Rachel Adler
Encyclopedia
Rachel Adler is associate professor of Modern Jewish Thought and Judaism and Gender at the School of Religion, University of Southern California
and the Hebrew Union College
Rabbinical School at the Los Angeles campus. Adler was one of the first theologians to integrate feminist perspectives and concerns into Jewish texts and the renewal of Jewish law and ethics.
Adler received a PhD from the University of Southern California in 1997. She is the author of many articles that have appeared in Blackwell's Companion to Feminist Philosophy, Beginning Anew: A Woman's Companion to the High Holy Days, Contemporary Jewish Religious Thought, Lifecycles, The Jewish Condition, and On Being a Jewish Feminist.
She was awarded the 2000 Tuttleman Foundation Book Award of Gratz College and the 1999 National Jewish Book Award for Jewish Thought by the Jewish Book Council for her work, Engendering Judaism: An Inclusive Theology and Ethics. Among the book's contributions to Jewish thoughts was the creation of a new ritual, brit ahuvim, to replace the traditional erusin
marriage ceremony, which Adler viewed as not according with feminist ideals of equality between the sexes.
In 1971, she published an article entitled "The Jew Who Wasn't There: Halakha and the Jewish Woman" in Davka magazine. This article was considered by historian Paula Hyman
as one of the founding influences of the Jewish feminist
movement. In 1992, she began a women's Talmud class in her home, teaching the text (traditionally forbidden to women) in its original Hebrew and Aramaic. This created the first rigorous Talmud study opportunity for lay women outside of New York and Israel.
Originally an Orthodox
Jew, Adler made her spiritual home in the Reform
movement.
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
and the Hebrew Union College
Hebrew Union College
The Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion is the oldest extant Jewish seminary in the Americas and the main seminary for training rabbis, cantors, educators and communal workers in Reform Judaism.HUC-JIR has campuses in Cincinnati, New York, Los Angeles and Jerusalem.The Jerusalem...
Rabbinical School at the Los Angeles campus. Adler was one of the first theologians to integrate feminist perspectives and concerns into Jewish texts and the renewal of Jewish law and ethics.
Adler received a PhD from the University of Southern California in 1997. She is the author of many articles that have appeared in Blackwell's Companion to Feminist Philosophy, Beginning Anew: A Woman's Companion to the High Holy Days, Contemporary Jewish Religious Thought, Lifecycles, The Jewish Condition, and On Being a Jewish Feminist.
She was awarded the 2000 Tuttleman Foundation Book Award of Gratz College and the 1999 National Jewish Book Award for Jewish Thought by the Jewish Book Council for her work, Engendering Judaism: An Inclusive Theology and Ethics. Among the book's contributions to Jewish thoughts was the creation of a new ritual, brit ahuvim, to replace the traditional erusin
Erusin
Erusin is the Hebrew term for betrothal. In modern Hebrew, "erusin" means engagement, but this is not the historical meaning of the term, which is the first part of marriage ....
marriage ceremony, which Adler viewed as not according with feminist ideals of equality between the sexes.
In 1971, she published an article entitled "The Jew Who Wasn't There: Halakha and the Jewish Woman" in Davka magazine. This article was considered by historian Paula Hyman
Paula Hyman
Paula Hyman is the Lucy Moses Professor of Modern Jewish History at Yale University and president of the American Academy of Jewish Research...
as one of the founding influences of the Jewish feminist
Jewish feminism
Jewish feminism is a movement that seeks to improve the religious, legal, and social status of women within Judaism and to open up new opportunities for religious experience and leadership for Jewish women...
movement. In 1992, she began a women's Talmud class in her home, teaching the text (traditionally forbidden to women) in its original Hebrew and Aramaic. This created the first rigorous Talmud study opportunity for lay women outside of New York and Israel.
Originally an Orthodox
Orthodox Judaism
Orthodox Judaism , is the approach to Judaism which adheres to the traditional interpretation and application of the laws and ethics of the Torah as legislated in the Talmudic texts by the Sanhedrin and subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and...
Jew, Adler made her spiritual home in the Reform
Reform Judaism
Reform Judaism refers to various beliefs, practices and organizations associated with the Reform Jewish movement in North America, the United Kingdom and elsewhere. In general, it maintains that Judaism and Jewish traditions should be modernized and should be compatible with participation in the...
movement.
External links
- Jewish Women and the Feminist Revolution from the Jewish Women's Archive
- Articles by Rachel Adler on the Berman Jewish Policy Archive @ NYU Wagner