This paper briefly examines two approaches to the position of women in Judaism. One is from an orthodox perspective, represented by Chana Weisberg, and the other is a non-orthodox and feminist approach, represented by Judith Plaskow. By examining these two approaches, we expect to contribute to a better understanding of the diverse views of women in contemporary Judaism. Plaskow criticizes t...

Daniel Boyarin’s latest book explores the beginnings of Christianity and Judaism and the formation of Judaism and Christianity as two distinct cultural-religious systems. The book is structured in three main parts: Part I – Making a Difference: The Heresiological Beginnings of Christianity and Judaism; Part II – The Crucifixion of Logos: How Logos Theology Became Christian; and Part III – Spark...

Among the "Great Religions" of the world may be discovered repetition and similarity, as well as, variations and significant differences. This similarity becomes clear when it is understood that of the five great religions-Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism-a reduction to two may be made historically. Hinduism and Judaism may be considered the genesis of the other three: Hinduism ...

Judaism in Practice: From the Middle Ages through the Early Modern Period testifies to the great variety of religious practices that characterized Judaism in the twelve hundred years between approximately 600 C.E. and 1800 C.E. Although this vast span of time has often been regarded monochromatically, scholars have increasingly come to speak of this period’s enormous complexity. The more that w...

Reproductive technology offers a bewildering number of options for infertile men and women to have children, including ovary and testis freezing, transplantation, in vitro fertilization (IVF), donor sperm, donor eggs, stem cells, gestational surrogacy, genetic diagnosis of embryos, and, of course, birth control. These technologies cut to the very core of personal and religious belief systems. T...

©FSRH J Fam Plann Reprod Health Care 2009: 35(1) Jewish law Jewish law consists of two sections: written law and oral law. The foundation of the written law and the origin of its authority is the Torah, the first five books of the Bible. The Torah is traditionally believed to have been given in a theophany on Mount Sinai and to contain the literal direct word of God. After the destruction of th...

In 1996 I wrote an essay on Jewish-Christian relations entitled “What Has 2000 to Do with 5760?,” in which I expressed concern over the possible effect that the passage of 2000 might have on the exceptional period of philo-Judaism that has marked Western society from the end of the Holocaust until the present. Indeed, the last 60 years may well mark the most exceptional and sustained period of ...

As China is the only country in the Far East world in which Jews have continually lived for over 1,000 years, "Chinese Judaism" -referring to the religious belief and practices of those Jews who had lived or are now living in China -is unique. Within this long history, a significant distinction must be made. Jews who came before modern times, before 1840, became part of Chinese society almost w...