Jewish Women's Torah Study Orthodox Religious Education and Modernity [Paperback]

One of the cornerstones of the religious Jewish experience in all its variations is Torah study, and this learning is considered a central criterion for leadership. Jewish Womens Torah Studyaddresses the question of women's integration in the halachic-religious system at this pivotal intersection.

The contemporary debate regarding womens Torah study first emerged in the second half of the 19^thcentury. As womens status in general society changed, offering increased legal rights and opportunities for education, a debate on the need to change womens participation in Torah study emerged. Orthodoxy was faced with the question: which parts, if any, of modernity should be integrated into Halacha?

Exemplifying the entire array of Orthodox responses to modernity, this book is a valuable addition to the scholarship of Judaism in the modern era and will be of interest to students and scholars of Religion, Gender Studies and Jewish Studies.

Introduction 1 Torah Studies by Women: The Halachic Infrastructure 2 Fighting Assimilation: Women's Education in Eastern European Orthodoxy 3 Womens Education and the Learners Society 4 TheTorah Study for Women in the New World: The American Experience 5  Women Shall Encircle Man : Torah Study for Women in the Teachings of R Menahem Mendel Schneerson 6 Satmar and Women's Education: Education as a Root Cause of Promiscuity 7 Moderate Orthodoxy and Womens Torah Study

Ilan Fuchsis a research associate in the Hadassah Brandeis Institute Project on Gender, Culture, Religion and Law. His research interests include; Jewish law, history of Jewish Orthodoxy, gender and religion. His most recent articles include; Womens Testimony in Jewish Law, (forthcoming, Hebrew Union College Annual)and The Yeshiva as a political Institution, (forthcoming,Modern