On the Conservative Movement, Egalitarianism, and Top-Down Judaism

By Amram Altzman May 19, 2014

Just over two weeks ago, the Conservative Movement’s Committee on Jewish Laws and Standards (CJLS) voted in favor of a controversial teshuvah (responsum), written by Rabbi Pamela Barmash, ruling that, according to Jewish law, women can be considered obligated in all of the ritual commandments from which they have classically been exempt. When I first…

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Women of the Words: Finding my Voice as an Orthodox Feminist

By Talia Weisberg December 18, 2013

When I walked into the 2010 Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance (JOFA) conference, I was 14, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, and a newcomer to the feminist movement. Although I am now 18, slightly jaded, and been an active feminist for a few years, I was still extremely excited to attend the 2013 JOFA conference on December 8….

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Let’s Queer the Jewish Legal Tradition

By Amram Altzman December 16, 2013

I had the honor of speaking at the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance’s Voices of Change conference last week, where I, only for a day, became a high school student once again and spoke on a panel about navigating relationships and sexuality in high school as a feminist. While speaking, the topic of Shemirut Negi’ah, or…

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