The Movement for Reform Judaism

Jewish Women and the Ritual of Prayer

INTRODUCTIONS

To The 2nd Edition

Ten years have passed since a Working Party on Women and Judaism produced the ground-breaking pamphlet ‘Women and tallit'.  Since that time there have been a large number of significant developments.

Some of these developments simply reflect the passage of time.  Today there are more women rabbis - twice as many in fact.  There are also more women in lay leadership positions in synagogues, including more wardens.  Increasing numbers of women are wearing a tallit and Kippah.  At the 1987 RSGB Conference when ‘Women and Tallit' was launched, there were only a handful.  As each year has passed the Shabbat morning service has seen more and more tallit-drapped female worshippers.  There have also been liturgical changes.  The new Machzor for the Shalosh Regalim (Pilgrim Festivals), published in 1995, incorporates an inclusive translation for the first time.

Other developments have involved new steps in new directions.  At the initiative of the women rabbis of both RSGB and ULPS, The Half Empty Bookcase for Progressive Jewish Women's Studies was formed in 1990.  Recognising that bookcases crammed full of weighty Jewish tomes were only half-full because the lives and perspectives of Jewish women, past and present, were missing, the Half Empty Bookcase was established with the purpose of filling the empty shelves.  In 1991 the first international conference was held with the leading feminist theologian, Judith Plaskow, author of ‘Standing Again at Sinai', as the keynote speaker.  450 people participated in over fifty workshops.  While some of the participants were unaffiliated, the great majority hailed from Reform and Liberal/Progressive congregations up and down the country.  Part of the preparation for the conference included identifying a contact person in each synagogue who would encourage others to come along.  The strategy worked.  At the end of the day everyone came together for celebration and prayer.

Since 1991 there have been a further two international conferences with keynote addresses from Susannah Heschel and Rachel Adler.  In addition to these biennial events, there have been a number of half-day workshops focussed around particular themes, eg individual festivals, the celebration of Rosh Chodesh.  A regular newsletter keeps subscribers informed of activities and also includes book reviews, short articles and poetry.  The Half Empty Bookcase is organised by a co-ordinating group in which each individual contributes.

Perhaps the principal success of the Half Empty Bookcase has been, not so much the conferences and workshops per se, but the flourishing of Jewish women's groups mostly centred around the festival of the Rosh Chodesh.  To assist women in the celebration of Rosh Chodesh, the Half Empty Bookcase has prepared a pack including background information, readings and prayers.  One of the most successful Rosh Chodesh groups is based at Southgate Reform Synagogue.  Because that congregation has been particularly successful in encouraging its women members to take a full, equal and active part in religious services, this second edition of ‘Women and Tallit' includes a section describing the Southgate experience.

Two of the most important features of the development of Jewish women's groups have been in the areas of study and prayer.  Study has both resulted in women acquiring more knowledge and has also been marked by a flowering of creativity - chiefly, the writing of new midrash on biblical texts, written from the perspective of women.  Shared prayer has also had creative consequences, with women's groups creating their own services for Rosh Chodesh, writing new haggadot, and developing new rituals, chiefly in the area of berit ceremonies for girls and around the acknowledgement of miscarriage, ante-natal death, still-birth, infant death and infertility. The Southgate group has created an impressive anthology of prayers and readings entitled ‘Another Kind of Weeping' which formed the basis for the annual service inaugurated at West London for those who have suffered these losses.

Much has happened in the past ten years.  In an important sense, the wearing of the tallit by women, which began to be evident in the mid-80s, has been both a symbol of and a catalyst for change.  As the personal reflections included in this publication indicate, the decision to take on the mitzvah of tallit is a deeply personal one, reflecting the Jewish journey taken by the individual concerned.  But, of course, by its very nature it is also a very public statement.  The wearing of a tallit is a visual indicator of an internal transformation that has become external.  Each woman who wears a tallit is making a statement of her commitment to participate in the community; she is including herself on equal terms with men.  And because it is by definition so public, women wearing a tallit have been met with the reaction of those who feel challenged by this significant development.

But even this is changing, albeit slowly.  As more women wear a tallit, so the sight becomes less remarkable and less challenging.  Of course, there is a long way to go, and it is not just a question of the passage of time.  The experience of Southgate, documented in the pamphlet, demonstrates that the wearing of tallitot by women is part of a process of change.  The purpose of describing what has happened at Southgate is to help other synagogues to learn from that congregation's experience. Perhaps the greatest lesson concerns the key role played by the rabbi, the ritual or religious services committee and the council in facilitating change, in providing a secure and stable framework within which people can feel safe enough to change and to accept change.

Process is, in a crucial sense, everything.  For a long time to come synagogues will be at different stages, and minhagim will evolve.  At Southgate the community has reached a point where a distinction is made between private prayer within the body of the congregation, and active public participation in the service.  The wearing of a tallit remains an individual choice for women until the point where they accept a mitzvah or lead the service, when they are expected to wear a tallit. This obligation begins with bat/bar mitzvah, the time when a young person becomes an adult member of the community.

The wearing of a tallit expresses the individual's responsibility as a Jew, as a member of the people Israel, commanded to share in the mitzvot which characterise the relationship between the community and God.  We look forward to the day when each woman and each man of bat/Barmitzvah age and upwards will be able to say:Blessed are You, our Living God, Sovereign of the Universe, whose commandments make us holy and who has commanded us to wrap ourselves in the tallit.

Elizabeth Sarah and Dee Eimer