Encyclopedia Categories | Jewish Women's Archive

Wise Woman of Abel Beth-Maacah: Bible

The second of two “wise women” portrayed in 2 Samuel lived in a fortified city in northern Israel. More straightforwardly than the story of the wise woman of Tekoa (2 Samuel 14), this narrative depicts what must have been typical leadership activities of a woman in this accepted position against the larger political tensions of David’s reign.

Wise Woman of Abel-beth-maacah: Midrash and Aggadah

The wise woman from Abel-Beth-Maacah is identified in midrashim as Serah, daughter of Asher. The rabbis attribute great wisdom to her. She instituted a negotiation with Joab, then spoke to the people, who behead Sheba son of Bichri in order to induce Joab to leave.

Wise Woman of Tekoa: Bible

The midrash includes the wise woman from Tekoa among the twenty-three truly upright and righteous women who came out of Israel. The Rabbi’ note that because the residents of Tekoa frequently used olive oil, they were wise. The woman’s wisdom was therefore linked to the blessing of olive oil and, in the opinion of the Rabbis, reflected the wisdom of all the area’s inhabitants.

Wise Woman of Tekoa: Midrash and Aggadah

The A type of non-halakhic literary activitiy of the Rabbis for interpreting non-legal material according to special principles of interpretation (hermeneutical rules).midrash includes the wise woman from Tekoa among the twenty-three truly upright and righteous women who came out of Israel (Midrash Tadshe, Ozar ha-Midrashim [Eisenstein], 474).

Judy Wolf

Judy Wolf helped create a resource center for children with disabilities in the city of Dnepropetrovsk that not only transformed the lives of families there but became a model for special education throughout the Ukraine.

Woman Wisdom: Bible

In some of the books of the Hebrew Bible, “wisdom” is personified as a female character. Her portrayal often draws comparisons to goddesses outside of the Hebrew Bible, although there is debate over whether Wisdom was worshipped as a goddess. Nevertheless, the stories of Woman Wisdom are significant for their use of a woman’s voice in male books.

Members of Gerinaldo smiling, seated left to right: Oro Anahory-Librowicz, Solly Lévy, Kelly Sultan Amar, Judith Cohen

Women and Sephardic Music

Ladino or Judeo-Spanish Sephardic songs are primarily a women’s repertoire. The two main traditions are that of northern Morocco and the Eastern Mediterranean, primarily today’s Turkey, Greece, the Balkans.

Women in Samson's Life: Midrash and Aggadah

The three women in Samson’s life were Gentiles: the woman from Timnah, the woman from Gaza, and Delilah. In the midrash, rabbis used Samson’s situation to denounce involvement with foreign women.

Women in the Secular Humanistic Rabbinate

Secular Humanistic Judaism is an intellectual movement that interprets Judaism as a human-shaped and multi-faceted culture without the involvement of any supernatural entities. In the second half of the twentieth century, these intellectuals formed Secular and Humanistic Jewish communities and ultimately created the International Institute for Secular Humanistic Judaism (IISHJ). Approximately half of the rabbis and community leaders trained and ordained by IISHJ since 1987 have been women.

Women Mourners/Keeners

Across Jewish history, women mourners have played a central ritual role in expressions of grief—from Hebrew Bible and rabbinic literature through medieval, early modern, and modern Jewish communities.

A painted illustration of King Solomon surrounded by three of his wives.

Women of Solomon: Bible

Solomon, third king of Israel, is said to have had a harem that included 700 wives and 300 concubines. Many of those women were not Israelites and refused to adopt Israelite traditions and religion, reinforcing a common Biblical motif about foreign women.

Women of the Wall

Women of the Wall (WOW) is an international community of women who, since 1988, have sought the freedom to conduct women-led Torah services in the women’s section at the Western Wall in Jerusalem. WOW’s legal claims and political strategies raise questions about women’s rights to equality within Judaism and under Israeli law, the nature of religious toleration for non-Orthodox Jewish movements, and Israel’s identity as a Jewish and democratic state.

black and white photograph of a man in a hat and a woman

Women Religious Workers in Eastern Europe

In nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Eastern Europe, Jewish women served their communities as spiritual leaders and paid religious functionaries. The main women’s leadership roles documented in Yiddish literature, memoirs, memorial books, and ethnographic studies include the midwife, the evil eye healer, the cemetery measurer, the prayer leader, and the mourning woman.

Oil painting by Gustav Klimt depicting a semi-nude Judith prominently, holding the head of Holofernes in the bottom right

Women Warriors

In the Hebrew Bible and ancient Jewish literature, most warriors are men. However, a few women go to war or kill: Deborah, Jael, the unnamed woman of Thebez, and Judith.

Four 6-8 inch tall terracotta figurines of women holding hand drums

Women with Hand-Drums, Dancing: Bible

Several biblical passages mention women (e.g., Miriam) celebrating victory with drums, dances, and song. Examining those passages in light of archaeological materials and comparative Near Eastern texts indicates that women, rather than men, were percussionists in ancient Israel and likely participated in religious and secular musical activities.

Women's League for Conservative Judaism

Women’s League for Conservative Judaism (WLCJ), founded in 1918, is the national organization of Conservative sisterhoods. Throughout its history WLCJ has foregrounded women’s education and engagement in order to enrich the spiritual and religious lives of Conservative/Masorti women and to empower them as leaders in their homes, synagogues, and communities.

Women's Tefillah Movement

The Women’s Tefillah Movement grew out of a need for Orthodox Jewish women for more meaningful and participatory roles in prayer services that remain within the boundaries of Jewish law and practice. With the growth of “partnership minyanim,” the number of Women’s Tefillah Groups has diminished somewhat, but they are still important places within Orthodoxy especially for young girls celebrating becoming a Bat Mitzvah.

Marjorie Wyler

Marjorie Wyler was a Jewish Theological Seminary professor for over half a century and was involved in numerous public service and Jewish organizations. Furthermore, her involvement in religious broadcasting, coupled with decades of public relations work, made her an advocate for the ethics of social justice inherent in Judaism.

Jael leads Barak to the corpse of Sisera in her tent.

Yael Wife of Heber The Kenite: Midrash and Aggadah

The midrash praises Yael and includes her among the devout women converts. According to the rabbis, Yael’s actions helped God to realize God’s plan by punishing Sisera measure for measure for his wicked deeds, and by affording Israel a military victory over its enemies.

Yael: Bible

Yael plays an important role in the story of Israel’s wars with the Canaanites, described in the Book of Judges. In the narrative about the military heroine Deborah, Yael kills Sisera, the Canaanite general of King Jabin, after he escapes from the battle with Deborah’s general, Barak.

Yalta

Yalta is a character in the Babylonian Talmud, the wife of Rabbi Nahman, and the daughter of the exilarch. She is depicted as a strong-willed, free-spirited woman.

Yemen and the Yishuv

Yemenite women proved to be stable and resourceful, both in Yemen where tradition reigned, and also after immigration to Erez Israel and New York, facing changes and challenges in turbulent times. They adapted to changing economic, social, and communal conditions, acculturated in language skills and organizational life, and were instrumental in bringing up their daughters and sons to successfully integrate into the new worlds.

photograph of a woman with glasses with a loose hat as a head covering, smiling at the camera

Yoatzot Halacha

In 1997, Nishmat, a women’s seminary in Jerusalem, began training Orthodox women to become Yoatzot Halacha, or Jewish legal advisors. Yoatzot Halacha receive extensive training in Jewish legal texts and medical and behavioral sciences; after training, a Yoetzet Halacha might answer questions through a hotline or website or serve in a community in the US, the UK, or Israel. Yoatzot Halacha are one of a number of innovations in the field of Orthodox women’s leadership and literacy.

Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef

Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef was the Sephardi chief rabbi of Israel and the leader of the Shas political movement.

Ze'enah U-Re'enah

The Ze’enah u-Re’enah is a Yiddish compilation of the Torah and Haftarot, among other sources. The oldest surviving version was published in the early seventeenth century, and subsequent editions show the evolution of Yiddish language over the next several centuries. The Ze’enah u-Re’enah came to be used as a fundamental text for women within Ashkenazi communities, where the work was universally popular.

The Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women

Religion