Judith Plaskow
Encyclopedia
Dr. Judith Plaskow is Professor of Religious Studies at Manhattan College
. Her scholarly interests focus on contemporary religious thought with a specialization in feminist theology
. Dr. Plaskow has lectured widely on feminist theology in the United States and Europe. She co-founded The Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion and co-edited it for its first ten years. She is Past President of the American Academy of Religion
.
She received a B.A. from Clark University
and an M.A. and Ph.D. from Yale University
.
She came out as a lesbian in the 1980s.
Dr. Plaskow has written two books, Sex, Sin and Grace: Women's Experience and the Theologies of Reinhold Niebuhr
and Paul Tillich
(1980) and Standing Again at Sinai: Judaism from a Feminist Perspective (1990) and a collection of essays entitled The Coming of Lilith
: Essays on Feminism, Judaism, and Sexual Ethics (2005). She has co-edited three others: Women and Religion (1973), Womanspirit Rising: A Feminist Reader in Religion (1979), and Weaving the Visions: New Patterns in Feminist Spirituality (1989). She has also published numerous articles in edited volumes and journals.
, and Jews' conception of their own history, have been written by and in the language of a male patriarchy
in a manner that sanctions the marginalization of women, and must be reclaimed by redefining its content to include material on women's experiences.
Dr. Plaskow wrote that the Rabbi
s of the Talmud
employed a Midrash
ic method in which "they reconstructed Jewish memory to see themselves in continuity with it." She cited Midrash in which the Rabbis of the Talmud interpreted the Patriarchs as observing all the laws given at Sinai
. Faced with apparently contrary Biblical passages, such as the one (Genesis 18:7-8) in which Abraham
greets his angelic visitors by killing a calf and serving it with milk, the Rabbis reinterpreted the passage to bring it in line with the laws of Kashrut by saying that Abraham first served the milk and only later the meat.
In addition to supplementing Torah with new material reflecting women's perspectives, Dr. Plaskow calls for new Midrash reconstructing our understanding of Torah in light of and in continuity with contemporary needs and perspectives.
Manhattan College
Manhattan College is a Roman Catholic liberal arts college in the Lasallian tradition in New York City, United States. Despite the college's name, it is no longer located in Manhattan but in the Riverdale section of the Bronx, roughly 10 miles north of Midtown. Manhattan College offers...
. Her scholarly interests focus on contemporary religious thought with a specialization in feminist theology
Feminist theology
Feminist theology is a movement found in several religions, including Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism, and New Thought, to reconsider the traditions, practices, scriptures, and theologies of those religions from a feminist perspective...
. Dr. Plaskow has lectured widely on feminist theology in the United States and Europe. She co-founded The Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion and co-edited it for its first ten years. She is Past President of the American Academy of Religion
American Academy of Religion
The American Academy of Religion is the world's largest association of scholars in the field of religious studies and related topics. It is a nonprofit member association,...
.
She received a B.A. from Clark University
Clark University
Clark University is a private research university and liberal arts college in Worcester, Massachusetts.Founded in 1887, it is the oldest educational institution founded as an all-graduate university. Clark now also educates undergraduates...
and an M.A. and Ph.D. from Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
.
She came out as a lesbian in the 1980s.
Dr. Plaskow has written two books, Sex, Sin and Grace: Women's Experience and the Theologies of Reinhold Niebuhr
Reinhold Niebuhr
Karl Paul Reinhold Niebuhr was an American theologian and commentator on public affairs. Starting as a leftist minister in the 1920s indebted to theological liberalism, he shifted to the new Neo-Orthodox theology in the 1930s, explaining how the sin of pride created evil in the world...
and Paul Tillich
Paul Tillich
Paul Johannes Tillich was a German-American theologian and Christian existentialist philosopher. Tillich was one of the most influential Protestant theologians of the 20th century...
(1980) and Standing Again at Sinai: Judaism from a Feminist Perspective (1990) and a collection of essays entitled The Coming of Lilith
Lilith
Lilith is a character in Jewish mythology, found earliest in the Babylonian Talmud, who is generally thought to be related to a class of female demons Līlīṯu in Mesopotamian texts. However, Lowell K. Handy notes, "Very little information has been found relating to the Akkadian and Babylonian view...
: Essays on Feminism, Judaism, and Sexual Ethics (2005). She has co-edited three others: Women and Religion (1973), Womanspirit Rising: A Feminist Reader in Religion (1979), and Weaving the Visions: New Patterns in Feminist Spirituality (1989). She has also published numerous articles in edited volumes and journals.
Reclaiming Torah
In her influential book Standing Again at Sinai, Dr. Plaskow wrote that the TorahTorah
Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five books of the bible—Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers and Deuteronomy Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five...
, and Jews' conception of their own history, have been written by and in the language of a male patriarchy
Patriarchy
Patriarchy is a social system in which the role of the male as the primary authority figure is central to social organization, and where fathers hold authority over women, children, and property. It implies the institutions of male rule and privilege, and entails female subordination...
in a manner that sanctions the marginalization of women, and must be reclaimed by redefining its content to include material on women's experiences.
- Jewish feminists, in other words, must reclaim Torah as our own. We must render visible the presence, experience, and deeds of women erased in traditional sources. We must tell the stories of women's encounters with God and capture the texture of their religious experience. We must expand the notion of Torah to encompass not just the five books of Moses and traditional Jewish learning, but women's words, teachings, and actions hitherto unseen. To expand Torah, we must reconstruct Jewish history to include the history of women, and in doing so alter the shape of Jewish memory.
Dr. Plaskow wrote that the Rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
s of the Talmud
Talmud
The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....
employed a Midrash
Midrash
The Hebrew term Midrash is a homiletic method of biblical exegesis. The term also refers to the whole compilation of homiletic teachings on the Bible....
ic method in which "they reconstructed Jewish memory to see themselves in continuity with it." She cited Midrash in which the Rabbis of the Talmud interpreted the Patriarchs as observing all the laws given at Sinai
Biblical Mount Sinai
The Biblical Mount Sinai is the mountain at which the Book of Exodus states that the Ten Commandments were given to Moses by God...
. Faced with apparently contrary Biblical passages, such as the one (Genesis 18:7-8) in which Abraham
Abraham
Abraham , whose birth name was Abram, is the eponym of the Abrahamic religions, among which are Judaism, Christianity and Islam...
greets his angelic visitors by killing a calf and serving it with milk, the Rabbis reinterpreted the passage to bring it in line with the laws of Kashrut by saying that Abraham first served the milk and only later the meat.
In addition to supplementing Torah with new material reflecting women's perspectives, Dr. Plaskow calls for new Midrash reconstructing our understanding of Torah in light of and in continuity with contemporary needs and perspectives.
Further reading
- J. Plaskow, Sex, Sin, and Grace. University Press of America, 1979. ISBN 0-8191-0882-0
- J. Plaskow, Weaving the Visions : New Patterns in Feminist Spirituality. HarperSanFrancosco, 1980. ISBN 0-06-061383-1
- J. Plaskow, Standing Again at Sinai: Judaism from a Feminist Perspective, HarperSanFrancisco, 1991. ISBN 0-06-066684-6
- J. Plaskow, The Coming of Lilith : Essays on Feminism, Judaism, and Sexual Ethics, 1972-2003. Beacon Press, 2005 ISBN 0-8070-3623-4