Abstract
In Between Feminism and Orthodox Judaism, Israel-Cohen explores the possibility and the modality of feminist activism among Orthodox Jewish women, whose religious lives are inevitably bound to the patriarchal hierarchy of religious authority. In fact, her research responds to the old but still relevant question of the conflict between feminist and religious identity, when one appears to negate the other. Israel-Cohen investigates the ways by which Orthodox Jewish women strategize to implement changes to improve their status and the ways by which they navigate the seemingly contradictory identities of “feminist” and “orthodox.”
In this research, Israel-Cohen employs a grounded theory and a qualitative approach in order to place the voices and experiences of women at the center of her research. Such approaches have allowed her to avoid making assumptions about the meaning of being a feminist or an Orthodox Jew. This favors an interpretive analysis that investigates the ways by which meanings and concepts are produced by social actors in real settings. The research, in fact, draws its strength from her attentiveness to the role of the researcher in construction and formation of the data. She draws her data from six central sites where Orthodox women have been attempting to advance women’s status for the last fifteen years. These organizations and congregations are areas that capture a grassroots movement within modern Orthodoxy that are highly concerned with the status of women. The primary research method for the study was in-depth semistructured interviews with 32 women and 12 men who have been active in the above-mentioned organizations and/or have been generally involved in the advancement of gender equality within Orthodoxy. While most of the analysis focuses on the interviews with women, the author herself recognizes the need for further research that specifically, and more elaborately, investigates the role of men in bringing about gender equality. To gain additional insight, the author also employs the method of participant observation by attending numerous conferences and meetings regarding women and Orthodoxy.
The interviews consist of three primary areas that form the main chapters of the book. The first category includes questions about activism aimed at improving women’s status in religious life, the reason these women and men have been involved, the antagonism they have faced, and most importantly, the strategies they have implemented to achieve their objectives. This book is an exceptional study on women’s agency and resistance within conservative settings. The majority of research done on the subject either focuses on the active resistance of women, in the form of grassroots movements, or on passive resistance and bargaining strategies that women employ. This study, however, beautifully pictures the interplay between passive and active resistance when women use a combination of strategies to maintain their good standing within the community and to bring about significant change at the same time. The data and analysis provided by Israel-Cohen clearly demonstrate the complexity of the ways by which these women navigate between compliance and resistance, and the feeling of belonging to the community and resenting its patriarchal nature at the same time. Instead of simplifying the relation between active and passive resistance, Israel-Cohen shows how “such strategies work at times in parallel, at times overlapping, at times complementary, and at times contrasting” (p. 66) and how such ambiguity has brought about the potential to create massive waves of counterhegemonic forces.
The second category of questions investigate the meaning these women assign to the label of Orthodox feminist and how they make sense of an identity that seems fraught with contradictions. The author takes a postcolonial approach in order not to limit the understanding of feminism to the White, western, modern definition. This approach allows for different versions and understandings of feminism that are produced within different cultural contexts and should be considered equally valid. She argues that the concept of Orthodox feminist is only contradictory when it is seen through a perspective that presupposes a very limited scope of what it means to be a feminist. While there are many points of tension between Orthodoxy and feminism, failing to capture the diverse experiences behind the feminist label can be problematic.
The third set of interview questions provides another excellent contribution of the book. By asking interviewees questions about their perceptions of the hierarchy of religious authority, Israel-Cohen investigates the extent of the effectiveness of Orthodox feminism beyond a gender discourse. She argues that Orthodox feminism is tied to a wider movement toward increased hybridity and pluralism within modern Orthodox Judaism that challenges religious boundaries and the centrality of religious authority. Between Feminism and Orthodox Judaism represents an interpretive study at its finest. It is well-written, theoretically sophisticated, and grounded within the literature. I highly recommend this book for scholars and nonscholars alike who are interested in studies of women’s resistance in conservative settings.