J2: Women

Issue Navigation:

Getting Even

- You could start with a mini-quiz on women's
rights. When did women get the right to vote,
could a woman buy a property in 1920? etc.

- Alternatively design a brief true/false questionnaire - you should surprise your audience with the recent dates of some of the changes.

- Breaking stereotypes: Ask the group to solve the following riddle: A doctor and a boy are walking in the park. The boy is the doctor's son but the doctor is not the boy's father. Who is the doctor ? Answer: The doctor is the boy's mother. You could probably think of more riddles like that.

- Ask a grand-parent or older relative about how women's position in society has changed - you could learn some surprising facts that you did not know before and use these to start the assembly.

In the Beginning

- If you are comfortable using texts, you could read the short phrase from Genesis 1 and ask your audience how they understand it. You could then offer them the hermaphrodite interpretation which they have probably never heard of yet. This will give you a good start to speaking about images of equality and inequality in the Bible.

- If you prefer a more dramatic start, you could act out the split from hermaphrodite to two separate male and female beings. A narrator could read out the relevant text of Genesis 1 and 2 while you act it out.

Exempt or Exclude

- Explain and discuss the differences between the words EXEMPT and EXCLUDE. Give examples from other situations besides the law like being excluded from school or being exempt from wearing school-uniform when you are in the Sixth Form.

- Ask the audience which parts of Judaism they think/feel women are exempt or excluded from and why. Explain the original categories of laws that women were exempt from - effectively only a few. Why do these few exemptions feel like exclusions?

- If you have a female group you might want to discuss the implications of having to do things you previously did not have to do. Having more rights always means having more responsibility - how do they feel about that?

Is Judaism Sexist?

Use all the information provided to have a roaring debate or discussion about:

- This house believes that Judaism is a sexist religion

- This house believes that sexism is a social problem, not a Jewish one.

- This house believes that exemption means exclusion in practice.

- This house believes that women are more spiritually aware than men.

Marriage and Divorce

- There are several videos about marriage, divorce and related issues affecting women. Contact Makor-AJY for more information.

- It is also a good idea to contact a speaker who has some experience in this field. Contact the JAMS office on 020 8446 1477 for more details.

Non-Orthodox Approaches

- Why not ask women from various denominations to speak about how they perceive their role in Judaism and how their lives are affected by the type of Judaism they practise?

- Pupils at your school probably also represent most of the religious spectrum. It could be interesting to ask three or more girls to talk about how they perceive their roles in Judaism. They could talk about differences about bat mitzvah practices and the positions they can assume in their youth groups.

Women Rabbis

- You could have a debate or discussion about whether women should be rabbis.

Women Leaders throughout the Ages

- Some of these women are better known than others. Find more information about them or you might even be able to find other Jewish female leaders. The list is by no means complete.

- The list is also useful in providing examples of women in positions that are not considered socially acceptable today. Women should not be rabbis - what about Osnat Barazani? Women should not be military leaders - what about Deborah? Women have been excluded from the law-making process - what about Bruria ?

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