The Jewish Woman in Contemporary Society: Transitions and Traditions - Softcover

Baker, Adrienne

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0814712118 ISBN 13: 9780814712115

Publisher: NYU Press, 1993

Synopsis

What does it mean to be a Jewish woman today? To an Orthodox woman, it means living a religious way of life in which serving God totally defines her self-perception and her role as wife and mother. For the secular woman, it means having a sense of belonging, although not necessarily to a specific Jewish community. Most contemporary Jewish women fall somewhere in between, but at the core of all of their identities is a complex interweaving of religious and ethnic elements, a shared history, and a collective memory of periods of prejudice, persecution, wandering, and resettlement.

Focusing on Jewish women in the United States and Britain, Adrienne Baker examines such issues as women's role in religious law, the spectrum of synagogue observance, the mother's role as conveyor of tradition, conversion and inter- faith marriages, and sexuality. In particular, the book examines the impact of feminism on Jewish women and their culture, uncovering the counterinfluences of tradition and new freedoms on women's lives.

About this title

Review:

"A truly remarkable collection of first-rate essays by a variety of scholars, one more illuminating than the other."
-Amitai Etzioni, author of "Security First: For a Muscular, Moral Foreign Policy"

"A tremendous addition to the literature bounded by the topics of ethics, religion, public policy, and law. . . . A remarkable contribution in its conception and execution."
-Ellen S. Pryor, Dedman School of Law, Southern Methodist University

"This timely book urges readers to look at the courthouse 'from a faith context .' [A]n exciting picture of the relationship between pluralistic faiths and law."
-"Choice",

"In , editor R. Cochran of Pepperdine University's School of Law has assembled a valuable collection of sixteen essays by American legal scholars that focus perspectives of several religious traditions on particular legal issues... This volume would represent a good addition as a supplemental text to a law school or graduate seminar class on law and religion."-Religious Studies Review,

About the Author:

Adrienne Baker is a lecturer in Women's Studies at Birkbeck College, London University, and Director and Tutor in Counselling at Regent's College, London. She is also a member of the Chief Rabbi's working party researching issues of concern to Jewish women.

About this edition

• Publisher: NYU Press
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0814712118
• ISBN 13: 9780814712115
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 248