Affiliated as a “partnership minyan” through the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance (JOFA), Minyan Tehillah in Cambridge, MA is an independent minyan (prayer community) that is committed to maximizing women’s participation in ritual leadership roles within the boundaries of halakhic (Jewish legal) standards and practices and by partnering men and women in leading religious services using traditional liturgy. As an independent minyan founded in 2003, Tehillah attracts people from a variety of Jewish backgrounds, although it was founded by community members affiliated as Modern Orthodox. My research was therefore guided by my interest in how people raised Modern Orthodox become involved in a prayer community that pushes boundaries and promotes new ways of thinking about Jewish prayer and feminism.\r \r My research explored and analyzed the educational experiences of fifteen male and female participants of Minyan Tehillah in their twenties and thirties who self-identify as having been raised Modern Orthodox in North America. Their upbringing and background in the home, school and community as well as their attitudes toward Modern Orthodoxy, feminism and the type of prayer community in which they are involved have all been studied, as they are all indications of what constitutes one’s Jewish religious identity and preference for a prayer community.\r \r My research addresses the themes: relationships with mothers and fathers, transformational experiences such as the Bat Mitzvah, involvement in school and synagogue minyanim, influence of teachers and text study and educational experiences in Israel. Following a comparison of these themes, my paper addresses the attitudes of Minyan Tehillah’s members with regard to Modern Orthodoxy and partnership minyanim. To conclude, the paper highlights the complexities that Minyan Tehillah presents and the challenges that its members experience and see the minyan experiencing.
- Educating An Orthodox Feminist: Male and Female
- Shira Zeliger
- Sylvia B. Fishman (Advisor)
- Brandeis University, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences; Master of Arts (MA)
- Master of Arts (MA), Brandeis University, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
- Brandeis University
- Brandeis University, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
- 10192/23232; 9923879933601921
- Copyright by Shira Zeliger 2009
- Brandeis University
- English
- Thesis