Synopses & Reviews
Combining erudition with a deep concern for the daily aspects of spiritual life, Torah of the Mothers is a landmark collection of essays and teachings culled from years of Bible and Jewish study by highly accomplished female Torah scholars and educators. Contributors such as Rachel Adelman, Erica Brown, Ilana Goldstein Saks, Simi Peters, and Leah Rosenthal bring their own area of expertise to bear, providing novel and refreshing insights into biblical and rabbinic texts. Each also offers thought-provoking commentary on the ever-present themes of exile and redemption, which are intrinsic to the ongoing saga of the Jewish people. These contemporary women also reflect upon the teachers who have personally influenced and inspired them, individuals such as Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik, Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, and Nechama Leibowitz.
Review
"This interesting and important book brings together writings by 23 Orthodox Jewish women, Torah scholars all, but none of them rabbis or feminists, as in more liberal divisions of Judaism. [...] This collection should prove thought-provoking for thoughtful Jewish readers of all persuasions. Highly recommended." —Library Journal
Review
"What has now been called a quiet revolution is now bearing its first fruits. These [contemporary Jewish] women have marked their presence with...Torah of the Mothers. The anthology is significant because it represents the current transition of Israel's first generation of female Torah scholars from students to teachers." —Catherine Cohen, Ha'aretz English Edition
Review
"Torah Of The Mothers is informative, inspiring, reflective, erudite, engaging, and highly recommended reading for students of Judaic traditions and beliefs, as well as the non-specialist general reader with an interest in the role of women in Judaism, both ancient and contemporary." —James A. Cox, Midwest Book Review
Review
"This collection should prove thought-provoking for thoughtful Jewish readers of all persuasions. Highly recommended." —Library Journal
Review
"One aspect of this book that I found incredibly exciting was the academic, spiritual and personal dialogue created between younger scholars and their veteran mentors. . . . I see this volume as a catalyst in the process of transforming the woman's Torah to the nation's Torah and highly recommend it to one and all." —Malke Binah, founder and director, Matan Women's Institute of Torah Studies
About the Author
Dr. Ora Wiskind Elper teaches Jewish thought at Michlalah College, MaTaN Institute for Women's Torah Studies, and Touro College, Jerusalem. She is the author of
Tradition and Fantasy in the Tales of Reb Nahman of Bratslav. She has also translated works from Hebrew, French and German, including
An Introduction to the Kabbalah by Moshe Hallamish and Rav Avraham Itzhak HaCohen and
Kook: Between Rationalism and Mysticism by Benjamin Ish-Shalom.
Dr. Susan Handelman was Professor of English and Jewish Studies for twenty years at the University of Maryland and has recently moved to Israel to join the faculty of the English Department at Bar-Ilan University. She is the author of The Slayer of Moses: The Emergence of Rabbinic Interpretation in Modern Literary Theory and Fragments of Redemption: Jewish Thought and Literary Theory in Scholem, Benjamin and Levinas. She has also co-edited, with Joseph Smith, Psychoanalysis and Religion and co-translated and edited On the Essence of Chassidus by Rabbi Menachem Schneerson, the Lubavitcher Rebbe.