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Bringing Practice to Theory: A Case Study of Language Use in Jewish Feminist Worship by Karen Englander "It is in this everyday world that I curt certain ideas and theories matter, because with each dirty dish that I wash as I talk and listen, I experience how they affect my life. " -- Irena Klepfisz

Feminism has affected North One phenomenon has been the American religious practice for three creation of feminist women's only decades, and as a result, the language of groups. These groups are formed by worship is being transformed. Practices women from different denominations in are no exception. While (typically Conservative, Reform, neither nor Judaism is Reconstructionist and non-affiliated) who monolithic, the impact of the former on meet together to explore Judaism and the latter is demonstrable. The more worship as feminists. liberal denominations (Recontructionist, Feminist activists "frequently... Reform, and Conservative) now accept pursue two related goals - the privileging women as leaders and within of previously silenced voices and the congregational life and so previously transforming of dominant representations silenced and marginalized voices are now that reproduce systemic inequalities" heard. Although Orthodoxy and (Ashcraft 3). This paper presents a case Hassidism still offer women no such public study of the worship of one Jewish role, "there is no going back on the feminist feminist group during one weekend revolution" (Greenberg qtd. in retreat in which I was a participant. The Umansky 207). Several scholars have two feminist goals of voicing and outlined the impact of feminist thought transforming are reflected in the language on the different Jewish denominations of worship. and dialogic (e.g. Peskowitz & Levitt, Umansky). construction interact on this occasion to Jewish feminists have also produced manifest those feminist goals. "Language important books of critique (Adler, is not property of the individual, but of Heschel, Plaskow), re-interpretations of the community" (Labov 52) and so sacred texts (Frankel, Goldstein, language as it is used in this particular Gottlieb) and guides for whole new community is the focus of this rituals (Adelman, Berrin). However, little investigation. Language - who speaks, has been written which explores how what is said, and who determines these Jewish feminists actually use these new things - is examined as voice and insights. transformation.

Karen Englander is a Professor at Autonomous University of Baja California, Mexico.

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The Case: Jewish Women's Center of group had created each prayerbook and Pittsburgh made copies for us. Jewish feminists who comprise Despite the existence of the the Jewish Women's Center (JWC) of prayerbook, it was not wholly followed, Pittsburgh have been meeting for ten as can be seen in the following 1 years, The JWC, like other Jewish instruction from Clara who lead the feminist groups, is not affiliated with any Saturday morning worship. denomination within Judaism. Because it As we gathered after breakfast, Clara is outside the sanctions of mainstream said, "So what I was thinking we could Judaism, the members hold a special social do with the service this morning is, as a identity and they come together as a community, make our service." She community of practice. Eight women, divided us into two groups and each was including me, came together one to be responsible for half the service. To weekend in October, 2002, to engage with do so, we followed Clara's instruction, Judaism. They agreed to allow me to tape- "incorporate some of [our] values into record our activities and participate in the how we do the service this morning." She weekend's events as a case study. Three had prepared a prayerbook, but she told religious services were held: us, "you don't have to use it. You can Friday evening Kabbalat Shabbat, pick some of the things to use, you can Saturday Shabbat morning service, add other things that you want, you can and Saturday Shabbat evening service. take out; whatever you want to do... ." No or other sanctioned leader was Clara brought prayerbooks which present, only us as and feminists, adhere to the traditional structure of the among our other identities in our morning service including professional and familial lives. feminist renderings of those traditional Constructing Worship elements. Nonetheless, she informed us Each worship service is that the prayerbook was not to be viewed conducted with its own photocopied as fixed. We were to "pick some", "add "prayerbook," which consists of a dozen other things" or "take out" from that or so pages containing songs, drawings, which was therein. Clara was asking us to decorative designs, prayers (in English fundamentally follow these questions: and Hebrew), and meditative and "What does it mean to honor a text as informative texts. The end pages in the sacred... What is the effect of a Sabbath morning and evening worshipful stance? Does it open the doors prayerbooks contain a list of citations of to wisdom -- or close the doors to some of the texts within. Women writers, rabbis, our truths?" (JWC morning service, poets, and artists from disparate times unpaginated). and geographic locations contribute to In fact, when we reconvened our the worship. The language of the two groups to continue the morning prayerbook is not anonymous - as service, we had already spoken deeply prayerbooks so often are, and where that about the content of the prayers and anonimity lends an aura of truth and service, added our own commentary, immutability - instead, it is a social eliminated some text, and identified construction via a collection of traditional and women's voices. One member of the ______1This and all other participants’ names are pseudonyms

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Englander

consistent with 's songs to sing. The group I hadn't been injunction that "we must render visible part of chose to open the formal worship the presence, experience and deeds of service by looldng at and discussing a women erased in the traditional sources" piece of artwork that was on the back (28). page of our prayerbook. And so we did, Another blessing in the JWC much like the ancient rabbis said, "Turn it prayerbook reads, in part: (the ], and turn it, for everything is in it" (Sayings of the Fathers V:26), but "May bless you we also found that "not all is in it. We With the strength and vision of Sarah, find we have more to add" (JWC With the wisdom and foresight of morning service). Rebecca,

With the courage and compassion of Rachel, Naming History/ The notion of naming has deep With the gentleness and graciousness of significance for Judaism and for Leah." feminism. Judaism understands that the In this case, the biblical women are called events from the past are not simply upon as exemplars, furthering the notion history, but have importance for the that supplementing the prayers with contemporary era of each generation. women's stories makes the connection Because the power of the past shapes the between the past and the present real for present, naming our biblical predecessors worshippers today. Through the prayer, is an integral part of worship. A prayer of we are attempting to fulfill another traditional Sabbath services begins: supplication, "Refine our appreciation of the "Praised be thou, 0 Lord, God of our models who preceded us" (Agus, fathers, God of Abraham, Isaac and unpaginated). Jacob... ." Reference specifically to Jewish Feminists have pointed out that women's contributions in history occurs God is not only a God of our fathers but in the evening Sabbath prayerbook where also our . God is not only the God five women are named who died during of the patriarchs, but also the that month in previous years, including matriarchs. Thus we read in the JWC Rachel, the biblical wife of Jacob; Rachel Sabbath morning service, "Blessed are Yanit Ben-Tzvi, founder of Israel's You, God of our mothers Sarah, Rebecca women's labor movement; and Anzia and Rachel, and God of our fathers, Yezierska, an American novelist of the Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob2.." This is early 20th century, A feminist critique of ______traditional Judaism points out that "the 2 recording of Jewish pasts has transmitted The inclusive language which is the texts and experiences of male authors discussed, in some cases, can also be and actors" (Peskowitz 22). The JWC found in the congregational prayer books prayerbook engages in the important task of the principle denominations which have of recovering and honoring Jewish been issued since the 1970s. women's history. However my interest here is to examine God is spoken of in new terms as the JWC prayerbook in light of more well in the JWC prayerbooks. Instead of traditional observance as a reflection of how feminist women pray together.

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referring to God as Lord, Almighty, King this, a homemade thing." We continue to and Father which denote maleness and add to each new experience, in part, by domination, God is called The Eternal, or including meaningful elements from simply You. God is attributed with previous ones, creating a new legacy for feminine qualities. For example, the feminists. prayerbook says, "Yours are the cradling In the context of worship, we Arms of our life and the Womb of our have not only a listener in God, but we safe deliverance" (JWC morning service, listen to each other, and respond. There is 16), which is distinct from a traditional a line in a piece of the that reads prayer which reads, "Thou art the that we "shall keep the Sabbath, observe Strength of our Life and our saving it in a way which befits each person's Shield" (Birnbaum 356). needs" (JWC 15). During a discussion The traditional blessing form that took place during the worship begins, "Blessed are You, lord our God, service, Sarah commented on that king of the universe," which some statement saying, "I think what it's feminists abhor because it is "sexist, saying is wrong. I know we have choices, hierarchical, and idolatrous in its but... ." The following exchange ensued: fixedness" (Plaskow 142). The JWC Clara: I see. We have choices but instead adopted the blessings created by we don't have every choice. We Jewish scholar Marcia Falk. They have a number of choices. begin, "Let us bless the source of life." Sarah: Yeah, we still need to With this phrase "the act of blessing adhere to the tradition. I know [refers] to the community of human beings that the commandment says to that blesses, at the same time the rest on the Sabbath, and if you community acknowledges its connection to exercise the right discipline you a deeper, underground reality" (Plaskow can observe the commandment. 142). The relationship between the Moira: Pm not a hundred percent congregation and God is emphasized as sure that discipline is the right life-giving rather than controlling. virtue. In worship we hold conversations One Voice among Many which keep our personal practices The prayerbook we used are vibrant. compilations from many sources and many eras. There are prayers, songs, Integrating Feminism and poems and commentary. This Judaism: A Continuing Discourse variety creates a dialogue among A feminist first must "critique many disparate voices within the the masculine origins of received texts worship service itself. and traditions" writes Peskowitz (26). At one point in the Sabbath morning Although she is writing of Jewish service Rivka stopped to ask what was women's history, surely her demand is the source of a piece of artwork. Clara relevant to creating Jewish women's ritual responded that she had been "at a when she says that the feminist critic women's psychology conference and must then "reconstruct... with new there was a group of Jewish women who sources or through new readings of old met for (worship] services Friday night sources" (26). The prayerbooks of the and this is from the [prayerbook] that one JWC fulfill this requirement by of them put together... and it was like

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Englander reinterpreting and privileging the biblical women through feminist eyes and by experiences, contributions and insights. including writings by other women who Individuals' voices were valued and they had never entered the mainstream Jewish counted in the discourse of worship. worship texts. When women make a place for Further, Bekerman states that themselves in an androcentric tradition Judaism must alter efforts from the such as Judaism, there are "roughly three "inculcation or transmission of possibilities," says Tamar El-Or. "They values, historical facts, ritual can accept and internalize male-defined knowledge and social purposes to their practices; they can reread, deconstruct, production in social settings and and read again; or, they can resist and through discourse" (Bekerman 469, my reject them altogether" (El-Or 65). To a emphasis). The worship service leader great degree, the women of the JWC have made this transformation possible by abandoned the first, embraced the second, giving to us the responsibility for and refused the third. I, and others at the creating the service using the material Jewish Women's Center of Pittsburgh, am she provided as a resource. We created much like those "many individuals [for "the shared experience of intimacy in whom]...the only way back into the women's prayer Jewish liturgical cycle is through community" (Breitman 77) by making a experimentation -- by including new communal prayer service. All the prayers or revising old ones, through JWC worship services were variously song and dance and... by expanding Our interrupted, discussed, questioned, and images of God" (Staub qtd.in Zaidman instantaneously and collaboratively 62). The JWC is a case where the practice created. The format of a leader-led of worship uses language to amend who service with a compliant congregation as gets to speak and what gets said. It seems occurs in most was wholly this is a useful case for considering how transformed to right systemic inequality the feminist goals of voicing and and domination. In the JWC worship all transforming are realized in practice. the participants had voice, opinions,

Works Cited Adelman, Penina V. 's Well: Rituals for Jewish Women Around the Year. New York: Holmes & Meier, 1996, Adler, Rachel. Engendering Judaism: An Inclusive and Ethics. Boston: Beacon Press, 1999. Agus, Anna. “: A Meditation for Praying at a Women’s Gathering.” Kabbalat Shabbat Prayerbook, Jewish Women’s Center of Pittsburgh, 2002, unpaginated. Ashcraft, Catherine. “Naming Knowledge: A Language for Reconstructing Domestic Violence and Systemic .” Women & Language 23.1 (2000): 3-10. Bekerman, Zvi. “Constructivist Perspectives on Language, Identity and Culture: Implications for Jewish Identify and the Education of Jews.” Religious Education 94 (2001): 462-473. Berrin, Susan. Celebrating the New Moon: A Anthology. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 1996. Birnbaum, Philip. Daily Prayer Book. New York: Hebrew Publishing Company, 1949. Breitman, Barbara E. “Social and Spiritual Reconstruction of Self Within a Feminish Jewish Community." Women and Therapy. 16.2,3 (1995): 73-$2. El-Or, Tamara. “Power/Knowledge/ Gender: The Oranges-and-Grapefruit Debate." Judaism Since Gender. Eds. Miriam Peskowitz & Lama Levitt. NY: Routledge, 1997. 62-66.

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Falk, Marcia. Book of Blessings. Boston: Beacon Press, 1999. Frankel, Ellen. The Five Books of Miriam. : HarperSanFrancisco,1998. Goldstein, Elyse. The Women's Torah Commentary: New Insights from Women Rabbis. Woodstock, VT: Jewish Lights Publishing, 2000. Gottlieb, Lynn. She Who Dwells Within: A Feminist Vision of a Renewed Judaism. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1995. Heschel, Susannah. On Being a Jewish Feminist. New York: Schocken Books, 1995. Labov, William. "Exact Description of the Speech Community: Short A in Philadelphia," Language Change and Variation. Eds. Ralph Fasold & Deborah Schiffrin. Amsterdam: Benjamins, 1989. 1-57. Peskowitz, Miriam. “Engendering Jewish Religious History.” Judaism Since Gender. Eds. Miriam Peskowitz & Laura Levitt. NY: Routledge, 1997. 17-39. Plaskow, Judith. Standing Again at Sinai: Judaism from a Feminist Perspective. New York: HarperCollins, 1990. Sayings of the Fathers. Trans. J.H. Hertz from Hebrew. New York: Behrman House, 1945. Umansky, Ellen. "Feminism in Judaism." Feminism and World Religions. Eds. Arvind Sharma & Katherine K. Young. Albany: SUNY, 1999.179-213. Zaidman, Nurit. "Variations of : The Traditional, Modern, and Postmodern Approaches." Modern Judaism. 16.1(1996):47-65.

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