When Hair Means More Than Just Hair: A Deeper Take on Jewish Curls
From eugenics to historical antisemitism, the impulse to straighten the curl may be a manifestation of intergenerational trauma.
Journalism by Jewish college students, for Jewish college students.
From eugenics to historical antisemitism, the impulse to straighten the curl may be a manifestation of intergenerational trauma.
Finding healing with ADHD, stimming, and Sephardic kabbalistic musician Victoria Hanna.
In all caps, the posters read, “SEXISM EXISTS,” on the wall outside the Yeshiva University library. Printouts of anonymous sexist social media posts by YU students surrounded the bolded statement. The display, torn down an hour after it went up on Feb. 16, was one of the first acts of the YU Feminists Club, a…
“Well-behaved women seldom make history.” So read my sign, after several hours of dorm room crafting, not to mention the days of agonizing over what to write for the Women’s March on Washington. My roommate was the first to comment on the irony of my chosen slogan, pointing out that I’m actually a fairly well-behaved…
In the wise words of Beyonce, girls run the world – and, this past weekend, they proved it, marching in the hundreds of thousands toward the White House on Saturday as a response to Trump’s inauguration the day prior. Crowds of fierce, pink-hat-wearing ladies gathered in cities across the U.S. and even in countries around the world with…
AVIGAYIL HALPERN: When I was fourteen and just beginning to explore what it would mean to me to be a halakhic, or Jewish-law-abiding, Jewish feminist, I was delighted to stumble across a blog called Star of Davida. The blog’s author, who went by the name “Talia bat Pessi,” explored her own beliefs and experiences as…
My first experience with anti-Semitism was at 6 years old. Someone painted a swastika on the front gate of my school and I remember asking my dad why it upset him so much. I had a limited understanding of Nazism at that age, but I knew enough to understand when he told me simply that…
I have written in the past about my experiences with gender, privilege, Jewish ritual, and the need to find new and creative ways to engage both men and women ritually. Women, I’ve argued, should be encouraged to try out more traditionally masculine rituals, and men should be encouraged to try out more feminine rituals. There…
I read with enthusiasm and appreciation my good friend Amram Altzman’s recent piece on Jewish masculinity and egalitarianism. So much of Amram’s work centers on exploring the significance of egalitarian practice for him and other men, and this is necessary and important. I was deeply disturbed, however, by how little women with egalitarian practice…
My egalitarianism started out as a compromise: it gave me most of the traditional liturgy and observance I’d grown up around, while also giving me the modernity and progressive attitudes I’d been surrounded by for most of my life. It allowed me to cling to the tradition of my childhood and the feminism and liberalism…
The layout of a room is its first impression. It sets the tone for what goes on there, what the proper decorum is—the general mood. Classrooms are good examples of this—a room with a circle of chairs invites a group conversation; a table and desks sets us up for a lecture. When we build our…
Deuteronomy 24:1 states, “If a man takes a wife and possesses her and she fails to please him because he finds something obnoxious about her, he writes her a Bill of Divorcement, hands it to her and sends her away from his house.” Based on this verse of the Torah, the entire decision to divorce…
Both Avigayil and I (Amram Altzman) have written extensively about the ways in which we have taken on Jewish rituals which, traditionally, fall outside of our traditional gender identities. This is a conversation we’ve been having, more specifically, about what it means to take on Jewish rituals and how that relates to our Jewish identities…
Most Americans are familiar with what the media has dubbed the “War on Women,” or Congress’ relentless attacks against many basic women’s rights. Fewer know that Israel is also suffering from a resurgence of conservative ideologies and consequent rollback of feminist gains. In her book The War on Women in Israel: How Religious Radicalism is…
Although it has been several months since the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance (JOFA) Conference, the Orthodox blogosphere is still buzzing about Leah Sarna’s speech at the opening plenary. In her address, Sarna stated her belief that Orthodox women must begin to demonstrate increased dedication to Judaism by participating in activities traditionally earmarked as male, like…