A sea change for Orthodox women
Towards a vibrant and equitable global Orthodox Jewish community.
As the current executive director of the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance (JOFA) in North America, I am excited and humbled to address the inaugural Orthodox Women’s Conference that will take place in Melbourne on August 13. This conference, led by JOFA Australia’s indefatigable president Rabbanit Nomi Kaltmann, will be the first time Orthodox Jewish feminists in Australia will be gathering to explore and discuss what progress is needed to better include women in Australia’s Orthodox Jewish community.
I know from experience the kind of magic that can happen at such momentous gatherings. I attended the First International Conference on Feminism and Orthodoxy in 1997 in New York City as a young graduate student. I left that groundbreaking two-day, 1000-plus gathering with a clear sense of purpose, a whole new community and a renewed energy for my own Jewish engagement – and with a vision for what could be possible for Orthodox communities everywhere.
It was at that conference where calls to action by pioneering Orthodox feminists made such an impact on me, that they continue to inspire me today – and inspiration I hope to share with you. In the years since those sparks were first ignited, JOFA has driven this mission forward in numerous ways, engaging countless Orthodox women and men – clergy, educators and lay leaders alike – in advocating for expanding women’s rights and opportunities within the framework of halachah, to a vibrant and equitable Orthodox community for us all.
Today, a quarter-century later, I look around at growth opportunities across North America and around the world, and I see that Orthodox girls and women are engaging in deeper learning, taking on more advanced leadership roles and participating in more enriching ritual experiences in unprecedented numbers. JOFA is the long-established leader providing extensive tools and resources, educational programs and conferences, and investing in the full spectrum of Orthodox women’s leadership across the educational, communal, spiritual and halachic spheres, actively guiding our communities, increasing knowledge and awareness, and developing our next generation.
Twenty-five years ago, when Blu Greenberg, the founder of the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance, rallied the audience with her famous “where there’s a rabbinic will, there’s a halachic way,” it was a call to end the agunah crisis, which painfully remains today, despite some steps forward. Of course what Blu was referencing more broadly was the “rabbinic will” of men – and this points to one of the most significant areas of advancement that the Orthodox feminist movement has made during the organisation’s lifespan: Today women play vital roles in many more fundamental aspects of Orthodox life, including actively participating in the halachic process and working toward halachic solutions. I am proud to know numerous women who have earned the designations of yoatzot, spiritual leaders and Talmud scholars. Not only are women unquestionably capable of serving in these capacities; we must appreciate that their training became possible in the first place because of the significant increase in institutions and programs that offer Orthodox women the opportunity to earn such designations.
While the ongoing debates about the role of women within Orthodox Judaism can feel exhausting, progress unimaginable when JOFA was founded continues apace and amounts to a sea change of which we can all be proud. Communities are increasingly recognising the significant value and potential of women’s leadership, as they question the underpinning assumptions that have dictated so many of the gender roles that we take for granted within Orthodoxy. In other words, more and more communities are reaching the realisation that just because traditionally women never played certain roles, doesn’t mean they halachically can’t or shouldn’t.
Although Judaism has historically been a male-led tradition that is cautiously reluctant to accept change – especially regarding women’s roles – seeing the trajectory of growth over the past 25 years, tells us that these trends will continue to gain steam through the efforts of religious community members who deeply love, care about and are bound to our Orthodox tradition.
Every organisation that I know of engages in a strategic plan, looking ahead to the next three, five, 10 years. JOFA too has a vision for the future of Orthodoxy. In that strategic vision, community engagement means that all people, regardless of gender, are counted in and counted upon. It means that our key Orthodox institutions (schools, synagogues and communal organisations) seek to find all the ways, big and small, to ensure that girls and boys and women and men are provided opportunities to lead and where they all know they belong. It means that things like the agunah crisis, silencing of women’s voices, and erasure of women’s names and images from publications, become vestiges of the past.
In this vision of our Orthodox communities, people who seek to expand women’s engagement won’t be seen as trying to undermine Orthodoxy, but rather they will be recognised as visionaries seeking to strengthen it. I am looking forward to sharing more with you at the upcoming conference, so that together, we will fulfil the vision of an Orthodox community that is truly vibrant and equitable for all.
Daphne Lazar Price is executive director of JOFA in North America.
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