Yentl's Revenge: The Next Wave of Jewish Feminism

by Susannah Heschel (Editor), Danya Ruttenberg (Editor)

Thanks in large part to the struggles of their activist foremothers, today’s young Jewish women have a dizzying array of spiritual options. Yentl’s Revenge chronicles a range of experiences lived by an entire generation of women, from Judeo-pagan witches to young Orthodox mothers, from rabbis to sex educators. Contributors ponder Jewish transgenderdom, Jewish body image, Jewish punk, the stereotype of the Jewish American Princess, intermarriage, circumcision, faith, and intolerance. Essays include “Bubbe Got Back: Tales of a Jewish Caboose” by Ophira Edut, and “On Being a Jewish Feminist Valley Girl” by Tobin Belzer.

Genres: Jewish, Judaism, Feminism, Religion, Nonfiction, Essays, Gender

230 pages, Paperback

First published October 10, 2001

Reviews

[Maren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some great themes throughout, but still dominated by the 30-something third-wave heterosexual crowd. Not entirely interested in how these folks choose who steps on the glass in their weddings. I would like a broader rage of topics. Appreciated the tiny bit of Sephardic presence, but would have liked more.

[120705 · Rating 4 out of 5]

From the moment I started reading Susannah Heschel’s introduction to this collection of essays on Jewish feminism I was hooked. The feeling she describes of being an outcast in her own community because of her gender is extremely similar to my own experience in the Orthodox Synagogue I’ve been a part of since I was 2 years old. Despite the years and years that I’ve spent in the community, I still don’t feel as welcome or as included in the service as a random male stranger might feel if he walked in off the street. In Simchat Torah celebrations, for example, this stranger would be able to dance with the Torah and participate fully in the celebrations while Heschel and I would have to look on from the sidelines. Heschel asks, in this foreword, “Who defines Judaism?” Traditionally the answer to that question would be male scholars and rabbis but the rest of this book represents a step towards changing that. Jewish women today (“Third-wave Jewish feminists”) have the power to shape their own definition of what it means to be Jewish and they can choose to live their lives in their own way without giving up their religion. The women whose essays are collected in this book come from a broad range of perspectives: from a riot grrl to an environmentalist, from a Jewish/Pagan witchcraft practitioner to a self-proclaimed “sexy rabbi.” I don’t personally agree with every single one of their views on Jewish law and identity. I don’t think they would all agree with each other’s views either. But they are all working towards the same purpose: to redefine Judaism from a female perspective in order to make it fit the lives and identities of modern women. Yiskah (Jessica) Rosenfeld’s essay “You Take Lillith, I’ll Take Eve” was particularly interesting for me because it went straight to the text of the Torah to transform how we perceive one of the fundamental stories in Judaism, and the one that has the most influence over the Jewish view of femininity. Rosenfeld goes through every step of the story of Eve’s creation and decision-making process, referencing midrash, feminist theory and her own reasoning, to “reclaim” her from the condemning, sexist, traditional interpretations of the character. Her portrays Eve as “comple[x], str[ong] and courage[ous]” instead. By reclaiming Eve (“our mother”) we are reclaiming “a lost part of ourselves,” which is what all the best essays in this collection do in some way or another.

[Julia · Rating 3 out of 5]

i was actually a little disappointed with this book, but not so much with the "contributers" as with the editor...

there were many small factual errors that were being stated in the book as "fact" when in reality it was the result of some lack of education on the part of the contributors as to customs and Jewish law...

none of it should, i think, "shame" the writers, i think instead that the editor could have done a better job to spot those misunderstandings and point them out to the writers before sending their words to print...

i would also point out to any reader of the book, that even though i *do* recommend it (i think its a really great) that you should go in with both eyes open and realising that you are receiving an account of many womens' first hand "experiences" in Judaism (from secular straight through to Orthodoxy) but you are not actually being taught the "tenets" of the religion, just said writers' personal understandings/interpretations of those laws (when they do in fact speak of "the law")...

[Stephie Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is an anthology of Jewish feminist authors. This was an interesting book for me. I wasn't expecting the type of writing that was in it. All the authors had an autobiographical component to the chapters, while they explored some aspect of being Jewish and feminist. I was expecting more along the lines of philosophical or theological discussions, which was a part of some of the chapters. I was please that there was very little postmodernist approaches, if any at all. All in all, it was a pretty decent book.

[Sara Liebman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading the various essays about these womens' experiences with Judaism and their take on what it means to be a Jew. A lot of the essays conveyed a complicated relationship with religion and the writer's on feelings of what they want for their lives. Ultimately, it validated this relationship and the idea that you can not completely agree with aspects of a religion or heritage and still identify strongly with it.

[janine · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

[Amalya Volz · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

I've had this book on my shelves for years and finally got around to it. It was published almost 20 years ago, which considering the subject makes it very of its time. It's a fairly quick read and a nice book for someone beginning a journey of Jewish feminism, but less substantial for someone further down that path. I think I would have found this book more pivotal if I had read it 5 years ago, which I suppose speaks more to my growth than the book itself. I think the anthology would have benefited from more diversity, especially on the more religiously traditional side. There was only one essay written by someone who grew up in and still identifies with Orthodoxy (at the time of publication, that is). Some of the essays could have benefitted from more depth and length, but I still think this is a valuable and interesting collection of Jewish women's voices, and I would be thrilled to see someone published an updated version with similar stories from today's young Jewish women.

[Shuli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, I'd say that while I really enjoyed the collection, certain essays lagged behind the pack. There were some pretty progressive, exciting thoughts on trans people and people of color but much of it felt like it was presented for a white/cis audience--it's readily apparent that the book was designed with a early 30s cis white Ashkenazi jewish woman, which isn't a bad thing, but for those of us who don't fit that description it sometimes felt like we were outsiders to a conversation among those people.

All that being said, I think a lot of that has to do with the time this was published. Popular feminist discourse has come a long way in the last decade and I'd really like to see a collection of modern feminist jewish women in the future, featuring trans women's voices and more space for women of color!

[Omni · Rating 3 out of 5]

Im unsure whether i want to give this a 3 or a 4. Some of the essays in this anthological reflected the racial problems in Jewish Culture, but I really liked it as an intro to Jewish feminism. So maybe a 3.5. And maybe another .25 for Eve's Confession, which is wonderful and one of my favorite poems.

[Reb · Rating 2 out of 5]

A collection of essays, some very well-written and well-thought out (Parenting as an Orthodox Feminist) and some filled with meaningless psychobabble. Why no articles by men? I am getting annoyed with the concept that feminism is for and about women.

[Shelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh, how I wish more of these essays had seemed dated. Fifteen years is kind of a long time not to have made more progress. There's a wide range of viewpoints here, touching not only on feminism but also on how American Jewish culture is largely Ashkenazi-centric. Well worth the read.

[Liz Clappin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a really mixed bag of ideas. Some of the articles were very compelling while others, even just a few years after being written felt a little dated. Overall interesting concept and some very powerful voices though.

[Lupinus Texensis · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting collection of essays and good Yom Kippur reading for the rural, solo Jew.

[cdpc44 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bem... que personagens!! :)
Adorei sobretudo as teorias que surgem no pensamento dos outros quando tentam descobrir o segredo da história que vemos ser desenvolvida.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's hard to rate collections of essays--some I found enthralling, but some I wasn't interested in....

[Yossi Khebzou · Rating 5 out of 5]

A diferencia de la percepción de mucha gente, el judaísmo es extremadamente diverso. Aparte de ser una prueba de eso, Yentl’s Revenge da voz a un grupo al que han tratado de callar por más de dos milenios: las mujeres judías. Leer sus experiencias y conectarme con ellas en un nivel tanto humano como identitario, sin duda alguna enriqueció mi judaísmo. Además, la diversidad de mujeres que forman parte de la compilación logran que la lectura sea entretenida, cambiante e inesperada. En particular, puedo decir que mi cosmovisión judía cambió con los ensayos de Danya Ruttenberg (sobre la transexualidad, la menstruación y la mikveh), de Karen Levy (sobre ser una rabina, mujer y atractiva al mismo tiempo), Yiskah Rosenfeld (sobre el papel feminista de Lilith y de Eva en la Torah), de Haviva Ner-David (sobre una educación feminista judía en la que sus hijas usan tzitzit) y de Dina Hornreich (sobre las contradicciones y las etiquetas). Asimismo, fue impactante leer el ensayo de Ursula Katan, víctima de abuso sexual incestuoso por sobrevivientes del Holocausto, recordando que la categoría de víctimas no nos hace ángeles y no nos quita la capacidad de hacer daño. Otro que me pareció impactante fue el de Loolwa Khazzoom, en el que habla de ser Mizrahi en un judaísmo dominado por la cultura Ashkenazi. Como parte de la comunidad judía en México, no diría que mi entorno como judío-árabe es ashkenocentrista y nunca me había puesto a pensar en la identidad que alguien como yo tendría en EE.UU., una comunidad dominada por la historia Idish, el Guefilte Fish y el Bagel & Lox.

Algo que interesantemente noté en la lectura fue el hecho de que muchas de las mujeres que escribieron abandonaron el judaísmo en un periodo de sus vidas, tan sólo para que aparezca de otras formas más tarde. Quitar la propia identidad es imposible y es maravilloso que el judaísmo tenga tantas corrientes, y tan flexibles, que le dan cupo a cualquiera. Sería importante que esas corrientes sean más visibles.

En fin, Yentl’s Revenge es una antología perspicaz que podrá dejar cuestionándose a cualquier persona judía por días.

[Nikk · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an excellent Jewish essay collection. I felt like I was in deep community with every single writer featured—a breadth of voices not covered in traditional Jewish collections, but a breadth that made me feel like I was part of Judaism, not just outside of it. I highly recommend for anyone looking for ways to explore the tension between their Judaism and the misogyny in this tradition.

[Kat Dixon · Rating 5 out of 5]

an important collection, featuring such showstoppers as "Composting Judaism," "The Word," "I Was a Teenage Zionist," "You Take Lilith, I'll Take Eve," "To Open My Mouth and Speak What I Know," "United Jewish Feminist Front," "The 'Big O' Also Means 'Olam,'" "Of These, Solitude," and many more

[Alona · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was pretty outdated but revealed to me the extent to which I take feminist judaism + feminist jewish community for granted. Grateful for the American Jewish women who came before me who made it possible for the collective to be in a different place now.

[Chena · Rating 2 out of 5]

Like all the different stories and different view points.

[Penny · Rating 4 out of 5]

More books like this, please.