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Category: Women & Halakhah

A Woman's Place Is In The Home

A Woman's Place Is In The Home

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A Woman's Place Is In The Home by: Yitzhak, of בין דין לדין The Sons of Korah declare:כָּל-כְּבוּדָּה בַת-מֶלֶךְ פְּנִימָה; מִמִּשְׁבְּצוֹת זָהָב לְבוּשָׁהּ.[1][And see here for various nineteenth and twentieth century references to our titular aphorism, and see this essay.] But is the verse indeed a normative injunction toward modesty, for women in general, or at least Jewish women in particular, as it is commonly understood? And if so, exactly what standard of behavior is being enjoined? Cultural Norms –…

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“A Woman Is Not an Elephant”

“A Woman Is Not an Elephant”

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“A Woman Is Not an Elephant” – Some Jewish, Islamic and Classical Perspectives On the Conflict Between Authority and Truth by Yitzhak of Bein Din Ledin Unusually Long (Human) Gestations: Islam The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) reports (hat tip: Rabbi Natan Slifkin): Egyptian Medical Doctor Criticizes the Phenomenon of Accepting Unscientific Islamic Beliefs, like the Notion that a Woman's Pregnancy Can Last Up to Four Years In an article on the liberal website Elaph, Dr. Khaled Montasser, a…

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Spunky Rebbetzins, Disgruntled Rebbetzins and A Learned Zionist Midwife: A Tale of Two Stories

Spunky Rebbetzins, Disgruntled Rebbetzins and A Learned Zionist Midwife: A Tale of Two Stories

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Spunky Rebbetzins, Disgruntled Rebbetzins and A Learned Zionist Midwife: A Tale Of Two Stories by: Yitzhak of בין דין לדין Menachem Berisha, in The Last Rabbis of Brest, relates (hat tip: Wolf2191): Rabbi J.L. Diskin’s second wife Sarah was famed as the Brisker Rebbetzen. She was learned and knowledgeable in all the laws. She was very strict in the matter of orthodoxy and mixed into all the community affairs. She had very strong mind; she came from a very prestigious…

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Women, Simchat Torah, and Censorship

Women, Simchat Torah, and Censorship

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Women, Simchat Torah, and Censorship By: Eliezer BrodtA recent book, Mi-pehem, (Bnei Brak,2008), collects interviews that were conducted with various Gedolim. One interview was conducted with Rebbetzin Ginsburg the daughter of R. Yechezel Levenstein. In the course of this interview she described the Simchat Torah celebration at the Mir in Europe:אבל שמחת תורה בישיבה היה משהומיוחד. הנשים עמדו בפינת בית המדרש מאחורי מחיצה, ומחכות בהתרגשות לתחילתההקפות! (מפיהם, עמ’ 199). According to this interview, women in the Mir were behind the…

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Forgetfulness & Other Human Errors a New Monography by Marc Shapr

Forgetfulness & Other Human Errors a New Monography by Marc Shapr

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As a religion based on tradition, Judaism places great stock in the words and opinions of its early Sages. This is so to the extent that there is great debate as to whether it is even possible that these early authorities could err. In fact, throughout Jewish literature one can find many areas where people argue for deference based on seniority. For instance, there is an extensive debate on the binding authority, and to what extent, with regard to the…

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Aryeh A. Frimer Review of Daniel Sperber’s Darka shel Halakha

Aryeh A. Frimer Review of Daniel Sperber’s Darka shel Halakha

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Lo Zu haDerekh: A Review ofRabbi Prof. Daniel Sperber’s Darka shel Halakha by Aryeh A. Frimer Rabbi Prof. Aryeh A. Frimer is the Ethel and David Resnick Professor of Active Oxygen Chemistry at Bar Ilan University. He has lectured and published widely on various aspects of “Women and Halakha.” Among his many articles, Rabbi Frimer is the author of “Women and Minyan,” Tradition, 23:4 (Summer 1988): 54-77, available online here; “Women’s ‘Megilla’ Reading,” in Ora Wiskind Elper, ed., Traditions and…

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