by Rebecca Honig Friedman

Women in Power. This week’s Newsweek is all about women in power, from Elizabeth I to the creator of “Grey’s Anatomy,” some — though not many — of them Jewesses, including Amy Greenwald, who went from a Teach For America enlistee to the head of Atlantic Records. [Newsweek]
Rabbinic judge gets tough on divorce. The administrative head of Israel’s Rabbinical courts, Rabbi Eliyahu Ben-Dahan, discusses issues of divorce and agunot:

When asked about prenuptial agreements as a solution for difficulties associated with get-refusal, Ben-Dahan says that “on principle” he approves, and that “many dayanim and rabbanim accept them - if they are according to Halacha.”

[JPost]
An American Jewess legal expert honored in Israel. Suzanne Stone, director of Yeshiva University’s Program in Jewish Law and Interdisciplinary Studies at Cardozo School of Law, was chosen to deliver the Shalem Center’s annual Zalman Bernstein Memorial lecture on Jewish political thought: “Stone’s view is that Jewish law is a highly relevant field for the legal system of the 21st century - but it should not be introduced into the legislation.” Stone is a pioneer, and one of the few women, in the academic field of Jewish law. [Haaretz]
Hadassah Lieberman drops into the Holy Land. Hadassah Lieberman, wife of Senator Joe, visited Israel recently to make a point, “that while American support for Israel remains strong, an effort must be made to strengthen the bond between the state and young American Jews.” [Haaretz]
We’ve come a long way, baby. Blu Greenberg and other Orthodox feminists take stock of how far the movement has come since 1976:

“There is still much work to be done, but 30 years is not a long time for a matter of such historic import, so there is real reason for optimism,” [Greenberg] said.
“The bad news is that the overall leadership of the Orthodox community still rests in the hands of people who do not accept the idea of women’s full equality and equal dignity; otherwise, they would have found by now a halachic way to end injustice in Jewish divorce law.”

[JPost]
We’ve not come so long a way in Britain, though. Due to British Jews’ quintessentially British conservatism, feminism has not made as many inroads there as in America or Israel. [JPost]
From Tefillin Barbie to breaking Torah taboos. Female scribe Jen Taylor Friedman is the first woman known to have scribed a complete Torah scroll. The ground-breaking Torah was installed over Simchat Torah in its home at the United Hebrew Congregation, a Reform synagogue in St. Louis, Missouri: “‘By hiring a female scribe, our congregation is making a statement about Judaism, and a statement to ourselves about what we are about,’ says Rabbi Howard Kaplansky.” [JPost]
Jewess comments on the torah. “The Five Books of Miriam: A Woman’s Commentary on the Torah,” by the head of the Jewish Publication Society, Ellen Frankel “is the first book to offer a midrashic interpretation of the Pentateuch - following the order of the parashot (weekly readings) - written by a woman. It is also unique and surprising because sometimes its tone resembles a soap opera, and sometimes an ordinary conversation.” [Haaretz]

Ten years of Jewess magazine. Jewish Woman magazine celebrates its tenth anniversary with its fall issue. [Jewish Exponent]
Comic Jewess dominatrix. A comic book series has an Israeli Jewess plotting to “take over the world.” Neat. [Forward]
When a mother and daughter really don’t get along. A woman in Israel allegedly tried to kill her mother by blending 100 sleeping pills into a smoothie. Just another reason why smoothies are really not as healthy as they’re made out to be. [Jerusalem Post]
Temple disturbances. “Two women accused last month of disrupting services at two local Jewish temples were indicted today in connection with one of the incidents.” The alleged crimes? “[A] felony charge of second-degree falsely reporting an incident and a misdemeanor charge of disruption or disturbance of a religious service.” How do you falsely report an incident by the second degree? Next thing we’ll hear of a woman being indicted for the felony of being a yenta. [The Post-Standard]
Jewess Obituary: founder of feminist clinics dies. “Lorraine Rothman, a founder of the feminist self-help clinic movement who demystified basic gynecology for thousands of women at centers in Los Angeles and Orange counties, died of cancer Sept. 25 at her home in Fullerton. She was 75.” [LA Times]
Aye, aye, Captain Rabbi! “[Daniela] Kolodny, 41, is the first female rabbi to be enlisted in the Naval Academy.” [The Daily Free Press]
My daughter’s an activist. Feminist writer Sally Berkovic grapples with her socially-aware daughter’s growing sensitivity to the Orthodox community’s insularity as “a closed system that primarily supports Jewish causes, with only an occasional nod to a worthy non-Jewish cancer charity.” [J.]
The NCJW of L.A. is funny. Last week the National Concil of Jewish Women/Los Angeles co-hosted “Simply the Breast,” a panel discussion about “the early detection of breast cancer, treatment and recovery.” [WeHo News]
Sarah Silverman in Britiain. Silverman on British comedian Dawn French:

I met Dawn French - she actually came to my apartment ‘cos she did a project interviewing women in comedy and I completely fell in love with her. We exchanged phone numbers, but I don’t know if hers is real. I think I was more enthusiastic about it than she was.

[Guardian Unlimited]

Posted on October 14th, 2007 Filed under: Uncategorized |