In Search of Identity and Spirituality in the Fiction of American Jewish Female Authors at the Turn of the 21st Century. Dorota Mihulka
and American Judaism in profound ways. Reform women rabbis began to view, through the lens of their own experience, Jewish ceremonies, rituals, liturgies, and texts in a new light, which contributed to the creation of ceremonies, previously disregarded by a male-centered tradition. Moreover, Reform women rabbis have also participated in the creation of feminist midrash, re-examinations of biblical texts from the perspectives of female participants, and in emerging critiques of traditional Jewish liturgy. It is apparent then that the embrace of equality for women at every level of religious leadership and life is considered a fundamental principle of Reform Judaism (cf. Goldman, 1998: 1138–1139; Goldman, 2006: 541–542). Last but not least, Reform Judaism accepts LGBT Jews in Jewish life, homosexual rabbis and same-sex marriages. These revolutionary changes within Reform Judaism which were initiated as early as the 1970s and continued over the subsequent decades until the present times aimed at the full inclusion and acceptance as well as the equal rights of the lesbian, homosexual, transgender and bisexual Jewish individuals (“Stances of Faiths on LGBTQ Issues: Reform Judaism”).
Nevertheless, despite the above-mentioned significant progress that Jewish women have found within the Reform movement, it must be remembered that there still remain issues requiring to be addressed in contemporary American Reform Judaism such as for example, salary inequalities between men and women within similar rabbinic positions, high underrepresentation of women in the most influential rabbinical and university posts, as well as some more general matters like outreach and neo-traditionalism in its ritual life.
1.2.2 Women in Conservative Judaism
In the spectrum of American Jewish life, Conservative Judaism occupies the ‘middle position,’ seeking to maintain Jewish traditions while at the same time allowing for change. Members of Conservative synagogues have historically been perceived as more traditional than members of Reform congregations and less traditional than their Orthodox counterparts. Of all the major denominations in American Jewish life (Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox), Conservative Judaism is regarded both as the latest to appear and the most uniquely American.14 ←35 | 36→Though scholars trace its intellectual roots to nineteenth-century Germany, Conservative Judaism – unlike Reform or Orthodoxy – became a popular movement only in the United States and Canada. According to the 2013 Pew Research Center Survey of U.S. Jews, Conservative Jews constitute the second largest Jewish denominational movement in the United States and account for 18 percent of all American Jews (“A Portrait of Jewish Americans,” 2013: 10), a decline by about half in comparison with the results of the North American Survey of 1995–1996, however, which showed that approximately 36 percent of the American Jews were affiliated with Conservative Judaism in the 1990s (Gordis, 2003: 334).
Conservative Jews, similarly to Reform Jews, stress that Judaism has evolved historically to meet the changing needs of the Jewish people in various eras and circumstances. They also believe that Jewish law should continue to evolve in the present and future. In contrast to Reform, situated to its theological left, Conservative Judaism insists on the binding nature of Halakhah, and maintains the traditional opinion that Jews must obey and observe the will of God through the commandments, just like Orthodox Judaism. But unlike Orthodoxy, which stands to its right, Conservative Judaism teaches that Halakhah can be interpreted flexibly to fit new conditions (cf. Grossman, 2008: 82; Gordis, 2003: 334; Karesh and Hurvitz, 2006: 99).
Conservative rabbis are expected to act in accordance with the standards of the movement which have been approved by the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards (CJLS), and the Rabbinical Assembly. At present, there are four such standards: rabbis and cantors are prohibited from officiating at intermarriages in any way; rabbis may not perform remarriages if the previous partner is alive without an acceptable get (‘Jewish divorce’) or haf’kaat kidushin (‘annulment’); Jewish lineage is determined by matrilineal descent only; and conversions to Judaism require mikvah immersion for females and both brit milah (‘circumcision’) and mikvah immersion for males. A Conservative rabbi who deliberately violates these standards may be forced to resign or be expelled by the Rabbinical Assembly (Karesh and Hurvitz, 2006: 99).
Many American Jews affiliate with Conservative Judaism because they desire the ‘Judaism of the Golden Mean,’ to borrow a term coined by Rabbi Kohut, a satisfactory balance between the two extremes, namely Orthodox and Reform. Conservative Judaism has introduced many innovations in the synagogues, among which are the mixed seating of men and women, recitation of certain prayers in English, and the incorporation of organ music into the service. Additionally, the place of the rabbi and cantor during the service has been altered; in the Conservative synagogues, they are permitted to turn to face the congregation instead of facing forward to the ark as it is practiced in Orthodox synagogues. The Conservative movement has also adopted the bat mitzvah ceremony for girls upon reaching the age of twelve (originally one of Kaplan’s innovations), which became so widespread that nowadays it is practiced in many Reform and Orthodox congregations as well.
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However, the movement’s stance on the role of its women has been ambivalent since the very beginning. On the one hand, Conservative Judaism for decades dedicated itself to maintaining traditional roles for women in accordance with Halakhah which prescribes separate religious obligations for men and women. On the other hand, it was the first movement which had seriously attempted to adapt Jewish law to find a solution to crucial problems for Jewish women, thereby showing its commitment to change within Halakhic framework. Because of the tension between tradition and modernity that is characteristic of the movement, as Shuly Rubin Schwartz points out, “the role of women in Conservative Judaism is both the most complicated and the most all-encompassing among the Jewish denominations” (2006: 545).
It was in the 1950s and 1960s that the Conservative movement made the first two important decisions enhancing the role of women. In 1955, synagogues were given the option of calling women up for aliyot (to read the Torah) and in 1968 the agunah problem (the ‘chained’ woman) was finally solved by giving rabbis the power to annul a marriage if the husband would not give a religious divorce to his wife. These decisions, however, further widened the gap with contemporary Orthodoxy which refused to authorize both innovative changes (Grossman, 2008: 84–86).
The tumultuous events of the 1960s and early 1970s in the United States, such as the counter-culture generated by the civil rights and anti-war movements, as well as the emerging wave of feminism deeply affected the Conservative movement and contributed to its gradual decline. Many young Jews turned against their parents’ patriarchal, materialistic, culturally repressive, and unspiritual synagogues. It has to be noted that many of the early activists of Jewish feminism came from Conservative homes, where their religious life was often restricted by gender distinctions and the male domination in the arena of public Jewish worship and synagogue ritual.
However, Conservative Judaism was determined to undergo some fundamental changes in order to counteract the decline and the negative self-image, and connected its future to feminism and to what was to be called later egalitarianism. The first indication of feminism’s impact on Conservative policy occurred in 1973, when the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards gave rabbis the option of counting women in the minyan (‘the ten-person quorum necessary for communal prayer’). The greatest change occurred in 1983 when the committee finally approved of the Conservative ordination of women and Amy Eilberg became the first Conservative woman rabbi in 1985 (cf. Grossman, 2008: 86–88; Goldman, 2008: 109; Schwartz, 2006: 549–551).
Since 1985, Conservative women rabbis have begun to exert an impact on the movement and the decisions of the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards. Although women serve as rabbis in only 4 percent of Conservative synagogues in the United States, they have succeeded in establishing new ceremonies, rituals and prayers for women marking important events in their lives. Thanks to partial or full equality in religious services in Conservative synagogues, more and more ←37 | 38→Jewish women have begun to don religious clothes such as tallit, tefillin or kippot (skullcaps), similarly to Jewish men (cf. Schwartz, 1998: 278).
All in all, the Conservative movement made great progress during the twentieth century by displaying its strong commitment both to Jewish law and to gender equality. The movement’s attention