For the first time, we are privileged to present an English translation of Mevaser Tov, one of the works of the Biala Rebbe, Shlita. This insightful, enriching volume presents a Chassidic discourse on the essential role of women in the preservation of the Jewish people. With wisdom and sensitivity, the Rebbe highlights topics such as positive nurturing, expressing joy, the psychological need for independence, and the power of a woman to help her husband, among many others. This is an uplifting book for every Jewish woman.
A companion to The Merit of the Righteous Women, this newly translated work from the Biala Rebbe, shlita is a powerful source of inspiration for today's Jewish woman. Drawn from classical sources of Torah and Chassidic thought, the Rebbe discusses such topics as emuna (faith), tznius (modesty), and the power of a woman's prayer. Thought-provoking and uplifting, this examination and explaination of the Jewish woman's role is required reading for women seeking direction.
For many centuries Jewish prayer was so dominated by its male creators and male readers that the Jewish woman's role in prayer seems to have been all but obliterated. Yet Jewish women have always prayed and, before prayer became standardized into a formal liturgy, Israelite women offered up spontaneous petitions and hymns to God as freely as did men. While they may not have been able to help constitute a minyan, and while many did not know Hebrew or Aramaic, women produced and used material for prayer at home. The Yiddish tkhines had its origin in a form of supplicatory prayer in the Talmud, whose original intent was to allow for individual private devotion during the standard prayer service. The private Yiddish prayers and devotions for Jewish women continued to use this term. They emerged in the world of premodern Ashkenazic Jewry and represent one of the richest and least-known forms of Jewish religious literature. Because modern sensibility seemed to reject them, and because Yiddish was quickly forgotten by second and third generation Jews in the West, they have been sadly neglected. Although a few have been individually translated into English, this is the first bilingual anthology ever to appear. The prayers in this volume are characterized by a highly personal and intimate style and mark occasions in the religious calendar, such as the Tkhine for the Blessing of the New Moon, as well as occasions in the life of a woman, such as the Tkhine for a Mother who Leads Her Child to Kheyder for the First Time. The tkhines are of great appeal and value to those who wish to hear the voices of Jewish women in history, study Yiddish literature and culture, or create new expressions of spirituality.
The Way of the Boundary Crosser, by highly regarded rabbi and author Gershon Winkler, offers us an in-depth understanding of the teachings of Jewish tradition that challenges the notion that there is only one way to be Jewish, and that allows ample room for alternatives in Jewish theology, observance, and law.
One of the cornerstones of the religious Jewish experience in all its variations is Torah study, and this learning is considered a central criterion for leadership. Jewish Women’s Torah Study addresses the question of women's integration in the halachic-religious system at this pivotal intersection. The contemporary debate regarding women’s Torah study first emerged in the second half of the 19th century. As women’s status in general society changed, offering increased legal rights and opportunities for education, a debate on the need to change women’s participation in Torah study emerged. Orthodoxy was faced with the question: which parts, if any, of modernity should be integrated into Halacha? Exemplifying the entire array of Orthodox responses to modernity, this book is a valuable addition to the scholarship of Judaism in the modern era and will be of interest to students and scholars of Religion, Gender Studies and Jewish Studies.
"Writing the Wayward Wife" is a study of rabbinic interpretations of sotah, the law concerning the woman suspected of adultery (Numbers 5: 11-31). The book identifies the emergence of two major interpretive themes: the emphasis on legal procedures, and the condemnation of adultery.
Finalist for the National Jewish Book Award for 1998 With Voices of the Matriarchs, Chava Weissler restores balance to our knowledge of Judaism by providing the first look at the Yiddish prayers women created during centuries of exclusion from men's observance. In Weissler's hands, these prayers (called thkines) open a new window into early modern European Jewish women's lives, beliefs, devotion, and relationships with God.
