The Jewish Woman in Contemporary Society: Transitions and Traditions

247 Pages·1993·10.91 MB·English

by  Adrienne Baker

THE JEWISH WOMAN IN
CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY
Transitions and Traditions
Adrienne Baker
THE JEWISH WOMAN IN CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY
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THE JEWISH
WOMAN IN
CONTEMPORARY
SOCIETY
Transitions and Traditions
Adrienne Baker
Course Director and Tutor, Diploma in Counselling, Regent's College, London
and Lecturer in Women's Studies, Birkbeck College, London
Preface by Susie Orbach
Jo Campling
Consultant Editor
1M50th YEAR
MACMILLAN
Text © Adrienne Baker 1993; Preface © Susie Orbach 1993
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of
this publication may be made without written permission.
No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or
transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with
the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988,
or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying
issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court
Road, London W1P9HE.
Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this
publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil
claims for damages.
First published 1993 by
THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD
Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 2XS
and London
Companies and representatives
throughout the world
ISBN 0-333 53760-2 hardcover
ISBN 0-333 53761-0 paperback
A catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library
Printed in Hong Kong
To Harvey
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Contents
Preface by Susie Orbach ix
Acknowledgements xi
Introduction 1
I THE CULTURAL BACKGROUND 7
1 Setting the Scene 9
Jewish immigration into Britain 9
The American incoming 12
On being an immigrant 14
Ashkenazim and Sephardim 16
Demography: facts and fears 23
II WOMEN AND JUDAISM 33
2 Women's Role in Judaism 35
'Blessed art thou... Who hast not made me a woman1 35
Woman's rightful realm 35
Images and stereotypes 41
3 Religious Law 45
Women s status 45
Prayer 48
Religious study 50
Divorce 54
Agunah, the 'anchored woman 58
Can the law change? 61
4 The Religious Scene 65
America 66
Britain 74
Ritual 86
The secular Jew 92
What does it mean to me, being a Jewish woman? 97
5 Aspects of Orthodoxy 102
The ultra-Orthodox 102
The Chassidim 108
The ba'alot t'shuva: women who 'return to strict Orthodoxy 115
vn
Vlll Contents
III FAMILY LIFE 121
6 The Jewish Woman at Home 123
The Jewish family in history 124
The daughter's apprenticeship 125
Myths 132
Food 135
Handing on tradition 143
7 Marriage, Childbearing and Sexuality 147
The meaning of marriage 147
Choosing a partner and the wedding ceremony 150
The marital relationship and the Laws of Family Purity 155
'Be fruitful and multiply' 158
Sexual morality 163
Staying single 164
Lesbianism 166
8 Areas of Difficulty 172
Intermarriage 172
Conversion 175
Family breakdown and domestic violence 179
Single parent families 183
Worae/? as carers 186
IV AREAS OF CHANGE 189
9 Changing Perspectives 191
Secular education 191
Voluntary work 194
Jobs and careers 196
0 Feminism 204
Within the family 205
Within religion 206
Woman's legal status in relation to divorce and agunah 207
Feminism and Zionism 209
Ambivalence and change 212
Bibliography 216
Index 224
Preface
Susie Orbach
As a second generation secular Jew, part of the 9 per cent of British and
American Jewry who have no religious affiliation and practise none of the
fundamental pietistic precepts associated with Judaism, I found Adrienne
Baker's book covering the wider spectrum of Jewish communal activity an
eye opener on the one hand and a cause for self-reflection on the other.
The secular Jewish world assumes that to be a Jew a sufficient starting-
point is the statement of ethnic affiliation. For the generation raised in the
wake of the Holocaust, there is an imperative to claim that ethnicity and
that history; to not deny that aspect of one's personal and family heritage.
One has been raised to be ever so slightly 'set apart' from the general
culture. One learns to be alert to racism and anti-semitism; to be cautious
and vigilant; to watch out for the consequences of being a Jew without
really being able to put much substance to what being a Jew means. And yet
the need to identify as such, the wish to place oneself as an American Jew
or a British Jew is significant and transcends religiosity and observance.
What intrigued me in reading this book was the heterogeneous nature of
the community which the secular Jew is both connected to and excluded
from. I was delighted to learn more about the 300,000 people in the UK
and the six million people in the United States with whom I, by the state
ment that I am a Jew, identify.
In her survey of current trends among the many religious Jewish com
munities, Adrienne Baker shows how each branch of Judaism has given
itself a defined purpose reflecting a specific ideology. We learn about
gender politics within the more progressive or liberal tendencies and the
meaning of femininity in the conservative and ultra-right Jewish commu
nities.
I was shamed by some of what I learnt about the repression and oppres
sion within certain communities. At the same time I was impressed by the
struggles of religious contemporaries who are creating forms of commu
nity, including study and worship which reflect the position of post-
diaspora Jews. I was impressed too by the headway that gender-conscious
Jews have made in rethinking issues of sexuality, including lesbianism,
and in redefining sex roles: including the most welcome ordination of
women rabbis. I was stunned to discover that the adage that a child is only
a Jew through matrilineal descent is a law which has now been challenged
by Progressive Jews.
IX