on contemporary human behavior?

Names and namelessness are a topic that can teach us about kinship relationships, the relative importance of the sons or husbands of these women, and their roles in the narrative. Why is Esau’s wife, Adah, named when so many other wives are nameless? Why are Noah’s wife and Lot’s wife unnamed, despite their important roles? Why are the daughters of Zelophehad named? Why is Aaron’s wife Elisheva, who seemingly plays no role in any story, given a name?

This week we previewed the commentary through WRJ’s Parshat Chayei Sarah program, in which more than 10,000 participants throughout North America in nearly 300 Reform synagogues engaged in Torah study. On Nov. 18, women and men alike had the opportunity to discuss this portion that both details the death of our matriarch Sarah and introduces us to Rivka.

During this study of the Torah portion of Chayei Sarah, as seen through the eyes of women, provocative questions were addressed and we will perhaps all begin to gain a new perspective on the role of women in the Bible.

When women study Torah and create commentary, we become partners with God, who invites us into this sacred dialogue of text study. When women study Torah, we take our rightful place in a sacred dialogue. We declare that the lives of the women of the Torah matter, and thus that our lives and our concerns matter too.

The study of Torah by women, and the writing of Torah commentary by women, is not meant to compete, but rather to complete the richness of the Torah study that has come before. In order to truly be a holy community before God, we must revere both the mothers and the fathers of our tradition. We must listen to the whole raucous spectrum of voices, not limit our own possibilities for holiness based solely on gender identification. Inspired by the cacophony of diverse voices, we are able to inch ever closer toward wholeness, and thus to holiness.

Rabbi Hara Person is editor in chief at Union for Reform Judaism Press.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT:

Rabinowitz/Dorf Communications

November 21, 2006

WOMEN OF REFORM JUDAISM AND URJ PRESS PREVIEW LANDMARK WOMEN'S TORAH COMMENTARY DURING MOVEMENT-WIDE TORAH STUDY

Over 12,000 Reform Jews Participate in Study of Parashat Chayei Sarah

Women of Reform Judaism (WRJ), in partnership with the URJ Press, this weekend previewed the groundbreaking publication, The Torah: A Women's Commentary, through a nationwide Torah study of about Parashat Chayei Sarah. Nearly 400 congregations with a total of over 12,000 participants took part in the program. Reform Jews throughout the country were given the opportunity to study Torah as seen through women's eyes.

Participants were provided with copies of the parasha from the upcoming Commentary, as well as study guides containing challenging questions about the portion. Congregations, sisterhoods and Torah study groups chose to introduce the parasha and Commentary in a variety of different ways, among them Torah study lunches on Saturday morning, discussions at Friday evening services, and afternoon study sessions.

"The feedback I have received about the Torah study is nothing short of inspirational," said Shelley Lindauer, executive director of Women of Reform Judaism. "Those who participated in the program, men and women alike, expressed great joy over having the opportunity to join together to study Torah from a new and enlightening perspective."

The Torah: A Women's Commentary, commissioned by Women for Reform Judaism, contains writings by world's leading Jewish female Bible scholars, rabbis, historians, philosophers and archaeologists. Their collective efforts will result in the first comprehensive commentary on the Five Books of Moses, including individual Torah portions, authored exclusively by women. The collection will include Hebrew and English translation.

More information on the Parahsat Chayei Sarah program and The Torah: A Women's Commentary is available on the WRJ website at www.wrj.rj.org <http://www.wrj.rj.org>.

Women Explore New Torah Commentary

Barbara Pash
Baltimore Jewish Times
NOVEMBER 10, 2006

In 1993, Reform Judaism was given a challenge. At an assembly of the Women of Reform Judaism, the Union for Reform Judaism’s women’s division, Cantor Sarah Sager urged the movement to find women’s voices in the Bible.

That challenge is nearing completion. Almost all of “The Torah: A Women’s Commentary” has been written, is almost ready for the final editing stage and will be officially launched at the URJ’s/WRJ’s convention in 2007.
Rabbi Elwell

Last Monday, Nov. 6, about 150 women attending the Quad Temple Sisterhood meeting at Baltimore Hebrew Congregation got a preview of the commentary. The event was part of a nationwide introduction being held this month for the $1.5 million book, which will be published by URJ Press.

The commentary’s focus is on women in the text, both when they are present and absent. “Where are the women in the Bible? What are their stories? Often, you can’t find a name. They are someone’s mother or someone’s sister. We had to search the text to find their relationship with their husbands and their children,” said Philadelphia Rabbi Sue Levi Elwell, who led the sisterhood event.

Rabbi Elwell serves as regional director of URJ’s Pennsylvania Council and Federation of Reform Synagogues of Greater Philadelphia, responsible for some 50 congregations. She is also one of the 80 female clergy, scholars and poets from all the denominations and around the world who contributed to the commentary.

The preview came in the form of a 24-page sample booklet showing what the final 1,500-page commentary will look and read like. The booklet examined Parashat Chayei Sarah, Genesis 23:1 to 25:18, the death of Sarah and the arrival of Rebecca.

Each parshah has five components: the “central commentary,” an outline of the weekly Torah portion and a verse-by-verse explanation of the biblical text; “another view,” a shorter essay focusing on a specific element in the portion; “post-biblical interpretations” of other rabbinic sources and classical Jewish commentaries; “contemporary reflections,” a philosophical or theological essay; and “voices,” poems appropriate to the portion.

Torah can be studied individually and in groups. In Reform Judaism, most Torah study is done in groups, and the commentary’s approach was deliberately chosen to complement that, according to Rabbi Elwell.

“Because people interpret things differently, we wanted to create a multi-vocal commentary,” she said, and one that would also be timeless because of its many different components. “You can give it to bar and bat mitzvah children to strengthen their connection to Judaism.”

The commentary is the result of a change in the status of women in Judaism that began a generation ago. When Rabbi Elwell, 60, attended rabbinical college, she did not encounter a single female teacher. The first Jewish texts examining women’s roles did not appear until about 25 years ago.

Now, “we are asking different questions,” she said, and by doing so, the study of Torah has been made accessible to women.

When the Bible is reread in this feminist light, new interpretations emerge.

In the commentary, Adam and Eve are equal partners in the expulsion from Eden. In the Book of Numbers, the five daughters of Zelophehad approach Moses and other Jewish leaders and demand — and get — their share of their inheritance, thus creating a new Torah law that benefits future generations.

In the sample booklet’s parshah, Rabbi Elwell pointed out, Sarah has a name she is not anonymous “so we know she is an important person.” Besides being Abraham’s wife and Isaac’s mother, she is also the “First Matriarch,” and with that title, “we think of her differently, we think of her as her own person.”

The Torah passage describes Abraham’s sadness at Sarah’s death, and his insistence on how and where his wife is to be buried. His mourning is the only time in the entire Torah that a man mourns for a woman.

Rebecca’s arrival at Abraham’s camp and her marriage to Isaac also speaks about love. When she is asked if she will leave her home and marry Isaac, a man she has never met, she voluntarily responds, “I will go.” Isaac’s love for Rebecca is the first mention of spousal love in the Bible.

In later Torah portions, Rabbi Elwell noted, Ruth gives the same response, “I will go,” to Naomi. In the Sarah parshah, “You have a biblical foreshadowing of women who follow their destinies for the good of Judaism,” she said.

“The Book of Genesis is a clear narrative. You can see patterns of their lives. It’s not as clear in some of the later passages” of the Torah, said Rabbi Elwell. “Also, Genesis is rich with men and women. It is not merely a list of men.”

Rabbi Elwell said that “The Torah: A Women’s Commentary” is not intended to replace existing commentaries. Rather, it is an additional resource for Torah study.

“Only now do women have the textural knowledge to enter the rich world of Torah study,” said Rabbi Elwell. With books like the commentary, “all women can be biblical scholars.

Words of Praise for The Torah: A Women’s Commentary

Writing the Book on the Torah from a Female Perspective
Scholarship: A professor is heading an ambitious commentary on little-known roles of women in biblical times.

Peter Y. Hong,
Los Angeles Times
June 15, 2002

To explain the significance of the new Torah commentary she is working on, Bible professor Tamara Cohn Eskenazi invokes the tale of Zelophehad's daughters.

The reference draws a blank stare--which is precisely what motivates her.

The story of Zelophehad's daughters is a tale of five sisters who won the right--previously limited to men--to inherit their father's land. They accomplished the rare feat of convincing God to create a new law, yet their triumph is relegated to the margins of Torah editions. For Eskenazi and other feminist Bible scholars, the scant attention paid to Zelophehad's daughters illustrates how women have been overlooked by male-authored commentaries on the Torah.

So, like the five sisters who challenged tradition and won a more just system for all, a group of female scholars headed by Eskenazi plans to rewrite the book, so to speak, on the Torah.

Over the next five years, the women plan to compile a commentary on the Torah--the first five books of the Old Testament Bible--that will highlight female figures.

Eskenazi, a Bible professor at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles, is editing the commentary. She says the writers will challenge centuries of male-dominated Torah interpretations, but in traditional form.

For centuries, the Torah has been printed with the biblical passage in the center of a page, surrounded by interpretations from commentators of different eras and viewpoints. The women's commentary will employ that layout, but all commentators will be female.

The commentary project is sponsored by Women of Reform Judaism-the Federation of Temple Sisterhoods, a group representing more than 600 temple women's groups in 15 countries.

It was commissioned because the group believes male scholars have missed the richness and subtlety of women's roles in the Bible, including the complexity of family relationships in Bible stories and the heroic acts of women in the Bible.

"The decision came from a community of women who said we want our Torah, a commentary that speaks to us," Eskenazi said.

In the case of Zelophehad's daughters, for example, Eskenazi said the prevalent Torah commentary used in Reform congregations today deals with the story in "four or five lines. We will spend four pages on it."

Another woman in the Bible often overlooked, Eskenazi said, is the prophet Huldah. It was on Huldah's authority that the book of Deuteronomy was recognized as the word of God in the 7th century BC. "No other prophet aside from Moses was as successful, yet most contemporary readers are not even aware of her story," Eskenazi said.

Huldah's story would appeal to a contemporary audience for another reason, the scholar said. While Huldah was a revered prophet, her husband, Shallum, was keeper of the King's wardrobe. Eskenazi sees their story as "a wonderful example of two professional people and how they divide their roles. She's a public figure; he takes care of the clothes."

Examples from Exodus

She also cites the women in Exodus as characters who deserve more attention and are especially relevant to women today. "When Miriam and the daughter of Pharaoh rescue Moses together, they cross religious, national and class boundaries, all for the sake of life," she said. Their act is also an example of nonviolent resistance to tyranny, she said.
There have been previous women's commentaries on the Torah, but Eskenazi said those works analyzed selected passages; this work, she said, will go through the entire Torah paragraph by paragraph.

She said the new commentary will also include literary criticism, sociology and history in its examination of the text. Letters were sent this month to 100 scholars inviting them to submit material for the commentary.

Such an ambitious undertaking is possible because there is finally a "critical mass" of Jewish female biblical scholars and rabbis to draw upon. Though contributors have decades of experience, "almost everyone is a pioneer. In fact, almost everyone is a 'first' in her field," Eskenazi said.

Eskenazi was the first woman appointed to the rabbinical faculty at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, in 1990. Her own story reflects the difficult balancing act maintained by many women in her generation.

She emigrated from Israel to New York as a teenager, then left architecture school after one year to get married. She was widowed shortly after that, remarried, and moved to Denver with her second husband. While raising five children, she took college classes in her free time, finishing her bachelor's degree in 20 years.

During those years as a full-time mother and part-time student, Eskenazi, who grew up in a mildly religious household, sharpened her academic interest in the Bible.

"Raising my children, I needed access to wisdom, and how-to books did not do it for me. I needed the depth of wisdom accumulated over centuries," she said.

When her children were grown, Eskenazi entered graduate school, and got her PhD "two years before my daughter got hers."

Today, the professor who once sought wisdom from the Bible to guide her through parenthood hopes to create a work that will allow the work of women to inspire others.

"The Bible is full of strong, exciting women who have been relegated to the shadows, either by the Bible itself or by later interpreters. Our commentary will bring them out of the shadows into the limelight where they belong."

Reform Group Plans to Publish New Women's Torah Commentary
Julie Wiener
(Jewish Telegraph Agency)
May 14, 2002

NEW YORK, May 14 (JTA) -- Amid a growing interest in Jewish women's studies, a Reform group is commissioning what will be the most comprehensive women's Torah commentary ever.

Announced days before Shavuot, the holiday celebrating the giving of the Torah, the book will be written entirely by women and is expected to take about five years to complete.

Edited by Tamara Cohn Eskenazi, a professor of Bible at the Reform movement's Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles, the Women of Reform Judaism-sponsored commentary will consist of contributions from a range of Jewish women scholars.

"We want to bring the women of the Torah from the shadows into the limelight, from their silences into speech, from the margins to which they have often been relegated to the center of the page," Eskenazi said in a recent speech describing the project.
A number of books have been published in the past decade addressing women in the Bible and offering women's perspectives on the Bible.

However, the new book will be the first "classical" women's commentary, according to Eskenazi, meaning that it will cover individual Torah portions in their entirety.

Each portion will involve a number of different writers and will contain an overview, followed by the biblical text in Hebrew and English, a central commentary and additional voices.

Although under Reform auspices, the project will solicit submissions from women of all streams of Judaism. Organizers say that while all the authors will be women and much of the focus will be on gender issues in the Bible, the book is intended to be used by men as well.

It is not intended to replace the Reform movement's Torah commentary, edited by Rabbi W. Gunther Plaut, but to serve as a supplement.

"Just like Adam really needed a companion in order to make his life complete, so Eve was created, we feel that to make the Torah speak to today's men and women you need a companion to Plaut's commentary," said Ellen Rosenberg, executive director of Women of Reform Judaism.

If the experience of previous women's Torah commentaries is any indicator, the book should sell well.

The Women's Torah Commentary: New Insights from Women Rabbis on the 54 Weekly Torah Portions," edited by Rabbi Elyse Goldstein, is one of the top sellers of the Vermont-based Jewish Lights Publishing.

Stuart Matlins, the company's publisher, declined to offer specific sales numbers. But he said Goldstein's book, which came out two years ago, is "extremely popular, and not just among women."

Responding to a growing interest in Jewish women's issues, Jewish Lights recently created a separate category in its catalog specifically for women's interest books.

"The more women's commentaries, the better," said Goldstein, who is director of Kolel: The Adult Centre for Liberal Jewish Learning in Toronto and is working on a book with women's perspectives on the Haftarah.

Such books, Goldstein said, are particularly important for Bat Mitzvah girls, who "need a lot of role modeling."

They also offer new perspectives on women's issues in the Bible, such as the rape of Jacob's daughter, Dinah, she said.

"Believe me, Rashi was not sensitive when he commented on the rape of Dinah and blamed her," Goldstein said, referring to the medieval French commentator. "But he was a man writing in the Middle Ages. I would have liked to hear what his daughters would have said."

Are there enough women's issues in the Torah to merit a whole women's commentary?
Goldstein, Eskenazi and other women involved with these projects answer with a resounding yes.

Goldstein said she has read feminist interpretations even on issues not ostensibly about gender, such as discussions of the gender implications of kashrut and the death of Aaron's sons.

Lori Lefkovitz, academic director of Kolot: The Center for Jewish Women's and Gender Studies at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in suburban Philadelphia said she welcomed the new commentary, as well as other recent women's works on the Bible.
"What these new commentaries have shown us is that what women bring to the text is a different sensibility, a different set of experiences and different questions, even if they are not writing as women per se," Lefkovitz said.

"They twist the lens of the material so that we notice different things, we see other emphases, we recover lost traditions and we hear voices that have been quieter."

New Women's Torah Commentary to Be Produced by Reform Group
Holly Lebowitz Rossi
Religion News Service

(RNS) Reform Judaism's women's affiliate has launched a five-year project to create a "women's commentary" on the Torah.

The Women of Reform Judaism-The Federation of Temple Sisterhoods hopes the commentary will "challenge much of the traditionally subordinate religious roles assigned to women."

The commentary, which will be written and edited entirely by women led by noted Bible scholar and Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion professor Tamara Cohn Eskenazi, will be the first "classical" women's Torah commentary. This means that the volume will look at individual Torah portions in their entirety.

In recent years, several "limited" commentaries have been published, focusing on selected themes.

Eskenazi says the WRJ commentary, which has been in the planning stages for the past seven years, will aim to augment, not replace, traditional male commentaries, which have interpreted biblical teachings for centuries.

It is being proposed as an "egalitarian" rather than a "feminist" work -- one that will have a strong message for both men and women.

"According to Genesis, we were created male and female, each in the image of God, so it is only fitting that our commentaries also be male and female," Eskenazi said.

"Jews have never resorted to a single voice," she continued. "Even the Torah begins with two voices of creation, two voices that disagree as well as complement each other in describing the origins of the world."

Members of the WRJ editorial advisory board include some of the world's leading female Bible scholars, rabbis, historians, philosophers and archaeologists.

Reform Women Will Provide a New Commentary on the Torah
Ha'aretz
May 16, 2002

English Translation

The Reform Movement in the United States is pursuing a project, first of its kind, whose objective is to create a Women's Torah Commentary. Women scholars, including women rabbis, all experts in Biblical parshanut, and other fields of Judaism, will write this new Commentary on The Five Books of Moses.

This historic project was initiated by the women's arm of the Reform Movement, Women of Reform Judaism (WRJ), which represents 600 chapters in Reform synagogues throughout North America. "Torah commentary was controlled by rabbis and experts, all men," explained WRJ Executive Director Ellen Rosenberg. "The new Women's Commentary aims at redressing historical misconceptions of women's presence and lack of attention to their understanding of Judaism."

According to Helene Waranch, WRJ president, the goal is to complete this project within five years. The new Commentary, whose cost is estimated at $500,000, will then be published in one volume. "We are still looking for a source or sources of funding for this project," she added.

The President of the Reform Movement, Rabbi Eric Yoffie, noted: "The inequality among men and women in Jewish life is a tragedy." One of the most difficult results of this tragedy is that "we have lost the women in the process of providing Torah commentary." Yoffie, who does not hide his enthusiasm for the new commentary project, noted, "Women observe and understand things in the Torah that men do not."

"Perhaps it is not accidental that this project is coming to the fore 30 years after the first Reform woman rabbi was ordained," said Laura Geller, who is the third woman ordained as a rabbi 26 years ago. Geller, who is the senior rabbi of Temple Emanuel in Beverly Hills, California, is a member of the Editorial Board of the new Women's Commentary on the Torah. "Recently, women's pioneering work has resulted in commentary to parts of the Torah," explained Geller, "but this is the first project undertaken by a national movement."

Dr. Tamara Cohen Eskenazi, who lives in Los Angeles, has been selected as the editor of the Commentary. Originally from Haifa, Eskenazi was the first woman to join the faculty at HUC, the Reform institution that prepares men and women for the rabbinate. "The women who have recently published new commentaries tended to express extreme concepts and perspectives," contended Eskenazi. "Our purpose is to bring the readers closer to the Torah and help them enjoy its study by providing an egalitarian commentary for every soul. It may even be accepted by a larger audience, including the Orthodox."

According to Eskenazi, the idea of creating a Women's Commentary on the Torah has been under consideration for a number of years but came to fruition now because "there is a larger group of learned women able to offer commentary on the Torah."

"There are many more women in the Torah than people think," explains Eskenazi. "Those who read the Torah do not pay attention to smaller stories that have women at the center." One of the objectives of the new Commentary is "to uncover the presence of women in the Torah and acknowledge their part in the events that transpire." As an example, Eskenazi cites Sarah Bat Asher, who is mentioned only briefly in Parashat Pinchas [a recent pilot for the Commentary], but will be explored more extensively in the project…The relationship between Leah and Rachel will also be explored in depth in an effort to provide a different perspective than the traditional one presented by men."

The Editorial Board also includes Dr. Judith Plaskow, a scholar who teaches at Manhattan College. As an example of a parasha with new commentary, she said, "Missing from the story on the binding of Isaac is Sarah, whose reaction is not even mentioned."