Judaism Current Event by Fisher, Caroline

I did all of this assignment on my own without assistance from AI or other resources

cfisher1_36 — 2025-04-03 20:32:13 UTC

Textbook

cfisher1_36 — 2025-04-03 21:22:36 UTC

The textbook mentions Judith Plaskow, who was a theologian who argued women's inferiority. He said "The images we use to describe God, the qualities we attribute to God, draw on a sense of power and authority that is clearly male in character," Plaskow wrote. '"The hand that takes us out of Egypt is a male hand- both in the Bible and in our contemporary imaginations" (Prothero 222) This can be correlated to women's lack of power within the rabbinical court system. If men are seen as the powerful God-like character and women are seen as inferior, that explains why they are not currently given a say in terms of divorce.

Textbook

cfisher1_36 — 2025-04-03 21:29:51 UTC

Another instance in the textbook where the gender divide is discussed is on page 221, where Prothero says, "Learning and teaching were closed off to Jewish women. Like children and enslaved people, their testimony was not allowed in legal proceedings. Stereotypes of men as spiritual and women as physical kept them in exile from their community and their fuller selves. Images of women as "semidemonic" in the Talmud further alienated them from their own people." (Prothero 221) This quote again supports the idea given in the article, that since women are seen as inferior they are excluded from legal matters, even though the legal matters are pertaining to their lives.

Article Overview

cfisher1_36 — 2025-04-05 16:39:14 UTC

This article follows a survey conducted by an Israeli women's advocacy organization Chocmat Nashim from 2022-2024. The survey consisted of 450 Jewish women from 11 different countries that have sought out divorces. 48% of the women from the survey said that the experience was harmful for their mental health and the cause wasn’t just the stress of divorce. It was the additional stress placed upon them from the rabbinical court.

The Jewish Divorce System

cfisher1_36 — 2025-04-05 16:42:11 UTC

From Jewish law, women must receive permission from a man for a divorce through a divorce decree called a get. Some men are not reasonable with this leading the process to cause harm to the mental health of the woman. If a woman cannot receive the get from her current husband, her personal rights are affected. She is not able to remarry, have children with anyone else and in some cases, she is unable to have legal rights obtaining to child support.

Effects outside of Israel

cfisher1_36 — 2025-04-05 16:47:39 UTC

The process is this way because divorces in Israel are unable to be handled through civil court, only through rabbinical court. These even effects marriages outside of Israel. Chabin states, "Women in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, France, Germany, Israel, South Africa, the United States and the United Kingdom participated in the survey" (Chabin) Divorce is not an option that the rabbinical court decides on easily. Though a woman may persist, she may be stuck in a marriage she does not want for years, making her agunot or a chained woman.

Female Representation in Rabbinical Court

cfisher1_36 — 2025-04-05 16:50:05 UTC

A problem within the Rabbinical court system is the lack of female representation. This puts women at a disadvantage and they end up not being believed when accounting their reasons for divorce. Chabin explains it as, "While rabbinic court judges are experts in Jewish divorce law, the vast majority have never been trained to identify factors such as spousal abuse, addiction or mental illness” (Chabin). Divorce can be a very vulnerable time for a woman, with judges not trained in areas that are important to protecting the safety of the women, that woman's mental and physical health is put on the line.

Class Readings

cfisher1_36 — 2025-04-05 17:30:23 UTC

Kristofer Rhude reported that in Israel, ultra-Orthodox Jews or Haredi Jews, divided the site of the remains of an ancient Jewish temple. The section that only allowed men was larger and held less restrictions that the section that women were forced into. The restrictions placed on women at this holy site is reflective of the discrimination they receive in the rabbinical court system. In both instances they are not given equal opportunity compared to men and they are seen as secondary.

cfisher1_36 — 2025-04-05 17:34:41 UTC

(Photo by Laura Ben David/The Jewish Life Photo Bank) retrieved from article.

Works Cited

cfisher1_36 — 2025-04-05 17:59:51 UTC