From her vantage point as a (recently) retired rabbi, Goldstein asserted that Jewish feminism has been a lifeline to Judaism over the past several decades. She referred to the profound changes within Judaism regarding the involvement of women as \u201cdisruptions\u201d in the positive sense of the word: namely, \u201ca societal thought pattern that profoundly changes everything around it.\u201d<\/p>\n For Goldstein personally, a disruptive point arrived during her bat mitzvah. When it was time for her speech, she announced to the congregation \u2013 to the widespread gasps of those assembled and the dismay of her rabbi \u2013 that she, too, wanted to become a rabbi.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI never really thought when I was 13 that women becoming rabbis would shake the very foundations of Judaism,\u201d she said. That women \u201cwould question every assumption of Jewish life, which was based on patriarchal power, that they would challenge what it means to be a Jew altogether. I didn\u2019t realize that I was in the middle of a quiet revolution that would not remain quiet.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the biggest disruptions of Jewish feminism to Jewish life is that people who identify as female are going to lead not in spite of being female but because of it. In other words, that\u2019s a big part of who they are. That is part of their self-identity and they\u2019re going to lead from within that identity \u2013 not push it aside.\u201d<\/p>\n The changes brought about by women becoming leaders appear, Goldstein said, in the pages of prayer books, in seminaries, in the boardrooms of Jewish organizations, yeshivot and the Israeli government.<\/p>\n \u201cOur liturgy would change to not only include the matriarchs,\u201d Goldstein said. \u201cWe would use neutered language for God and start singing songs of Miriam in summer camp. We would learn Talmud from Orthodox women. We would feel empowered to create midrashim<\/i> (interpretations of the Bible).\u201d<\/p>\n She referred to the first stage of Jewish feminism as \u201cequal access Judaism,\u201d or the idea that women should be given the same religious opportunities and responsibilities as men.<\/p>\n The second stage, Goldstein said, went further by questioning notions, not simply behaviours.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt challenged the way we think and our theological language in describing God,\u201d she said. \u201cIt began to shake the foundational assumptions about women and men, Jewish tradition and Jewish law. We didn\u2019t just have women rabbis \u2013 those rabbis made us rethink not so much about what a rabbi looks like but what a rabbi is.\u201d<\/p>\n We are in the third stage of Jewish feminism, one that considers if there is more that can be done, she said. \u201cWe have to ask about violence against women in the Jewish community and if that\u2019s ended. We have to examine the court system in Israel, where women are still routinely denied Jewish divorces. We have to talk about the ordination of Orthodox women and how that is happening … and we\u2019re not paying attention to it.\u201d<\/p>\n Goldstein went on to talk about what are, in her view, four disruptions to Jewish life brought on by Jewish feminism: the ordination of female rabbis, starting in 1972; Jewish rituals that speak more directly to the experiences of women; changes in religious garb, with, for example, women in a congregation wearing tallitot<\/i> (prayer shawls); and the reshaping of the gender-related language pertaining to God.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In addition to being the founding rabbi of City Shul, Goldstein started Kolel: The Adult Centre for Liberal Jewish Learning. An award-winning educator, a writer and\u00a0 <\/span>a community activist, she has lectured across North America, Israel and the United Kingdom. Her works include ReVisions: Seeing Torah through a Feminist Lens<\/i> and, as editor, The Women\u2019s Torah Commentary<\/i>.<\/p>\n![\"photo](\"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/dec-20-Judaism.20.Rabbi-Elyse-Goldstein-1.jpg\")
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