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Jewish and Muslim Religious Feminisms

Mon, December 17, 3:00 to 4:30pm, Seaport Hotel & World Trade Center, Cityview 2 Ballroom

Abstract

My presentation is based on a larger series of qualitative case studies of women working to change gendered power relations “from within” their religious communities in Israel – modern-Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox Jewish, Muslim and Druze societies. I discuss select preliminary findings, as well as methodological and theoretical challenges to undertaking this comparative endeavor.
Jewish religious feminists critique how hierarchical gendered relations have come to define the meanings of religion and the boundaries of “Orthodoxy”, simultaneously rejecting liberal secular expectations that they leave Orthodox “restrictions” behind. Within contemporary Israeli society, “Orthodox” refers to both dati(modern-Orthodox or national religious) and haredi(Ultra-Orthodox) Jews. Although ultra-Orthodoxy is a modern phenomenon, it is defined in contradistinction to modern-Orthodoxy which merges a commitment to Jewish beliefs and legal norms, praxis or consciousness, i.e., a loyalty to Halakha and a sense of connection and continuity – with an ideologically high degree of ‘openness’ towards modernity.However, Haredi identities are rapidly diversifying, splintering, and undergoing intense processes of modernization while the “modern Orthodox” factionis also questioning its selective assimilation and undergoing an “identity crisis”, particularly surrounding issues of gender and rabbinic authority.To what extent do these assorted factions resemble one another? Are these “imagined communities”, and if so by whom and to what purpose? Is the political and conceptual delineation of “Orthodoxy” merely code for non-liberal or conservative outlooks and policies?
By focusing on intra-religious change makers, my presentation highlights the theoretical pitfalls and opportunities of attaching a common signifier of “Orthodoxy” to divergent intersectional ethnic, religious and national communities. I ask which – if any – characteristics (shared core values, norms, and structures) define “Orthodoxy”, while avoiding monolithic categorizations or an overly-generalized definition of “traditionism” (masortiyut, within the Israeli context). I suggest that analyzing the dynamics of change within diverse religious communities may give rise to better conceptualizations. I also investigate the fertile connective borderlands between communities – how these women’s endeavors build upon and shape one another; therein redefining the meanings of both feminisms and Orthodoxies.

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