Rachel Adler (born Ruthelyn Rubin; July 2, 1943) is professor of Modern Jewish Thought and Judaism and Gender at Hebrew Union College, at the Los Angeles campus.
Adler was one of the first
theologians
Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the s ...
to integrate feminist perspectives and concerns into Jewish texts and the renewal of
Jewish law
''Halakha'' (; he, הֲלָכָה, ), also transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Jewish religious laws which is derived from the written and Oral Torah. Halakha is based on biblical command ...
and
ethics
Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concerns ...
. Her approach to God is
Levinasian
Emmanuel Levinas (; ; 12 January 1906 – 25 December 1995) was a French philosopher of Lithuanian Jewish ancestry who is known for his work within Jewish philosophy, existentialism, and phenomenology, focusing on the relationship of ethics to ...
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world.
Chart ...
she married Rabbi Moshe Adler in Chicago in 1965. The couple subsequently divorced.
In 1971, while identifying as an
Orthodox Jew
Orthodox Judaism is the collective term for the traditionalist and theologically conservative branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as revealed by God to Moses ...
(though she previously and later identified as
Reform Jewish
Reform Judaism, also known as Liberal Judaism or Progressive Judaism, is a major Jewish denomination that emphasizes the evolving nature of Judaism, the superiority of its ethical aspects to its ceremonial ones, and belief in a continuous sear ...
Paula Hyman
Paula Hyman (September 30, 1946 – December 15, 2011) was a social historian and the Lucy Moses Professor of Modern Jewish History at Yale University.
She served as the president of the American Academy for Jewish Research from 2004 to 2008. S ...
, this article was a trailblazer in analyzing the status of Jewish women using feminism.
In 1972, she published an article entitled Tum'ah and Toharah: Ends and Beginnings " In this article she argued that the ritual immersion of a
niddah
Niddah (or nidah; he, נִדָּה), in traditional Judaism, describes a woman who has experienced a uterine discharge of blood (most commonly during menstruation), or a woman who has menstruated and not yet completed the associated requirem ...
(a menstruating woman) in a
mikveh
Mikveh or mikvah (, ''mikva'ot'', ''mikvoth'', ''mikvot'', or ( Yiddish) ''mikves'', lit., "a collection") is a bath used for the purpose of ritual immersion in Judaism to achieve ritual purity.
Most forms of ritual impurity can be purif ...
did not "oppress or denigrate women." Instead, she argued, such immersion constituted a ritual reenactment of "death and resurrection" that was actually "equally accessible to men and women." However, she eventually renounced this position. In her essay In Your Blood, Live: Re-visions of a Theology of Purity , published in Tikkun in 1993, she wrote "purity and impurity do not constitute a cycle through which all members of society pass, as I argued in my
972
Year 972 ( CMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Byzantine Empire
* Spring – Emperor John I Tzimiskes divides the Bulgarian territories, recent ...
essay. Instead, impurity and purity define a class system in which the most impure people are women."
In 1983, she published an essay in ''Moment'' entitled "I've Had Nothing Yet, So I Can't Take More," in which she criticized rabbinic tradition for making women "a focus of the sacred rather than active participants in its processes," and declared that being a Jewish woman "is very much like being Alice at the Hatter's tea party. We did not participate in making the rules, nor were we there at the beginning of the party."
In 1992, she began a women's
Talmud
The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law ('' halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...
class in her home, teaching the text (in its original Hebrew and Aramaic). This created the first rigorous Talmud study opportunity for lay women outside of New York and Israel.
Adler received a PhD in Religion from the
University of Southern California
, mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it"
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, accreditation = WSCUC
, type = Private research university
, academic_affiliations =
, endowment = $8. ...
in 1997; her doctoral dissertation was titled "Justice and Peace Have Kissed: A Feminist Theology of Judaism." She is the author of many articles that have appeared in ''Blackwell's Companion to Feminist Philosophy'', ''Beginning Anew: A Woman's Companion to the High Holy Days'', ''Contemporary Jewish Religious Thought'', ''Lifecycles'', ''The Jewish Condition'', and ''On Being a Jewish Feminist.''
Originally a Reform Jew, but converting to Orthodox Judaism in her teens, Adler made her final spiritual home in the
Reform
Reform ( lat, reformo) means the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The use of the word in this way emerges in the late 18th century and is believed to originate from Christopher Wyvill's Association movement ...
She was awarded the 2000 Tuttleman Foundation Book Award of Gratz College and the 1999
National Jewish Book Award
The Jewish Book Council (Hebrew: ), founded in 1944, is an organization encouraging and contributing to Jewish literature.Jewish Book Council
The Jewish Book Council (Hebrew: ), founded in 1944, is an organization encouraging and contributing to Jewish literature. Among the book's contributions to Jewish thoughts was the creation of a new ritual, brit ahuvim, to replace the traditional
erusin
''Erusin'' () is the Hebrew term for betrothal. In modern Hebrew, "erusin" means engagement, but this is not the historical meaning of the term, which is the first part of marriage (the second part being ''nissuin'').
Since the Middle Ages it is ...
marriage ceremony, which Adler viewed as not according with feminist ideals of equality between the sexes. The art exhibit “Holy Sparks”, which opened in February 2022 at the Heller Museum and the Skirball Museum, featured 24 Jewish women artists, who had each created an artwork about a female rabbi who was a first in some way. Marilee Tolwin created the artwork about Adler.
See also
*
Jewish feminism
Jewish feminism is a movement that seeks to make the religious, legal, and social status of Jewish women equal to that of Jewish men in Judaism. Feminist movements, with varying approaches and successes, have opened up within all major branch ...
*
Reform Judaism
Reform Judaism, also known as Liberal Judaism or Progressive Judaism, is a major Jewish denomination that emphasizes the evolving nature of Judaism, the superiority of its ethical aspects to its ceremonial ones, and belief in a continuous sear ...
*
Role of women in Judaism
The role of women in Judaism is determined by the Hebrew Bible, the Oral Law (the corpus of rabbinic literature), by custom, and by cultural factors. Although the Hebrew Bible and rabbinic literature mention various female role models, religio ...
References
Sources
Professor Rachel Adler Faculty Page at Hebrew Union College *Adler, Rachel. The Jew Who Wasn't There: Halakhah and the Jewish Woman." ''Davka'' (Summer 1971): 7-11.
*Adler, Rachel. ''Engendering Judaism: An Inclusive Theology and Ethics.'' Jewish Publication Society, 1998