The Women's Torah Commentary: New Insights from Women Rabbis on the 54 Weekly Torah Portions

by Elyse Goldstein (Editor)

Women rabbis are changing the face of Judaism. Discover how their interpretations of the Torah can enrich your perspective. "Rich and engaging…makes available to a wide readership the collective wisdom of women who have changed the face of Judaism." —Judith Plaskow, author, Standing Again at Judaism from a Feminist Perspective; Professor of Religious Studies, Manhattan College Here, for the first time, women's unique experiences and perspectives are applied to the entire Five Books of Moses, offering all of us the first comprehensive commentary by women. In this groundbreaking book, more than 50 women rabbis come together to offer us inspiring insights on the Torah, in a week-by-week format. Included are commentaries by the first women ever ordained in the Reform, Reconstructionist and Conservative movements, and by many other women across these denominations who serve in the rabbinate in a variety of ways. This rich resource offers new perspectives to inspire all of us to gain deeper meaning from the Torah and a heightened appreciation of Judaism. A major contribution to modern biblical commentary. The gift of choice for every young woman’s bat mitzvah, and for anyone wanting a new, exciting view of Torah. Contributing Rebecca T. Alpert • Lia Bass • Miriam Carey Berkowitz • Elizabeth Bolton • Analia Bortz • Sharon Brous • Judith Gary Brown • Nina Beth Cardin • Diane Aronson Cohen • Sandra J. Cohen • Cynthia A. Culpeper • Lucy H.F. Dinner • Lisa A. Edwards • Amy Eilberg • Sue Levi Elwell • Rachel Esserman • Helaine Ettinger • Susan Fendrick • Lori Forman • Dayle A. Friedman • Elyse D. Frishman • Nancy Fuchs-Kreimer • Shoshana Gelfand • Laura Geller • Elyse M. Goldstein • Julie K. Gordon • Claire Magidovitch Green • Rosette Barron Haim • Jill Hammer • Karyn D. Kedar • Sarra Levine • Valerie Lieber • Ellen Lippmann • Sheryl Nosan • Stacy K. Offner • Sara Paasche-Orlow • Barbara Rosman Penzner • Hara E. Person • Audrey S. Pollack • Sally J. Priesand • Geela-Rayzel Raphael • Laura M. Rappaport • Debra Judith Robbins • Rochelle Robins • Gila Colman Ruskin • Sandy Eisenberg Sasso • Ilene Schneider • Rona Shapiro • Michal Shekel • Beth J. Singer • Sharon L. Sobel • Ruth H. Sohn • Julie Ringold Spitzer z”l • Shira Stern • Pamela Wax • Nancy Wechsler-Azen • Nancy H. Wiener • Elana Zaiman

Genres: Judaism, Jewish, Religion, Reference, Faith, Nonfiction, Judaica

496 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 31, 2000

Reviews

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

For the longest time I was following the Torah schedule pretty regularly, give or take a couple of weeks. I'd read about a month of sermons in a batch. But sometime in the summer, I fell off the hobby horse. To be fair, it turns out that I did finish this collection in a year, which is the span of when these portions are discussed in synagogue.

I decided to start this book because I was tired of how "the Old Testament" was summarily excused as one dimensionally brutish. To be sure, there's patriarchy, and male authors with an excessively sexist gaze about them. But surely all forms of religion, save for the most extreme fundamentalism, would have died out if there was nothing else there. I grew up in progressive Judaism, under a slew of female (and gay, just to put it out there) rabbis. I wanted to hear what they had to say.

The portions are divisions within the Hebrew bible, the Five Books of Moses, which Jews study sequentially throughout the year. In modern practice, rabbis often write sermons, or d'var Torah, about various themes. One thing I realized when I actually read the portion during its respective week and then went to synagogue, is that there's actually a whole lot to talk about. The rabbi in the book and my rabbi on the bimah barely sent ripples in each other's directions. That's a whole lot of substance to just label as stupid without further study. Even taking into account how much Jews love to kibbitz. :P

54 individual rabbis tackled the parshot, so of course there's a variety of vantage points, as well as a diversity of ground covered. Some women could tease out female side characters or Hebrew words with complex meanings that could be shaped to be more inclusive. Some had to rely on modern metaphors and transitions away from the literal text. Some brought up Midrash--a reminder that interpreting and guessing at different meanings in the text didn't just start with feminism, but has been part of our tradition since the start. I certainly agreed with some interpretations more than I did with others. But at the end of the day I can't help but count this as a success for progressive thinking, because these were WOMEN RABBIS, with power and education, grappling with the texts.

My own commentaries on the commentaries changed with time as well. In the beginning I was actually pretty sparse, but by the end I was making several notes per page. I was also more plaintive in my commentary early on, hoping for representation and questioning the words shyly, but by the end I was cracking wise and playfully mocking the old Sages. :P Many of the modern rabbis encouraged me to understand historical context and what their words meant within their own time, and I did, but Judaism has always been pretty clear that people are fallible, too. Just look at what happened to Moses, our most famous prophet.

Anywho. It was a bit of an exhausting project, but this is probably a book that I should re-read and re-interpret. Who knows if I'll even be able to read my own handwriting anyway. :P I'm so grateful that Rabbi Elyse Goldstein and Jewish Lights compiled this compelling and inspiring Jewish lady scholarship. :D

[Ayo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this commentary. The perspective of these women rabbis is phenomenal. Never heard these kind of perspectives ever.

[Margit · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nagyon tetszett a koncepció. Voltak izgalmasabb és egészen semmilyen értelmezések is, de alapvetően tök megerősítő volt abban, hogy nők helyet találhatnak maguknak nem csak a judaizmusban, de a Tórában és a Tóra tanulásában is. Gyakran úgy, hogy rámutatnak, mennyire férficentrikus a szöveg, mennyire ordít a nők és női szempontok hiánya.
Nagyon értékeltem, hogy olyan hosszúságú (rövidségű) egy-egy magyarázat, amit akár a zsiniben is végig tudnék hallgatni.

[Chloe Glynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book changed my daily habits of thinking, probably forever. Given how little time is devoted to women in this text that has so dominated many of our lives, it was an awing pleasure to see so many women rabbis raise up stories and characters from the text or its spacious outskirts. That this can be done is extraordinary. The variety of methodology for doing so even more so. Not all the writing or conclusions are equally valuable, so it's ultimately only four stars.

[Kat Clyde · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read as part of my 2025 reading proj ct regarding the Tanakh. It was enlightening to consider the first 5 books from a feminist perspective and helped me be a bit less judgemental with this project. It also helped me understand the Torah portion of the Tanakh in modern terms.

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful resource filled with insightful commentaries on each weekly Torah reading with still relevant feminist perspectives.

[Elisha · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was very helpful in my community for exploring the weekly Torah portion. It's not a new book but the ideas expressed are still relevant and bring up a lot of good questions for discussion.

[Carol Solman-Repton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant insights