B'not Esh ("Daughters of Fire") is a Jewish feminist collective based in the United States that was founded in 1981, the group sought to define a reconstructed feminist view of the Jewish tradition and defines itself as a Jewish Feminist Spirituality Collective.Ackelsberg, M. A. (1986). Spirituality, Community, and Politics: B'not Esh and the Feminist Reconstruction of Judaism. ''Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion'', ''2''(2), 109-120. The group's basic position is that the Jewish spirituality of women is a political struggle.

History

According to

Judith Plaskow Judith Plaskow (born March 14, 1947) is an American theologian, author, and activist known for being the first Jewish feminist theologian. After earning her doctorate at Yale University, she taught at Manhattan College for thirty-two years before ...

, a founding member of the group, the need for the collective was first identified by American Jewish feminists in 1980, and the planning for the collective first began at the 1980 National Havurah Summer Institute, an event that offered a religious fellowship program for like-minded Jews. As a collective running since the 1980s, B'not Esh inspired many Jewish feminist projects, conferences, books, and other initiatives. The group's first meeting was held on March 30, 1981, and held in

Cornwall-on-Hudson, New York Cornwall-on-Hudson is a riverfront Administrative divisions of New York#Village, village in the town of Cornwall, New York, Cornwall, Orange County, New York, Orange County, New York, United States. It lies on the west bank of the Hudson River, a ...

. The meeting became the space for the group's essential activities, and the event has taken place annually since 1983, the same year the group adopted its name "B'not Esh". According to

Martha Ackelsberg Martha A. Ackelsberg (born 1946) is an American political scientist, anarchist and women's studies scholar. Her work focuses on the nature of power and its relationship with communities. Cases used in her research include feminist activism in th ...

, a founding member, during the early years of the group's existence, the question of Jewish liturgy was highly contested, with some members enthusiastically participating and enjoying an all women's prayer service for the

Jewish Sabbath Shabbat (, , or ; , , ) or the Sabbath (), also called Shabbos (, ) by Ashkenazim, is Judaism's day of rest on the seventh day of the week—i.e., Friday–Saturday. On this day, religious Jews remember the biblical stories describing the cre ...

, while others objected to the use of traditional liturgical text that were male-dominated. The conflict led the group to incorporate new elements into the Jewish prayer service including poetry and meditation, as well as modifications to the traditional liturgical language by feminizing the name of God. By 1985, the group's consensus was that many forms of prayer and spirituality would have to be tried to overcome the limits of their traditional Jewish education and upbringing.

References

External links

* {{Judaism-org-stub Jewish feminist organizations in the United States Jewish organizations based in the United States 1981 establishments in the United States Organizations established in 1981