Alexis Joffe

Jade Berson

Year 9 Jewish Studies elective: Gender and Sexualities

Jewish Studies in Term 1 was very informative and interesting for Ms Rosin’s Judaism, Gender and Sexuality class. Jewish sources, values and contemporary thoughts on Gender Issues in Judaism were studied in pairs.

We conducted research into these topics, for example, gender roles in the Torah, gender roles in the Talmud, female ordination of Rabbis in Orthodox, Conservative and Reform Judaism, roles of men/women at home and Jewish marriage and divorce. The project also explored the significant people connected with each topic, discussing current developments and our own opinions of the situation.

Each group conducted research created posters and made podcasts. Our project on Jewish marriage and divorce was very interesting. The Jewish idea of marriage sees 2 halves becoming 1, completing each other. We learnt that there are some differences between Orthodox and Reform understandings of gender roles. Reform Judaism has more opportunity for both genders in terms of clerical positions (Rabbis and Cantors) and religious expression through B’nei Mitzvah. (This is also changing within Modern Orthodoxy, though at a slower pace). The expression of the different roles for men and women within Orthodoxy also apply to marriage. This is particularly evident regarding Orthodox Jewish divorce. If a husband does not agree to give the woman a Gett – a Jewish legal divorce document – then the woman cannot be divorced from her husband. (Note: Rabbis and organisations in different streams of Judaism are working on finding solutions to the problems raised by this imbalance, such as prenuptial agreements.) This problem has been solved in contemporary times, since most Orthodox married couples would normally sign a Jewish Prenuptial Agreement which prevents the woman from becoming Agunah, literally meaning ‘chained’, by allowing adjudication to be resolved by the Beit Din in case of conflict.

Reform divorce does not include the concept of Agunah, so this situation would not arise. Overall, our opinion is that in both marriage and divorce there is a certain amount of inequality between the sexes. This needs to be addressed and we both hope to see a difference in these actions being put in place.

The project that we completed was very challenging, yet we loved learning the information and creating a fun and interesting way to present our information on the poster!