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.
Women at the Crossroads: A Woman's Perspective on the Weekly Torah Portion comprises 53 essays pertaining to women based on each of the weekly Torah Portions throughout the year. Rebbetzin Chana Bracha Siegelbaum discusses in-depth the characters and dilemmas of the women in the Torah that are relevant to the issues which women encounter today. The author explores the underlying values of laws and rituals that pertain to women by examining the inherent nature of women as presented in the Torah. Based on the intricacies of the Torah text, she shows the beauty and depth of the role of women as portrayed in the Torah and teaches the importance of women and their immense influence on society as prime movers of history. The book is divided into five chapters, corresponding to the five books of the Torah. Each chapter is divided into sections according to each Torah portion. In addition, it includes a comprehensive and useful compilation of biographies of the commentaries quoted in the book. Expounding the Torah text through methodical research of Midrash, Talmud and traditional commentators, such as Rashi and the Ramban, placed side-by-side with Chassidic masters like the Me'or v'Shemesh and modern commentators including Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, Rebbetzin Chana Bracha Siegelbaum weaves together the strands that make up the tapestry of life for the contemporary woman.Rather than paying homage to the external, competitive, masculine world, the author demonstrates how Jewish women of today may look inwards to the women in the Torah for guidance in choosing their priorities in life.
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.
"Women at the Seder is a traditional "Passover Haggadah whose commentary celebrates of one of the great transformations of the Torah community during this past century: the emergence of women from the privacy of their home "tents" to the public arena of the synagogue and Torah study halls, without abandoning in any way their central traditional role as the cornerstone of the home and family. The Rabbis had long ago acknowledged that it was in the merit of our righteous women that Israel was redeemed from slavery. The Passover "seder--the home celebration of our national liberation--is an appropriate place to acknowledge and honor women's expanded role in our public as well as private religious life. The commentary includes rabbinic comments on women associated with the Exodus, a discussion of those relevant aspects of Jewish law that apply to women, and homilies--"divrei Torah by women for the "seder, many written especially for this volume. In a generation, it should seem quaint that it was noteworthy that women's "divrei Torah constituted a significant part of a Haggadah commentary. That will be cause for yet additional rejoicing, as women's contributions on all levels of Torah scholarship will have become even more commonplace.
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.
