12 Friday, March 4, 1977
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Big Discounts
Off. Machs. &
Furniture
`Jewish Woman' Anthology Controversial, Innovative
BY HEIDI P RESS
sented in the. Schocken-
Strict adhe rents to published volume "The
Add 'n Type
Jewish ritual a nd prac- Jewish Woman: New
tice will qucikly take op- Perspectives."
342-7800 399-8333 342-1221
position to prop osals pre-
Edited by Elizabeth
Koltun, the paperbacked
anthology offers ideas on
new alternatives for
Jewish women in the
'rituals and in. interpreta-
tion of the liturgy. What
may be striking are the
. 126 S. Woodward, Birmingham
revised women's roles in
Jewish ritual. Sugges-
Mon., Tues., Wed., Sat. 10-6
Thurs. & Fri. 10-9
tions are made for a nam-
ing ceremony for a
FOR THE ULTIMATE
daughter that makes her
entry into the Covenant
IN FASHION-RIGHT
of Abraham equal to that
FORMALWEAR RENTALS
of a son who is admitted
by means of brit mila. A
& SALES
rewording of the ketuba
Celebrate the occasion with a fresh ap-
— marriage contract —
proach to formalwear. Featuring an exten-
and a revised Bat Mitzva
sive selection. The newest styles and colors.
ceremony that more
• closely resembles Bar
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Westwood, Newport, Woodstock, ,
Mitzva in form and prac-
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tice are among several
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new routes suggested for
women to take in the
• WEDDINGS • PROMS CRUISES
Jewish religious world.
• EVERY IMPORTANT SOCIAL EVENT
Contributor Cherie
nolier-rox writes on
"The Ideal Bat Mitzva,"
an experiment tried by
some students. For the
. Over 45 Years_
ideal Bat Mitzva, the stu-
dents suggested that the
Of
celebrant be scheduled on
Moving Experience
Saturday morning in-
stead of Friday night, the
traditional time' for Bat
Mitzva observance, with
full participatiOn of male
and female members of
her immediate and ex-
tended families. Corres-
MOVING & STORAGE CO.
ponding to the yarmulke
worn by her male coun-
terpart, the Bat Mitzva
NUMBER 0 ALLIED VAN LINES
wears a headband in-
AGENT IN MICHIGAN
scribed with "a meaning-
ful verse" from the Bible
or other liturgical source.
Her version.of the prayer
shawl is a -jacket which,
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she desigris and decorat-
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Accoiding to the author,
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these revisions were re- _
garded with great sincer-
ity by the female students,
but the community saw the
ALLIED VAN LINES
actions as less than nota-
ble.
. ;
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"Every girl wore her
headband in the following
weeks, not only at her Bat
Mitzva, but every time
she went into the
synagogue. The girls felt
that they were doing
something important
that was at best being ig-
nored and at worst being
discouraged. Eventually
they lost confidence in
the idea and dropped it."
In the section, "On
Writing New Ketubot,"
Daniel I. Liefer, author of
such documents, states
the following guidelines
he set down for their cre-
ation:
"A new ketuba must
presuppose and express
the equality of status —
both personal and legal —
of women and men. Its
language and form must
express full and complete
mutuality in the promises
each partner makes to
the other. A new ketuba
should retain, as much as
possible, the framework,
laungage and style of the
traditional ketuba. There
must be an obvious paral-
leslism and resonance be-
tween the old original
form and the new one.
The text of the new
ketuba must be simple
and succinct.
. "I do not believe that
marriage contracts should
say too much. To attempt
to spell out in detail the
mutual obligationg and re-
sponsibilities of a man and
woman in a marriage rela-
tionship is foolish, naive,
and unworkable. There-
fore, the language should
be general, but should
touch upon a sufficient
number of areas of life and
values to encompass the
broad totality of a mar-
riage and mutual living re-
lationship. I believe that
for a new ketuba to be a
meaningful "Jewish docu-
ment, it must include
some reference to the fol-
lowing categories: God,
Torah-mitzvot, People of
Israel."
Although he is an ac-
tive proponent and au-
thor of new ketubot,
Liefer offers the follow-
ing disclaimer:
"It is therefore my duty
to impress upon people
that an innovative
ketuba has no legal au-
thority within the Jewish
community. The question
then arises as to whether
couples who use such a
ketuba are legally mar-
ried according to Jewish
law. Since Jewish law
recognizes common-law
marriage, where witnes-
ses can attest to the fact
that a man and a woman
are living together as
husband and wifg, that
question can be answered
affirmatively. Indeed, the
halakhic tradition would
consider this man and
woman married. Should
such a couple come before
an Orthodox bet cr'n
(court of law), it would
consider the traditional
ketuba to be in effect even
if the couple did not actu-
ally have such a docu-
ment. So these new
ketubot become, in effect,
personal statements and
documents rooted in the
framework, values, and
language of the tradi-
tional ketuba."
It is interesting to note
that in both the
aforementio'ned "alter-
natives" neither is com-
pletely (Jewishly) legal.
How Jewish women are
viewed in Jewish law and
in the literature — Ilag-
gada, Aggada; , Talmud
and more — is presented
with a new view or rein-
terpretation of women's
presence therein. An
example is seen in the
chapter "Depatriar-
chalizing in Biblical In-
terpretation."
"The Jewish Woman"
certainly will prove con-
troversial in Jewish ranks
since it provides a
springboard for Jewish
women to rethink their
roles, in the synagogue, in
the home and in other
spheres, after 3,000 years
of prescribed Torah-
defined existence. There
will be those who will
damn what is put forth,
others will rejoice that
what has been hiding in
their hearts has been
aired. Still others will be
provided with food for de-
bate and discussion-
If the book provides the
impetus for one -discus-
sion or spurs any number
of Jewish women to seek
active roles in Jewish life,
then certainly the book is
worthy of serious consid-
eration. It may shock and
it may enlighten. No mat-
ter what it does, it at least
Will educate, and isn't
education a basis on
which Judaism weighs
heavily?
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