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Women in the Wilderness: Four Narratives of Spiritual Power

How do biblical women express spiritual power in moments of tension? In Women in the Wilderness: Four Narratives of Spiritual Power, Dr. Avivah Zornberg explores the spiritual resistance of biblical heroines through midrashic and Hasidic readings alongside psychoanalytic approaches. The…

Personalities, Biblical personalities, Podcast series, Pardes Live and Mini-Series, Tanakh, Women in the Wilderness: Four Narratives of Spiritual Power

Podcast

Uncovered: Sources of Nakedness in Halakha

How did rabbinic discussions of women’s dress, hair, and voice shape later understandings of modesty? In Uncovered: Sources of Nakedness in Halakha, Rabbanit Nechama Goldman Barash examines three subjects that affect women’s presence in traditional Jewish communities. The series places…

Jewish living, Halakha, Podcast series, Pardes Live and Mini-Series, Self & spirituality, Sexuality

Article

Resource for Rabbis: Me Too says the Bible — Some Thoughts in the Wake of Harvey Weinstein

The Tanakh is not immune to stories of sexual violence and sexual objectification. Many stories in Tanakh deal with the beauty (or simply the body) of a woman leading to objectification and violence. Obvious examples include: Sarah who is forcefully…

Jewish history, Biblical Times, Critical issues, Social justice, Jewish living, Women’s issues

Article

Pardes 360 for International Women’s Day: We Forgot to Teach you How to Love

The theme of this year’s International Women’s Day is #BeBoldForChange – in pursuit of a more inclusive and gender equal world. I hold in highest esteem the bold and dedicated human beings who are marching together to fight for inclusivity…

Jewish living, Women’s issues

Article

Pardes 360: Shining a Light on the Shadow of Abuse

As I recently sat in a movie theater watching the Oscar-winning Spotlight, one recurring thought dominated all others: I could have written this script. Although the film focuses on abusive priests and the Catholic Church that protected them, the patterns…

Critical issues, Social justice, Jewish living, Women’s issues

Article

Did Esther & Ruth Break the Glass Ceiling?

HAVRUTA MASTERCLASS from Rabba Yaffa Epstein and Rabbi Dr. Meesh Hammer-Kossoy in which they discuss modern day perceptions of two biblical heroines. Meesh: Back then, the ceiling was not glass, and I don’t think Esther or Ruth made any attempt…

Personalities, Biblical personalities, Tanakh, Ketuvim (Writings), Esther, Jewish calendar

Video

I Am An Impostor – Rabba Yaffa Epstein on JDOV

Watch Rabba Yaffa Epstein’s JDOV talk about her experience being the “outsider” in the Orthodox world and how and why she broke her way into the conversation. “In this talk, I examine the concept of feeling like an impostor. The…

Self & spirituality, Reflection, Jewish living, Women’s issues

Article

Pardes 360: Why Orthodox Judaism Needs Women Rabbis

I never needed a title. For more than fifteen years, I have happily taught Torah alongside Orthodox rabbis with titles while being referred to by my first name. This is what the Rabbinical Council of America, North America’s Orthodox umbrella…

Jewish living, Women’s issues

Podcast

Liberated from Slavery?: Women and Reclining

Although the topic of women and reclining is not on the top of anyone’s list when thinking about women in Judaism, it actually cuts directly to the most important and the core questions of women’s social status. Do the Rabbis…

Critical issues, Feminism, Jewish calendar, Pesach, Jewish living, Women’s issues

Podcast

Nahafokhu: Women and Megillah Reading – Overturning Assumptions

Rahel Berkovits looks into the obligation of women in the reading of the megillah and discusses how things are not as they seem. She goes on to show how the laws are a window to the complexity of the status…

Tanakh, Ketuvim (Writings), Esther, Jewish calendar, Purim, Jewish living

Video

Blu Greenberg, Malke Bina and Rahel Berkovits In Conversation

Blu Greenberg, Malke Bina and Rahel Berkovits In Conversation on the topic of Orthodox Feminism: How far have we come; How far still to go? Moderated by Meesh Hammer-Kossoy.

Critical issues, Feminism, Modernity, Jewish living, Women’s issues

Podcast

The Transformation of Biblical Women: Medieval Society Rereads the Bible

2015 Hershdorfer Kantrowitz Brettler Lecture Series The Transformation of Biblical Women: Medieval Society Rereads the Bible. Professor Elisheva Baumgarten. In this series, Professor Elisheva Baumgarten will demonstrate how medieval Jewish society re-reads the Bible in novel and suprising ways. This…

Jewish history, Medieval and Early Modern Europe, Jewish living, Women’s issues

Welcome to the Pardes Library

Featured collections

Women in the Wilderness: Four Narratives of Spiritual Power

Uncovered: Sources of Nakedness in Halakha

Resource for Rabbis: Me Too says the Bible — Some Thoughts in the Wake of Harvey Weinstein

Pardes 360 for International Women’s Day: We Forgot to Teach you How to Love

Pardes 360: Shining a Light on the Shadow of Abuse

Did Esther & Ruth Break the Glass Ceiling?

I Am An Impostor – Rabba Yaffa Epstein on JDOV

Pardes 360: Why Orthodox Judaism Needs Women Rabbis

Liberated from Slavery?: Women and Reclining

Nahafokhu: Women and Megillah Reading – Overturning Assumptions

Blu Greenberg, Malke Bina and Rahel Berkovits In Conversation

The Transformation of Biblical Women: Medieval Society Rereads the Bible

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