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210-490: Over 1,200 people attended NJA's founding conference on December 25, 1980, representing members of Orthodox , Conservative , Reconstructionist , and Reform , synagogues . The date was purposely chosen to coincide with Christmas . At the founding conference, a 25-member Executive Committee (EC) was elected. The EC agreed that the straw-poll resolutions should function as guides and not mandates of NJA policy, and proposed establishing taskforces for each proposal area. Many of

420-729: A PBS television special, "The Arab and the Israeli". These speaking tour dialogues were followed by local discussions between American Jewish and Arab communities. NJA also sponsored a tour of a founding member of the Committee Against the War in Lebanon and a member of the Israeli Committee in Solidarity with Bir Zeit University . NJA successfully lobbied a resolution to the 1982 General Assembly of

630-749: A civil disobedience action at the Supreme Court of the United States regarding the Hardwick decision (which ruled no legal privacy for gay sex) and for civil rights for people with AIDS. At the National Taskforce meeting in September 1987, the FTF committed to talking about issues of "Family" as a two-year campaign, and went about the work of creating dialogue about both traditional and non-traditional families within

840-642: A personal God in his opening six articles. The six concern God's status as the sole creator, his oneness, his impalpability, that he is first and last, that God alone, and no other being, may be worshipped, and that he is omniscient. The supremacy of the God of Israel is even applied to non-Jews. According to most rabbinic opinions, non-Jews are banned from the worship of other deities. However, they are allowed to " associate " lower divine beings with their faith in God (mostly to allow contact with Christians , accepting that they were not idolaters with whom business dealings and

1050-403: A "critique on racial capitalism , starting with slavery". Despite this, Black feminism had reasons to become independent of Black nationalism, according to some critics, because it had achieved only a niche within the generally sexist and masculinist structure of Black nationalism. The second-wave feminist movement emerged in the 1960s, led by Betty Friedan . Some Black women felt alienated by

1260-690: A 1986 report-back. NJA also organized a six-week tour featuring one of South Africa's most prominent rabbis active in the anti-apartheid movement, Ben Isaacson , and a leading Black South African minister, Rev. Zachariah Mokgebo . A conference on Anti-Semitism and Racism called "Carrying It On: Organizing Against Anti-Semitism and Racism for Jewish Activist and College Students" was held in Philadelphia in November 1991. Over 500 Jewish activists and allies from other communities gathered for workshops aiming to learn about and mobilize against institutionalized racism in

1470-538: A 30-minute video called "Crossing Borders" which was distributed within the Jewish community as an educational tool. New Jewish Agenda was a leadership incubator which contributed to the formation of many more focused and single-issue organizations before it shut down in 1992. There is no conclusive agreement as to the reasons behind NJA's official disbanding, but it is thought to have been in large part due to long-term debt, at one point reaching $ 60,000 and possibly higher. NJA

1680-734: A Black woman, then, cannot be grasped in terms of being Black or of being a woman but must be illuminated via intersectionality , a term coined by legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw in 1989. This idea corresponds with Deborah K. King 's idea of "multiple jeopardy" which claims that not only do identities intersect, as Crenshaw suggests, they multiply as well which leads to compounded forms of oppression against Black women. These lens of thinking indicate that each identity—being Black and being female—should be considered both independently and for their interaction effect, in which intersecting identities deepen, reinforce one another, and potentially lead to aggravated forms of inequality. A Black feminist lens in

1890-505: A Friday night event (Shabbat service and celebration), which brought together over 500 people. The images of hundreds of Jews marching with a 24-foot banner that read "Justice, Justice Thou Shall Pursue" created an opportunity to build bridges and demonstrate commitment to the weekend's themes. The Friday night gathering included speeches by Martin Luther King III and Susannah Heschel (whose father, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel , had been

2100-683: A Jewish perspective. In 1981, observance of Tisha B'Av coincided with the anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki by the U.S. during World War II . The occasion was marked by NJA with traditional observance of Tisha B'Av near the White House and the Soviet Embassy . These were buildings symbolic of the nuclear super-powers, thus marking the shared symbolism of the potential danger of world-destruction. In 1984, NJA chapters sponsored scores of Sukkat Shalom (Shelter of Peace) and Rainbow Sign celebrations, linking traditional Jewish observances with

2310-451: A Marvelous Real Paradigm: Hurston and Conjure Feminism (2023). The activist movement Black Lives Matter was initially formed by Opal Tometi , Alicia Garza , and Patrisse Kahn-Cullors as a hashtag to campaign against racism and police brutality against African Americans in the United States. The movement contributed to a revitalization and re-examining of the Black feminist movement. While

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2520-723: A Revolutionary Force," authored by Mary Ann Weathers and published in February 1969 in Cell 16 's radical feminist magazine No More Fun and Games: A Journal of Female Liberation . Weathers states her belief that "women's liberation should be considered as a strategy for an eventual tie-up with the entire revolutionary movement consisting of women, men, and children", but she posits that "[w]e women must start this thing rolling" because: All women suffer oppression, even white women, particularly poor white women, and especially Indian, Mexican, Puerto Rican, Oriental and Black American women whose oppression

2730-412: A close comrade of Dr. King). Jewish Feminist leadership was part of NJA's culture from its earliest days, and the 1985 Conference passed a resolution to begin a Feminist Taskforce (FTF). The national FTF encouraged local chapters to form their own feminist taskforces and work on recruiting women to NJA who would be interested in that work. New Jewish Agenda's feminist taskforce was heavily influenced by

2940-428: A consensus on the adaptation of halakha . Their initiative was thwarted by a combination of radical, secularist maskilim and leading conservative rabbis. This was highlighted during the battle that erupted after Moshe Leib Lilienblum 's 1868 call for a reconsideration of Talmudic strictures. Reines, Pines and their associates gradually formed the nucleus of Religious Zionism , while their conservative opponents adopted

3150-510: A creed, although the 13 principles expounded by Maimonides in his 1160s Commentary on the Mishna , remained the most widely accepted. Various points were contested by many of Maimonides' contemporaries and later sages, such as the exact formulation and the status of disbelievers (either misinformed or expelled heretics). Similarly, Albo listed only three fundamentals, and did not regard the Messiah as

3360-487: A decade; the lifting of formal discrimination also strongly affected the Jews of independent Poland , Lithuania and other states. In the 1930s, it was estimated that no more than 20%–33% of Poland's Jews, the last stronghold of traditionalism where many were still living in rural and culturally-secluded communities, could be considered strictly observant. Only upon having become an embattled (though still quite large) minority, did

3570-644: A delegation to the UN Decade for Women Forum in 1985 in Nairobi . The delegation organized a successful feminist Jewish, African-American and Arab dialogue at the 1985 Forum. Also, at the Forum an Israeli-Jew and a Palestinian-Arab from the Gaza Strip spoke to a crowd of over 400. This was an especially meaningful achievement because the two previous UN Women's Forums had been divided over a "Zionism equals Racism" resolution. NJA

3780-419: A different response, which first arose in its very epicenter. Severe protests did not affect Temple congregants, eventually leading the wardens of Hamburg's Jewish community to a comprehensive compromise for the sake of unity. They replaced the elderly, traditional Chief Dayan Baruch Oser with Isaac Bernays . The latter was a university graduate, clean-shaven, and modern, who could appeal to the acculturated and

3990-601: A few radical Black female activists joined the Communist party or focused on union activism. Although they did not all identify as feminists, their theorizing included important works that are the foundation for theories of intersectionality —integrating race, gender, and class. In 1940, for example, Esther V. Cooper (married name Esther Cooper Jackson ) wrote a M.A. thesis called "The Negro Woman Domestic Worker in Relation to Trade Unionism". And in 1949, Claudia Jones wrote "An End to

4200-410: A form of protection". In the 1890s Ida B. Wells , a trailblazing journalist and activist, became famous for seeking to find the truth about the lynching of Black men, a subject that many White feminists avoided. In the post-slavery period, Black female intellectuals and activists, such as Sojourner Truth , Anna Julia Cooper , Ida B. Wells , Mary Church Terrell , and Frances Harper , set in motion

4410-557: A general Statement of Purpose and specific statements on 18 issue areas. New Jewish Agenda maintained five primary campaigns through National Taskforces on Middle East Peace, Worldwide Nuclear Disarmament, Economic and Social Justice, Peace in Central America, and Jewish Feminism. Each taskforce coordinated work at the local and national level using organizing methods including national speaking tours, publications, newsletters, national taskforce gatherings, and conferences. Within many of

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4620-500: A gentile play an organ on the Sabbath, were combined with theological issues. The Temple's revised prayer book omitted or rephrased petitions for the coming of the Messiah and renewal of sacrifices ( post factum , it was considered to be the first Reform liturgy). More than anything else, this doctrinal breach alarmed the traditionalists. Dozens of rabbis from across Europe united in support of

4830-514: A key characteristic of hip-hop feminism has been said to be its mission to uplift black women and girls who partake in hip-hop culture in their everyday lives. Black women grapple with some of the complexities and influences of hip-hop culture within discourse and writing surrounding black feminists and hip-hop feminists. In the 21st century, new digital platforms have transformed black feminism, creating new pathways for activism. As stated by Catherine Steele in her book Digital Black Feminism (2021),

5040-582: A key tenet. Many who objected argued that the entire corpus of the Torah and the sayings of ancient sages were of canonical stature, rather than a few selected points. In later centuries, the 13 Principles became considered universally binding and cardinal by Orthodox authorities. During the Middle Ages, two systems of thought competed for primacy. The rationalist-philosophic school endeavored to present all commandments as serving higher moral and ethical purposes, while

5250-619: A large group of other Tyson supporters in heckling the African Americans Against Violence group, accusing them of "catering to white radical feminists". A particularly imminent medium of oppression for Black women in the 1980s and '90s was hip-hop music. The New York hip-hop scene was mainly dominated my men and most producers were focused on rap superstars such as Notorious B.I.G. and Sean "Diddy" Combs . A number of female emcees can be credited for having expanded Black womanhood in music during this time; notable artists in

5460-505: A largely White-led movement. As Anita Cornwell stated, "When the shooting starts any Black is fair game. the bullets don't give a damn whether I sleep with a woman or a man". In 1970, a defining moment for Black lesbian feminists occurred at the Black Panther's Revolutionary People's Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Several Black lesbian feminists confronted a group of White lesbian feminists about what they saw as

5670-498: A learned few). The combination of religious conservatism and modernity in everything else was emulated elsewhere, earning the label " Neo-Orthodoxy ". Bernays and his like-minded followers, such as Rabbi Jacob Ettlinger , fully accepted the platform of the moderate Haskalah , taking away its progressive edge. While old-style traditional life continued in Germany until the 1840s, secularization and acculturation turned Neo-Orthodoxy into

5880-428: A means of degradation, but as a form of empowerment and self-worth . Ignoring these differences only creates more of a divide between social movements and other feminist groups, especially in the case of violence against women where the caliber of violence is correlated with components such as race and class. Another issue of identity politics is the conflict of group formations and safe spaces for Black women. In

6090-512: A mistake of the common masses) was to be meticulously observed and revered. Sofer was frank and vehement about his stance, stating during the Hamburg dispute that prayers in the vernacular were not problematic per se , but he forbade them because they constituted an innovation. He succinctly expressed his attitude in wordplay he borrowed from the Talmud: "The new ( Chadash , originally meaning new grain)

6300-451: A modernized synagogue in Pressburg and other innovations, and his yeshiva was nearly closed by warden Wolf Breisach. But in 1822, three poor (and therefore traditional) community members, whose deceased apostate brother bequeathed them a large fortune, rose to the wardens' board. Breisach died soon after, and the Pressburg community became dominated by the conservatives. Sofer also possessed

6510-614: A number of others. In the early 1990s, AWARE (African Woman's Action for Revolutionary Exchange) was formed in New York by Reena Walker and Laura Peoples after a plenary session on Black women's issues held at the Malcolm X Conference at the Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC) entitled Black Women and Black Liberation: Fighting Oppression and Building Unity . In 1991, the Malcolm X Conference

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6720-575: A parade that a group of reverends led by Al Sharpton were attempting to hold in Harlem for Mike Tyson . The group, including Eve and Kathe Sandler, Nsia Bandele, and Indigo Washington, worked successfully to stop the parade from happening, bringing attention to the struggle of Black women against sexism and domestic violence. A supporter of Mike Tyson, social worker Bill Jones, exclaimed "The man has paid his debt" (in regards to Tyson's rape conviction), and joined

6930-496: A partition. By 2005, that number went down to one, and ceased to exist when that synagogue resigned from the OU in 2015 after understanding that the OU was planning to expel it. In the postwar era, the vague traditional coalition came to a definite end. During and after the Holocaust , a new wave of strictly observant refugees arrived from Eastern and Central Europe. They typically regarded

7140-505: A polemic instigated by Hirsch. Lesser became a rallying point for conservative elements, concerned mainly with public standards of observance in critical fields such as marriage. A broad non-Reform, relatively traditional camp slowly coalesced as the minority within American Jewry, serving the nonobservant. Their synagogues liberalized their approach: omission of piyyutim from the liturgy; English-language sermons; secular education for

7350-569: A rabbinic ordination and limited knowledge would have marked him as a heretic by European standards . In 1845 he introduced the words "Orthodox" and "Orthodoxy" into the American Jewish discourse, explicitly to oppose Reform. Leeser was a staunch proponent of Zecharias Frankel , whom he considered the "leader of the Orthodox party". at a time when Positive-Historical and Orthodox positions were hardly distinguishable. In 1861, Leeser defended Frankel in

7560-618: A rabbinical seminary including secular studies. The progressives viewed him as too conservative. After four years of constant strife, he lost faith in the possibility of reuniting the Jewish public. In 1851, a group in Frankfurt am Main that opposed the Reform character of the Jewish community turned to Hirsch. He led them for the remainder of his life, finding Frankfurt a hospitable site for his unique ideology, which amalgamated acculturation, dogmatic theology, thorough observance, and strict secession from

7770-640: A racially divisive agenda. Following this event, several groups began to include and organize around Black lesbian politics. For example, in 1973, the National Black Feminist Organization was founded and included a lesbian agenda. In 1975, the Combahee River Collective was founded out of experiences and feelings of sexism in the Black Power movements and racism in the lesbian feminist movement. The primary focus of this collective

7980-400: A remnant of the past and lending credit to their own rival ideology. Thus, the term Orthodox is often used generically to refer to traditional (even if only in the sense that it is unrelated to modernist movement) synagogues, rites, and observances. Academic research noted that the formation of Orthodox ideology and organizations was itself influenced by modernity. This was brought about by

8190-699: A report that the Sandinistas were not engaging in anti-Semitic behavior or policies and in fact that Nicaragua was willing to resume diplomatic talks with Israel and to oppose any forms of anti-Semitism. Through widespread publicity, the 1984 delegation was able to make great strides in discrediting the Reagan administration's attempts to mobilize the American Jewish community support for the Contras . NJA sent down many more delegations to Central America , joined with other peace groups for lobbying and speaking out against U.S. aid to

8400-537: A salvific Messiah -King who will restore the Temple in Jerusalem and gather the people to Zion . Orthodox Judaism is not a centralized denomination. Relations between its different subgroups are often strained, and the exact limits of Orthodoxy are subject to intense debate. Very roughly, it may be divided between Haredi Judaism (ultra-Orthodox), which is more conservative and reclusive, and Modern Orthodox Judaism , which

8610-611: A self-sufficient attitude, the rebellious "Sista with Attitude," an intensely assertive image that threatened patriarchal stereotypes, and the revolutionary "Lesbian," which openly defied heteronormative ideals. While the first three groups emerged throughout the '80s, the "Lesbian" category was not recognized until the '90s, popularized by the release of Queen Pen 's track, "Girlfriend;" until then, gay and lesbian hip-hop artists were alleged. Black female emcees used these categories, and various combinations of their respective images, to address issues that affected Black women and girls and push

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8820-405: A strong base in the form of his yeshiva , the world's largest at the time, with hundreds of students. And crucially, the large and privileged Hungarian nobility blocked most imperial reforms in the backward country, including those relevant to the Jews. Hungarian Jewry retained its pre-modern character well into the 19th century, allowing Sofer's disciples to establish a score of new yeshivas , at

9030-477: A symbol of Reform in Germany since 1818, so much that Hildesheimer seminarians had to sign a declaration that they would never serve in a synagogue that introduced one – was accepted with little qualm by the French Consistoire in 1856, as part of a series of synagogue regulations passed by Chief Rabbi Salomon Ulmann . Even Rabbi Solomon Klein of Colmar , the leader of Alsatian conservatives who partook in

9240-405: A time when these institutions were rapidly closing in the west, and a strong rabbinate to appoint them. A generation later, a self-aware Orthodoxy was well entrenched in the country. Hungarian Jewry gave rise both to Orthodoxy in general, in the sense of a comprehensive response to modernity, and specifically to the traditionalist, militant ultra-Orthodoxy . The 1818–1821 controversy also elicited

9450-488: A united observant pro-Zionist front would be formed, were dashed between 1897 and 1899, as both the Eastern European nationalist intellectuals and Theodor Herzl himself revealed an uncompromising secularist agenda, forcing traditionalist leaders to pick sides. In 1900, the anti-Zionist pamphlet Or la-Yesharim , endorsed by many Russian and Polish rabbis, largely demarcated the lines between the proto- Haredi majority and

9660-419: A voice. Hip-hop feminism , first coined by Joan Morgan in 1999, is considered to be a branch of Black feminism that Author Gwendolyn D. Pough described hip-hop feminists as people who are "immersed in hip-hop culture" and actively advocate against gender discrimination within that culture. She asserts that hip-hop feminists share the same predecessors as black feminists and womanists, inherently connecting

9870-421: A year. German Neo-Orthodoxy, in the meantime, developed a keen interest in the traditional Jewish masses of Russia and Poland; if at the past they were considered primitive, a disillusionment with emancipation and enlightenment made many young assimilated German Orthodox youth embark on journeys to East European yeshivot , in search of authenticity. The German secessionists already possessed a platform of their own,

10080-458: Is a necessity not as an adjunct to somebody else's but because of our need as human persons for autonomy." According to Black feminism, race, gender, and class discrimination are all aspects of the same system of hierarchy , which bell hooks calls the "imperialist white supremacist, capitalist patriarchy." Due to their inter-dependency, they combine to create something more than experiencing racism and sexism independently. The experience of being

10290-476: Is a particularly touchy subject in Black feminism because of the perceived double standard that when White women wear Black hairstyles, they are deemed "trendy" or "edgy", while Black women are labelled "ghetto" or "unprofessional". Black feminists also voiced the importance of increasing "representation" of Black women in television and movies. According to a 2014 study by the University of Southern California, of

10500-484: Is an extension or expansion of Black feminism. Dr. Whitney A. Peoples argues that examples of Black women being sexually objectified in hip-hop are hyper prominent due to deep-seated racist ideologies and stereotypes that deem Black women as sexually and morally deviant. Hip-hop feminism explores hip-hop as a vehicle for addressing the complexities of misogyny in hip-hop and any discrepancies in mainstream feminism. More than speaking out against misogyny in hip-hop, however,

10710-514: Is forbidden by the Torah anywhere." Regarding the new, ideologically-driven sinners, Sofer commented in 1818 that they should have been anathemized and banished from the People of Israel like earlier heretical sects. Unlike most, if not all, rabbis in Central Europe, who had little choice but to compromise, Sofer enjoyed unique circumstances. He, too, had to tread carefully during the 1810s, tolerating

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10920-402: Is often described as extremely conservative, ossifying a once-dynamic tradition due to the fear of legitimizing change. While this was sometimes true, its defining feature was not forbidding change and "freezing" Jewish heritage, but rather the need to adapt to the segment of Judaism in a modern world inhospitable to traditional practice. Orthodoxy often involved much accommodation and leniency. In

11130-417: Is relatively open to outer society and partakes in secular life and culture. Each of those is itself formed of independent streams. These are almost uniformly exclusionist, regarding Orthodoxy as the only legitimate form of Judaism. While adhering to traditional beliefs, the movement is a modern phenomenon. It arose as a result of the breakdown of the autonomous Jewish community since the late 18th century, and

11340-626: Is the Moment: Israelis and Palestinians Talk". NJA protested Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin when he spoke in Los Angeles in 1982. In November 1983, NJA protested Ariel Sharon at a Hebrew Academy banquet in San Francisco and over 2,000 demonstrators turned out. In 1985, NJA joined protests against violent anti-Arab activities in Los Angeles. In early 1988, NJA supported Israeli peace groups' mobilization of progressive representatives at

11550-541: Is to be interpreted and determined only according to traditional methods and in adherence to the continuum of received precedent through the ages. It regards the entire halakhic system as ultimately grounded in immutable revelation, essentially beyond external and historical influence. More than any theoretical issue, obeying the dietary , purity , ethical and other laws of halakha is the hallmark of Orthodoxy. Practicing members are easily distinguishable by their lifestyle, refraining from doing numerous routine actions on

11760-450: Is tripled by any of the above-mentioned. But we do have females' oppression in common. This means that we can begin to talk to other women with this common factor and start building links with them and thereby build and transform the revolutionary force we are now beginning to amass. Not only did the civil rights movement primarily focus on the oppression of Black men, but many Black women faced severe sexism within civil rights groups such as

11970-692: The Boston University conference "Judaism, War and the Nuclear Arms Race". Following a 1986 Shalom Center Training Institute for disarmament activists, taskforce members became increasingly interested in making connections between disarmament and human rights issues, especially as applied to solidarity with Soviet Jewry , including participation in a demonstration on the Mall in Washington in December 1987, on

12180-548: The Council of Jewish Federations (CJF), for the passage of a multi-lateral nuclear arms freeze. The CJF resolution had powerful effects in the larger Jewish community, prompting other major Jewish organizations, including the American Jewish Congress and B'nai Brith , to issue similar statements. Arthur Waskow formed another Jewish organization, The Shalom Center , in 1983 to focus on peace and anti-nuclear activism from

12390-574: The Czar 's government all had little influence. School modernization under Max Lilienthal , the growth of rabbinical seminaries and the mandating to appoint clerks known as "official rabbis" all had little impact. Communal autonomy and the rabbinic courts' jurisdiction were abolished in 1844, but economic and social seclusion remained, ensuring the de facto authority of Jewish institutions and traditions. In 1880, only 21,308 Jewish pupils attended government schools, out of some 5 million Jews; In 1897, 97% of

12600-618: The Freie Vereinigung für die Interessen des Orthodoxen Judentums , founded by Samson Raphael Hirsch in 1885. In 1912, two German FVIOJ leaders, Isaac Breuer and Jacob Rosenheim , managed to organize a meeting of 300 seceding Mizrahi, proto- Haredi and secessionist Neo-Orthodox delegate in Katowice , creating the Agudath Israel party. While the Germans were a tiny minority in comparison to

12810-476: The French Revolution , was more and more inclined to tolerate Jews as a religious sect, but not as an autonomous entity, and sought to reform and integrate them as "useful subjects". Jewish emancipation and equal rights were discussed. The Christian (and especially Protestant ) separation of "religious" and "secular" was applied to Jewish affairs, to which these concepts were alien. The rabbis were bemused when

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13020-532: The Graf-Wellhausen hypothesis formed the classical Orthodox response to Higher Criticism. Hoffman declared that for him, the unity of the Pentateuch was a given, regardless of research. Hirsch often lambasted Hoffman for contextualizing rabbinic literature. All of them stressed the importance of dogmatic adherence to Torah min ha-Shamayim , which led them to conflict with Rabbi Zecharias Frankel , Chancellor of

13230-502: The Hamburg Temple in 1818 mobilized the conservative elements. The organizers of the synagogue wished to appeal to acculturated Jews with a modernized ritual. They openly defied not just the local rabbinic court that ordered them to desist, but published learned tracts that castigated the entire rabbinical elite as hypocritical and obscurant . The moral threat they posed to rabbinic authority, as well as halakhic issues such as having

13440-547: The Jewish Peace Fellowship . Orthodox Judaism Orthodox Judaism is a collective term for the traditionalist branches of contemporary Judaism . Theologically , it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah , both Written and Oral , as literally revealed by God on Mount Sinai and faithfully transmitted ever since. Orthodox Judaism therefore advocates a strict observance of Jewish Law, or halakha , which

13650-482: The Jewish Theological Seminary of Breslau . Unlike the Reform camp, Frankel insisted on strict observance and displayed great reverence towards tradition. But though appreciated by conservatives, his practice of Wissenschaft left him suspect to Hirsch and Hildesheimer. They demanded again and again that he state his beliefs concerning the nature of revelation. In 1859, Frankel published a critical study of

13860-485: The Mishnah , and added that all commandments classified as " Law given to Moses at Sinai " were merely customs (he broadened Asher ben Jehiel 's opinion). Hirsch and Hildesheimer seized the opportunity and launched a public campaign against him, accusing him of heresy. Concerned that public opinion regarded both neo-Orthodoxy and Frankel's "Positive-Historical School" centered at Breslau as similarly observant and traditionalist,

14070-602: The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) founded in 1909, and the National Association of Wage Earners founded in 1921, were born. Black writers of the early 1900s who undertook themes included educator and activist Mary Church Terrell and Zora Neale Hurston . In her autobiography A Colored Woman in a White World (1940), Terrell chronicled her experiences with both racism and sexism. Hurston's substantial number of published works include

14280-742: The National Council of Jewish Women . The event started with a presentation talking about battered Jewish women and Jewish incest survivors. The work of the Feminist Taskforce covered ground that overlapped with many of the other campaigns, and the FTF housed both the Gay/Lesbian Working Group and the AIDS Working Group. AIDS was always on the NJA agenda, especially as an issue to promote within Jewish communities. The AIDS Working Group

14490-489: The Sabbateans or Frankists , against whom sanctions were levied. Their attitudes did not fit the criteria set when faith was a normative and self-evident part of worldly life, but rested on the realities of the new, secularized age. The wardens' class, which wielded most power within the communities, was rapidly acculturating and often sought to oblige the state's agenda. Rabbi Elazar Fleckeles , who returned to Prague from

14700-555: The Sabbath and holidays, consuming only kosher food, praying thrice a day, studying the Torah often, donning head covering and tassels for men and modest clothing for women, and so forth. Other key doctrines include belief in a future bodily resurrection of the dead , divine reward and punishment for the righteous and the sinners, the Election of Israel as a people bound by a covenant with God , and an eventual Messianic Age ruled by

14910-416: The Sages . The more radical among the Wissenschaft rabbis, unwilling to limit critical analysis or its practical application, coalesced around Rabbi Abraham Geiger to establish Reform Judaism . Between 1844 and 1846, Geiger organized three rabbinical synods in Braunschweig , Frankfurt and Breslau , to determine how to refashion Judaism for present times. The Reform conferences were met with uproar by

15120-511: The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee . Within the movement, men dominated the powerful positions. Black feminists did not want the movement to be the struggle only for Black men's rights, they wanted Black women's rights to be incorporated too. Black feminists also felt they needed to have their own movement because the complaints of White feminists sometimes differed from their own and favored White women. In

15330-536: The civil rights movement , which began in earnest in the 1950s. Many events, such as the Montgomery bus boycott , were made successful due to the women who distributed information. During the Montgomery bus boycott, 35,000 leaflets were mimeographed and handed out after Rosa Parks ’ arrest. Georgia Gilmore , after being fired from her job as a cook and black-listed from other jobs in Montgomery due to her contributions to

15540-483: The historical-critical study of scripture and the dominant philosophies of the day, especially Kant and Hegel . Influenced by the critical " Science of Judaism " ( Wissenschaft des Judentums ) pioneered by Leopold Zunz , and often in emulation of the Liberal Protestant milieu, they reexamined and undermined beliefs held as sacred in traditional circles, especially the notion of an unbroken chain from Sinai to

15750-476: The " appropriation " of Black culture were commented on. For example, a 2015 Vogue Italia photo shoot involving model Gigi Hadid wearing an afro sparked backlash on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Some users claimed it was problematic and racist to have a non-Black model wear an afro and a fake tan to give the appearance of Blackness when the fashion magazine could have hired a Black model instead. Kearie Daniel wrote that White people wearing certain hairstyles

15960-450: The "zealots" were shocked by the demise of the traditional world into which they had been born. Like Moses Sofer a generation before them, these Orthodox émigrés moved east, to a pre-modern environment that they were determined to safeguard. Lichtenstein ruled out any compromise with modernity, insisting on maintaining Yiddish and traditional dress. They considered the Neologs as already beyond

16170-524: The "zealots"' cause, dismissed their legal arguments. In 1865, the ultra-Orthodox convened in Nagymihály and issued a ban on various synagogue reforms, intended not against the Neologs but against developments in the Orthodox camp, especially after Samuel Sofer violated his father's expressed ban and instituted vernacular sermons in Pressburg. Schick, the country's most prominent decisor, and other leading rabbis refused to sign, though they did not publicly oppose

16380-464: The '80s such as MC Lyte , Queen Latifah , and Salt-N-Pepa carved out space for later black female artists. Throughout the '80s and '90s, black female rappers were classified into four categories, often seamlessly traveling between or blending a number of labels together. The categories included the wise "Queen Mother," an intelligent, Afro-centric, and activist-driven image, the beautiful and outspoken "Fly Girl," characterized by fashionable clothes and

16590-409: The 100 top films of that year, "nearly three-quarters of all characters were white", NPR reports, and only 17 of those 100 top movies featured non-White lead or co-lead actors. That number falls further when only looking at non-White women leads, considering only one-third of speaking roles were for women, according to the same study. Conjure Feminism A new form of Black feminism has emerged with

16800-425: The 1949 arrest of and then death sentence issued to Rosa Lee Ingram , a victim of sexual violence. Defenders of Ingram included the famous Black feminist Mary Church Terrell , who was an octogenarian at the time. Despite often initiating protests, organizing and fundraising events, communicating to the community, and formulating strategies, women in positions of leadership are often overlooked by historians covering

17010-565: The 1960s, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) was highly active and focused on achieving "a social order of justice" through peaceful tactics. The SNCC was founded by Ella Baker . Baker was a member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the Southern Christian Leadership Council (SCLC) . When Baker served as Martin Luther King Jr. 's SCLC executive secretary, she

17220-588: The 31st World Zionist Congress (WZC). In the year before the WZC, NJA collected 650 new members for "Americans for Peace in Israel", the US affiliate of Mapam . New Jewish Agenda and American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) co-sponsored a national speaking tour (in 1984) of Peace Now leader Mordechai Bar-on (a former IDF officer and member of Israeli Knesset) and Mohammed Milhem (deposed West Bank Palestinian Mayor), resulting in

17430-682: The 5.2 million Jews in the Pale of Settlement and Congress Poland spoke Yiddish their mother tongue, and only 26% were literate in Russian. Though the Eastern European Haskalah challenged the traditional establishment, it flourished from the 1820s until the 1890s. Unlike its western counterpart, it thrived despite ongoing acculturation. The leading rabbis maintained the concept of communal unity: in 1882, when an Orthodox party in Galicia appealed for

17640-598: The African American Policy Forum has been used to amplify the stories of Black women who have been victims of police brutality, as their stories are often overlooked in mainstream media. Using hashtags and social media content on digital platforms has broadened the black feminist movement's reach and increased their accessibility. As a result, platforms such as "Black Twitter" have developed new spaces for education and activism on Black women's experiences, pushing for systemic change. Digital age feminism involved

17850-495: The Breslau School, who don silk gloves at their work, and Geiger who wields a sledgehammer . During the 1840s in Germany, as traditionalists became a clear minority, some Orthodox rabbis, such as Salomo Eger of Posen , urged the adoption of Moses Sofer 's position and to anathemize the principally nonobservant. Eating, worshipping or marrying with them were to be banned. Rabbi Jacob Ettlinger , whose journal Treue Zionswächter

18060-679: The Contras, and represented the Jewish community in both the Pledge of Resistance coalition and the Inter-Religious Task Force on Central America. NJA took special notice of the Sanctuary movement , which had formerly been a movement of progressive churches, inspired by the Liberation Theology movement . In less than a year, over twenty synagogues were active in the sanctuary movement. This

18270-581: The Disarmament taskforce built a sukkah across the street from the White House. Though NJA members identified their activism as explicitly Jewish, they were met with mixed and often critical response from the larger Jewish community. At a November 28, 1982 Delegates Conference in NYC, 65 elected representatives of NJA chapters and at-large members from across US, consented on a National Platform. The Platform included

18480-583: The Eastern Europeans, their modern education made them a prominent elite in the new organization, which strove to provide a comprehensive response to world Jewry's challenges in a strictly observant spirit. The Agudah immediately formed its Council of Torah Sages as supreme rabbinic leadership body. Many ultra-traditionalist elements in Eastern Europe, like the Belz and Lubavitch Hasidim, refused to join, viewing

18690-459: The Frankfurt community, and decreed that all Orthodox should do the same. However, unlike the heterogeneous congregations of Hungary, which often consisted of recent immigrants, Frankfurt and most German communities were close-knit. The majority of Hirsch's congregants enlisted Rabbi Seligman Baer Bamberger , who was older and more conservative. Bamberger was concerned with the principal of unity among

18900-410: The Hamburg rabbinic court, banning the major practices enacted there and offering halakhic grounds for forbidding any changes. Most historians concur that the 1818–1821 Hamburg Temple dispute , with its concerted backlash against Reform and the emergence of a self-aware conservative ideology, marks the beginning of Orthodox Judaism. The leader and organizer of the Orthodox camp during the dispute, and

19110-593: The Hungarian ultra-Orthodox struggled to provide strong halakhic arguments. Michael Silber wrote: "These issues, even most of the religious reforms, fell into gray areas not easily treated within Halakha. It was often too flexible or ambiguous, at times silent, or worse yet, embarrassingly lenient." Schlesinger was forced to venture outside of normative law, into mystical writings and other fringe sources, to buttress his ideology. Most Hungarian Orthodox rabbis, while sympathetic to

19320-639: The Hypatia journal article on conjure feminism and co-edited the special issue. Other publications on conjure feminist themes include Kameelah Martin's (2012) Conjuring Moments in African American literature: Women, Spirit Work, and Other Such Hoodoo and Envisioning Black Feminist Voodoo Aesthetics: African Spirituality in American Cinema (2019); The Lemonade Reader (2019) edited by Kinitra Brooks and Kameelah Martin; and Patricia Coloma Peñate's The Erotic as

19530-401: The Jewish community. NJA was the only American Jewish organization that clearly opposed the 1982 Lebanon War from its onset. In June 1982, shortly after Agenda's founding, NJA took out a full-page New York Times ad criticizing and denouncing the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. Local chapters were able to mobilize first, including a public statement by NJA's Washington DC chapter two days after

19740-579: The Jewish community. On Mother's Day 1988, the FTF convened a conference in Philadelphia on Women and Poverty. A panel discussion led by Adrienne Rich addressed the reality of high poverty rates among all women and discussed how stereotypes of Jewish wealth work to hide the poverty many Jewish women struggle with. A few days later, on May 19, 1988, the FTF put on a program in New York City called "No More Family Secrets: Now We're Talking", co-sponsored with

19950-589: The June 6th Israeli invasion of Lebanon, a statement and protest vigil by the Massachusetts chapter, and a City Hall protest by Philadelphia NJA. NJA also organized town meetings featuring foreign policy expert Noam Chomsky . In 1983, NJA circulated a petition for a "Freeze on Settlements in the West Bank". It was signed by 5,000 American Jews and enabled a public education campaign about the effects of settlement policies on

20160-451: The Law and commandments rests on coercion, enabling to force obedience and punish the transgressor. Denying this fact is akin to denying the sun at noon. However, maskilic '-rabbinic rivalry ended in most of Central Europe, as governments imposed modernization upon their Jewish subjects. Schools replaced traditional cheders , and standard German began to supplant Yiddish . Differences between

20370-497: The Middle Ages, Maimonides and his contemporaries reported that anthropomorphic conceptions of God were quite common in their time. Black feminism Black feminism is a branch of feminism that focuses on the African-American woman's experiences and recognizes the intersectionality of racism and sexism .  Black feminism philosophy centers on the idea that "Black women are inherently valuable, that liberation

20580-625: The Middle East peace process. NJA then brought the Settlement Freeze petition to the General Assembly of the Council of Jewish Federations. New Jewish Agenda also led two intensive political study missions to Israel and the occupied territories in the summers of 1983 and 1984, meeting with academics, journalists and leading political figures. A later tour led to the creation of the 1991 video "This

20790-541: The Mizrahi minority, and terminated dialogue; in 1911, when the 10th World Zionist Congress voted in favour of propagating non-religious cultural work and education, a large segment of the Mizrahi seceded and joined the anti-Zionists. In 1907, Eastern European proto- Haredi elements formed the Knesseth Israel party, a modern framework created in recognition of the deficiencies of existing institutions. It dissipated within

21000-559: The Neglect of the Problems of the Negro Woman". Other feminist activism and organizing happened around different cases of racial and sexual violence. For example, Esther Cooper and Rosa Parks organized to help Recy Taylor . In 1944, Taylor was the victim of a gang rape; Parks and Cooper attempted to bring the culprits to justice. Black feminist activists focused on other similar cases, such as

21210-529: The Orthodox need to tolerate the nonobservant majority: Many of their own congregants were far removed from strict practice. For example, he allowed congregants to drink wine poured by Sabbath desecrators, and to ignore other halakhic sanctions. Yet German neo-Orthodoxy could not legitimize nonobservance, and adopted a hierarchical approach, softer than traditional sanctions, but no less intent on differentiating sinners and righteous. Reform rabbis or lay leaders, considered ideological opponents, were castigated, while

21420-587: The Orthodox seceded from the Congress and appealed to Parliament in the name of religious freedom. This demonstrated the internalization of the new circumstances: Twenty years before, in 1851, Orthodox leader Meir Eisenstaedter petitioned the authorities to restore the old coercive powers of the communities. In 1871 the government recognized a separate Orthodox national committee. Communities that refused to join either side, labeled "Status Quo", were subject to Orthodox condemnation even when impeccably conservative. However,

21630-437: The Orthodox tolerated nonobservant Jews as long as they affiliated with the national committee: Adam Ferziger claimed that membership and loyalty, rather than beliefs and ritual behavior, emerged as the definitive manifestation of Jewish identity. The Hungarian schism was the most radical internal separation among the Jews of Europe. Hildesheimer returned to Germany soon after, disillusioned though not as pessimistic as Hirsch. He

21840-521: The Orthodox. Warden Hirsch Lehren of Amsterdam and Rabbi Jacob Ettlinger of Altona both organized anti-Reform manifestos, denouncing the new initiatives, signed by scores of rabbis from Europe and the Middle East. The tone of the signatories varied considerably along geographic lines: letters from traditional societies in Eastern Europe and the Ottoman Empire implored local leaders to petition

22050-495: The People Israel and dismissive of Hirsch, whom he regarded as unlearned and overly assimilated. He decreed that since the mother community was willing to finance Orthodox services and allow them religious freedom, secession was unwarranted. Eventually, less than 80 families from Hirsch's 300-strong congregation followed their rabbi. The vast majority of the 15%–20% of German Jews affiliated with Orthodox institutions cared little for

22260-628: The SNCC (who were later identified as White allies Mary King and Casey Hayden ) openly challenged the way women were treated when they issued the "SNCC Position Paper (Women in the Movement)". The paper listed 11 events in which women were treated as subordinate to men. According to the paper, women in SNCC did not have a chance to become the face of the organization, the top leaders, because they were assigned to clerical and housekeeping duties, whereas men were involved in decision-making. When Stokely Carmichael

22470-599: The Talmudic exegesis , which derived laws from the Torah 's text by employing hermeneutics , was binding d'Oraita . Geiger and others presented exegesis as an arbitrary, illogical process, and consequently defenders of tradition embraced Maimonides ' claim that the Sages merely buttressed already received laws with biblical citations, rather than actually deriving them. Jay Harris commented, "An insulated orthodox, or, rather, traditional rabbinate, feeling no pressing need to defend

22680-424: The Temple leaders. He introduced secular studies for children, wore a cassock like a Protestant clergyman, and delivered vernacular sermons. He forbade the spontaneous, informal character of synagogue conduct typical of Ashkenazi tradition, and ordered prayers to be somber and dignified. Bernays' style re-unified the Hamburg community by accommodating their aesthetic demands (but not theological ones, raised by only

22890-464: The U.S. and to analyze the relationship between anti-Semitism and racism. Julian Bond , African-American SNCC founder, Georgia senator, and future chairman of the NAACP (1998–2010), offered a Keynote speech detailing the history of black-Jewish relations over the past 250 years in the U.S. NJA organized the Jewish contingent for the 1983 20th Anniversary March on Washington for Jobs, Peace, and Freedom and

23100-718: The UOR as overly Americanized. Typical of these was Rabbi Aaron Kotler , who established Lakewood Yeshiva in New Jersey in 1943. Alarmed by the American innovations, Kotler turned his institution into an enclave, around which a community slowly evolved. It was unlike his prewar yeshiva at Kletsk , Poland , whose students mingled with the rest of the population. Lakewood pioneered the homogeneous, voluntary and enclavist model of postwar Haredi communities, which were independent entities developing their own subculture. The new arrivals soon dominated

23310-470: The United States was first employed by Black women to make sense of how white supremacy and patriarchy interacted to inform the particular experiences of enslaved Black women. Black activists and intellectuals formed organizations such as the National Association of Colored Women (NACW) and the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW). Black feminism rose to prominence in the 1960s, as the civil rights movement excluded women from leadership positions, and

23520-551: The affluent wardens' class ( parnasim ), judicially subject to rabbinical courts , which governed most civil matters. The rabbinical class monopolized education and morals, much like the Christian clergy. Jewish Law was considered normative and enforced upon transgressors (common sinning was rebuked, but tolerated) invoking all communal sanctions: imprisonment, taxation, flogging, pillorying, and, especially, excommunication . Cultural, economic, and social exchange with non-Jewish society

23730-537: The attributes of God in Judaism : one and indivisible, preceding all creation, which God alone brought into being, eternal, omniscient, omnipotent, absolutely incorporeal, and beyond human reason. This basis is evoked in many foundational texts, and is repeated often in daily prayers, such as in Judaism's creed-like Shema Yisrael : "Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One." Maimonides delineated this understanding of

23940-494: The authorities and have them ban the movement. Signers from Central and Western Europe used terms commensurate with the liberal age. All were implored by the petitioners to be brief and accessible; complex halakhic arguments, intended to convince the rabbinic elite in past generations, were replaced by an appeal to the secularized masses. The struggle with Wissenschaft criticism shaped the Orthodox. For centuries, Ashkenazi rabbinic authorities espoused Nahmanides ' position that

24150-493: The beauty, power and resilience of Black women". Thompson began to use the hashtag #BlackGirlsAreMagic in 2013 to speak about the positive achievements of Black women. It also emphasises the idea that black girls thrive and prevail while enduring blockages and structural walls daily. Although it was popularized on social media, the movement has inspired many organizations to host events using the title, along with support from celebrities and politicians globally. Alleged instances of

24360-439: The boundaries of a historically misogynistic and homophobic industry. In the 1990s, Lil' Kim who was signed to Biggie Smalls' Junior M.A.F.I.A. Imprint, expressed her message. She achieved an image of fierce independence and comfort with her body. She defied the presumption in hip-hop that women are there to humble the presence of men. Lil' Kim's outspokenness and unprecedented lyrics were rejected by many people who believed in

24570-496: The boycott, organized the Club From Nowhere, a group that cooked and baked to fund the effort. In the second half of the 20th century, Black feminism as a political and social movement grew out of Black women's feelings of discontent with both the civil rights movement and the feminist movement of the 1960s and 1970s. One of the foundational statements of left-wing Black feminism is "An Argument for Black Women's Liberation as

24780-554: The call for nuclear disarmament. NJA built a sukkah in Lafayette Park across from the White House in order to draw attention to their anti-nuclear organizing. 500 NJA members marched in the June 12, 1982 Disarmament Rally in New York, which was at that time the largest Disarmament Rally in American history. In 1985, NJA brought a large delegation to the Mobilization for Justice and Peace in Washington, DC. In 1986, NJA co-sponsored

24990-696: The castigation of Zecharias Frankel, allowed the instrument in his community. In England, Rabbi Nathan Marcus Adler 's United Synagogue shared a similar approach: It was vehemently conservative in principle and combated ideological reformers , yet served a nonobservant public – as Todd Endelman noted, "While respectful of tradition, most English-born Jews were not orthodox in terms of personal practice. Nonetheless they were content to remain within an orthodox congregational framework" – and introduced considerable synagogue reforms. The slow pace of modernization in Russia, Congress Poland and Romanian principalities delayed

25200-407: The clergy; and many did not partition men and women. In 1885, the antinomian Pittsburgh Platform moved conservative religious leaders to found the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (JTS). Orthodoxy never became consistent and was mainly motivated by a rejection of Reform. They variously termed their ideology as "Enlightened Orthodoxy" or " Conservative Judaism ". The latter gradually became

25410-568: The common mass was to be carefully handled. Some German neo-Orthodox believed that while doomed to minority status in their native country, their ideology could successfully confront modernity and unify Judaism in more traditional communities to the east. In 1847, Hirsch was elected Chief Rabbi of Moravia , where old rabbinic culture and yeshiva s were still extant. His expectations were dashed as traditionalist rabbis scorned him for his European manners and lack of Talmudic acumen. They became enraged by his attempts to reform synagogues and to establish

25620-488: The countryside in 1783, recalled that he first faced there "new vices" of principled irreverence towards tradition, rather than "old vices" such as gossip or fornication. In Hamburg , Rabbi Raphael Cohen attempted to reinforce traditional norms. Cohen ordered the men in his community to grow a beard, forbade holding hands with one's wife in public, and decried women who wore wigs, instead of visible headgear , to cover their hair; Cohen taxed and otherwise persecuted members of

25830-519: The crisis of traditional society for decades. , Harsh discrimination and active persecution of Jews continued there until 1917. Old-style education in the heder and yeshiva remained the norm, retaining Hebrew as the language of the elite and Yiddish as the vernacular. The defining fault-line of Eastern European Jews was between the Hasidim and the Misnagdic reaction against them. Reform attempts by

26040-492: The deaths of Black men played a major part in the Black Lives Matter movement, Rekia Boyd , Michelle Cusseaux, Tanisha Anderson, Shelly Frey, Yvette Smith, Eleanor Bumpurs , Sandra Bland , and other women were also killed or assaulted by police officers. While Black Lives Matter has been critiqued for a failure to focus on Black women's treatment by the police, Black feminists within the movement have fought to highlight

26250-469: The decree. On the other end of the spectrum, Hildesheimer's planned seminary was too radical for the same mainstream rabbis, and he became marginalized and isolated by 1864. The internal Orthodox division was complicated by growing tension with the Neologs. In 1869, the Hungarian government convened a General Jewish Congress that was aimed at creating a national representative body. Fearing Neolog domination,

26460-516: The development of workshops mobilizing the Jewish community to take part in many gay rights events. In April 1986, the Brooklyn and Manhattan chapters of NJA sponsored the first New York community-wide conference on Lesbian and Gay Jews. In 1987, NJA organized a Jewish contingent and Havdallah service at the October 12 March on Washington for gay rights. The day after that historic march, many took part in

26670-446: The diverse experiences of Black women, it is imperative to Collins to speak for and of personal accounts of Black women's oppression. Identity politics have often implemented race , class , and gender as isolated categories as a means of excluding those who aren't perceived as part of the dominant group. These constructed biases formed from race, class, and gender are what feminist Kimberlé Crenshaw believes need to be used, not as

26880-502: The divinely revealed status of the Torah and a strict observance of halakha , separating it from Conservative ideology. Physically separate seating (symbolized by gender partitions ) became the distinguishing mark of Orthodox/Conservative affiliation in the 1950s, and as pushed by the RCA. However, many Modern Orthodox followers were barely observant, and many synagogues did not use a gender partition. As late as 1997, seven OU congregations lacked

27090-635: The early second-wave feminism include civil rights lawyer and author Florynce Kennedy , who co-authored one of the first books on abortion, 1971's Abortion Rap ; Cellestine Ware , of New York's Stanton-Anthony Brigade ; and Patricia Robinson. These women "tried to show the connections between racism and male dominance" in society. Fighting against racism and sexism across the White dominated second wave feminist movement and male dominated Black Power and Black Arts Movement , Black feminist groups of artists such as Where We At! Black Women Artists Inc were formed in

27300-472: The early 1970s. The "Where We At" group was formed in 1971 by artists Vivian E. Browne and Faith Ringgold. During the summer of that year, the group organized the first exhibition in history of only Black women artists to show the viewing public that Black artist was not synonymous with Black male artist . In 1972, Where We At! issued a list of demands to the Brooklyn Museum protesting what it saw as

27510-489: The emergence of distinctly Orthodox communities and ideologies, were the exception rather than the rule in Central and Western Europe. France, Britain, Bohemia, Austria and other countries saw both a virtual disappearance of traditional Jewish life, and no serious interest in bridging Judaism and modernity. The official rabbinate remained technically traditional, in the default sense of not introducing ideological change. The organ –

27720-694: The epithet Haredim (generic term for the observant and the pious). Jewish nationalism, particularly Zionism , with its nonobservant if not staunchly secular partisans, was the key question facing Eastern European traditionalists, although it was tangled with modernization. Salmon claimed that the future Zionists were: supportive of a national agenda; motivated by criticism of Jewish society; supportive of modernity; tolerant of nonobservance; and approving of traditional faith and practice. Their proto- Haredi opponents sharply rejected all he former positions and espoused staunch conservatism, which idealized existing norms. Any illusion that differences could be blanded and

27930-556: The establishment and the Enlightened became irrelevant, and the former often embraced the views of the latter (now antiquated, as more aggressive modes of acculturation replaced the Haskalahs program). In 1810, when philanthropist Israel Jacobson opened what was later identified as the first Reform synagogue in Seesen , with modernized rituals, he encountered little protest. The founding of

28140-505: The eve of a Ronald Reagan - Mikhail Gorbachev summit. At the time, Soviet Jews were facing anti-Semitism and political repression while struggling to emigrate in large numbers to the U.S. and Israel. NJA sponsored a 1984 delegation of national Jewish leaders to Nicaragua to examine human rights conditions and investigate U.S. Government allegations of anti-Semitic policies pursued by the Sandinista government. The delegation came back with

28350-483: The first half. Despite these improvements, the SNCC's leadership positions were occupied by men during the entirety of its existence, which ended in turmoil within a few years of Carmichael's resignation from the body in 1967. The unofficial symbol of Black feminism in the late 60s, a combination of the raised fist of Black Power, and the astrological symbol for Venus , denoted an intersection of ideals of Black Power and militant feminism. Some ideals were shared, such as

28560-405: The first pieces of literature that expresses a Black feminist perspective. Cooper's contemporary writer and activist, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper , proposed "some of the most important questions of race, gender, and the work of Reconstruction in the nineteenth century". According to Harper, White women needed suffrage for education, but "Black women need the vote, not as a form of education, but as

28770-611: The form of the Haskalah (Jewish Enlightenment) movement which came to the fore in 1782. Hartwig Wessely , Moses Mendelssohn , and other maskilim called for a reform of Jewish education , abolition of coercion in matters of conscience , and other modernizing measures. They bypassed rabbinic approval and set themselves, at least implicitly, as a rival intellectual elite. A bitter struggle ensued. Reacting to Mendelssohn's assertion that freedom of conscience must replace communal censure, Rabbi Cohen of Hamburg commented: The very foundation of

28980-566: The heir of late Hatam Sofer, considered appointing Hildesheimer as his assistant-rabbi in Pressburg and instituting secular studies in the city's great yeshiva . The rabbi of Eisenstadt believed that only a full-fledged modern rabbinical seminary could fulfill his neo-Orthodox agenda. In the 1850s and 1860s, however, a radical reactionary Orthodox party coalesced in the northeastern regions of Hungary . Led by Rabbi Hillel Lichtenstein , his son-in-law Akiva Yosef Schlesinger and decisor Chaim Sofer ,

29190-505: The importance of daily practice and adherence to halakha (Jewish law) mooted theoretical issues. Others dismissed this view entirely, citing ancient rabbinic debates that castigated various heresies with little reference to observance. However, even without a uniform doctrine, Orthodox Judaism is basically united in its core beliefs. Disavowing them is a major blasphemy . . Several medieval authorities attempted to codify these beliefs, including Saadia Gaon and Joseph Albo . Each composed

29400-644: The interconnected systems of oppression that disadvantage Black women in particular. Activism of Black feminists in Black Lives Matter has included protests against political candidates such as Bernie Sanders , Donald Trump , and Hillary Clinton , and they have used hashtags such as #oscarssowhite and #sayhername to challenge both racial and gender injustices. In addition to traditional protests, black feminists have developed community-based workshops, offered mental health resources, and educated people to advocate for instiutional change. These are impactful efforts that cultivate supportive spaces and provide tools to address

29610-444: The internet and social media platforms have provided Black feminists with the ability to amplify their voices to target more people. Steele argues that digital spaces have created a "virtual commons" where Black women can gather to discuss and share experiences around issues of racial and gender justice. This digital activism has particularly influenced movements such as #SayHerName. The #SayHerName social media campaign, launched through

29820-423: The issues raised by modernization. They themselves often disliked the name that was earlier adopted by eastern Christianity, preferring titles such as "Torah-true" ( gesetztreu ). They often declared they used it only as a convenience. German Orthodox leader Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch referred to "the conviction commonly designated as Orthodox Judaism"; in 1882, when Rabbi Azriel Hildesheimer became convinced that

30030-427: The lesbian feminist movement itself. Here the problem was perhaps one more of class than of race. Among lesbian feminism's largely White, middle class leadership, the butch/femme sexual style, fairly common among Black and working class lesbian pairings, was often deprecated as a degrading imitation of male dominate heterosexuality. During the 1970s lesbian feminists created their own sector of feminism in response to

30240-428: The like are forbidden.) The utter imperceptibility of God, considered as beyond human reason and only reachable through what he chooses to reveal, was emphasized among others in the ancient ban on making any image of him . Maimonides and virtually all sages in his time and thereafter stressed that the creator is incorporeal, lacking "any semblance of a body". While incorporeality has almost been taken for granted since

30450-466: The local traditionalists complete their transformation into Orthodox, albeit never as starkly as in Hungary or Germany. Eastern European Orthodoxy, whether Agudah or Mizrahi, always preferred cultural and educational independence to communal secession, and maintained strong ties and self-identification with the general Jewish public. Within its ranks, the 150-years-long struggle between Hasidim and Misnagdim

30660-759: The main planks of the mainstream branches of the second-wave feminist movement, which largely advocated for women's rights to work outside the home and the expansion of reproductive rights. For example, earning the power to work outside the home was not seen as an accomplishment by Black women since many Black women had to work both inside and outside the home for generations due to poverty. Additionally, as Angela Davis later wrote, while Afro-American women and White women were subjected to multiple unwilled pregnancies and had to clandestinely abort , Afro-American women were also suffering from compulsory sterilization programs that were not widely included in dialogue about reproductive justice. Some Black feminists who were active in

30870-607: The mainstream feminist movement largely focused its agenda on issues that predominately impacted middle-class White women. From the 1970s to 1980s, Black feminists formed groups that addressed the role of Black women in Black nationalism , gay liberation , and second-wave feminism . Alice Walker , bell hooks , Kimberlé Crenshaw , Angela Davis , and Patricia Hill Collins have emerged as leading academics on Black feminism, while Black celebrities have encouraged mainstream discussion of Black feminism. Black feminism has been around since

31080-432: The mid-1980s, research on Orthodox Judaism became a scholarly discipline, examining how the need to confront modernity shaped and changed its beliefs, ideologies, social structure, and halakhic rulings, separating it from traditional Jewish society. Until the latter half of the 18th century, Jewish communities in Central and Western Europe were autonomous entities, with distinct privileges and obligations. They were led by

31290-539: The missions and goals of the two communities and grounding them both in the examination of racial, class, and gender-based discrimination. Writers who were figureheads for Black feminism such as Joan Morgan, Denise Cooper, and others from the Third Wave of Black feminism blended their passions for hip-hop culture and Black feminism or womanism, ultimately leading to the inception of hip-hop feminism. Some argue hip-hop feminism does not simply overlap with Black feminism but

31500-442: The most influential figure in early Orthodoxy, was Rabbi Moses Sofer of Pressburg , Hungary . Historian Jacob Katz regarded him as the first to grasp the realities of the modern age. Sofer understood that what remained of his political clout would soon disappear, and that he had largely lost the ability to enforce observance; as Katz wrote, "obedience to halakha became dependent on recognizing its validity, and this very validity

31710-480: The movement as a dangerous innovation; and the organized Orthodox in Hungary rejected it as well, especially after it did not affirm a commitment to communal secession in 1923. In the Interwar period , sweeping secularization and acculturation deracinated old Jewish society in Eastern Europe. The October Revolution granted civil equality and imposed anti-religious persecutions, radically transforming Russian Jewry within

31920-447: The movement both tolerated and advocated modernization: Traditionally rare formal religious education for girls was introduced; modesty and gender separation were relaxed to match German society; men went clean-shaven and dressed like Gentiles; and exclusive Torah study virtually disappeared. Basic religious studies incorporating German Bildung provided children with practical halakhic knowledge for thriving in modern society. Ritual

32130-465: The museum's ignoring of Brooklyn's Black women artists. The demands brought forth changes, and years later, in 2017, the museum's exhibit "We Wanted a Revolution: Black Radical Women 1965-1985" celebrated the work of Black women artists who were part of the Black Arts and Black Power movements. During the 20th century, Black feminism evolved quite differently from mainstream feminism. In the late 1900s it

32340-470: The mystical tradition, exemplified in Kabbalah , assigned each rite with a role in hidden dimensions of reality. Sheer obedience, derived from faithfulness to one's community and ancestry, was believed sufficient for the common people, while the educated chose one of the two schools. In the modern era, the prestige of both declined, and "naive faith" became popular. At a time when contemplation in matters of belief

32550-521: The need to defend the very concept of tradition in a world where that was no longer self-evident. When secularization and the dismantlement of communal structures uprooted the old order of Jewish life, traditionalist elements united to form groups that had a specific self-understanding. This, and all that it entailed, constituted a notable change, for the Orthodox had to adapt to modern society no less than anyone else; they developed novel, sometimes radical, means of action and modes of thought. "Orthodoxization"

32760-651: The non-Orthodox. That year, Hildesheimer visited Hungary. Confounded by urbanization and acculturation – and the rise of Neology , a nonobservant laity served by rabbis who mostly favoured the Positive-Historical approach – the elderly local rabbis at first welcomed Hildesheimer. He opened a modern school in Eisenstadt that included secular studies in the curriculum. Traditionalists such as Moshe Schick and Yehudah Aszód sent their sons to study there. Samuel Benjamin Sofer ,

32970-572: The norm. Separation of church and state and dynamic religiosity along the Protestant model shaped synagogue life. In the mid-19th century, Reform Judaism spread rapidly, made popular by formally abandoning traditions that few upheld. The United States was labeled the Treife Medina , or "Profane Country", in Yiddish . Isaac Leeser was an ultra-traditionalist in the American context, although his lack of

33180-572: The notion that the Oral and Written Law were intertwined and inseparable. Wissenschaft posed a greater challenge to the modernized neo-Orthodox than to the traditionalist. Hirsch and Hildesheimer divided on the matter, anticipating modernist Orthodox attitudes to the historical-critical method. Hirsch argued that analyzing minutiae of tradition as products of their historical context was akin to denying its divine origin and timeless relevance. Hildesheimer consented to research under limits, subjugating it to

33390-587: The novel Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937) featuring a strong female protagonist in Janie Crawford. Although the decades between the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution (1920) and the 1960s are not included among the "wave" periods of feminism, this was a particularly important moment in the development of Black feminist activism. During this period,

33600-444: The now-lost communal autonomy, the Neo-Orthodox turned Judaism from an all-encompassing practice into a private religious conviction. In the late 1830s, modernist pressures in Germany shifted from the secularization debate, moving into the "purely religious" sphere of theology and liturgy. A new generation of university-trained rabbis (many German states required communal rabbis to possess such education) sought to reconcile Judaism with

33810-427: The observant community lest any compromise legitimize the progressives' claim that the law was fluid or redundant. He was unwilling to trade halakhic opinions for those he considered to be pretending to honor the rules of rabbinic discourse, while intending to undermine them. Sofer regarded traditional customs as equivalent to vows; he warned in 1793 that even the "custom of ignoramuses" (one known to be rooted solely in

34020-545: The original members were Jewish organizers active in movements for peace and de-militarization, civil-liberties, civil rights , women's liberation, and those critical of Israeli policies. New Jewish Agenda used specifically Jewish cultural symbols and gatherings in their organizing, a common strategy in our current political era. For example, NJA wrote and revised Jewish prayers and High Holy Day services to reflect Feminist, Secular, and other non-traditional Jewish communities. They also used Jewish ritual in protest – for example,

34230-405: The pale of Jewishness, and were more concerned with neo-Orthodoxy, which they regarded as a thinly-veiled gateway for a similar fate. Chaim Sofer summarized their view of Hildesheimer: "The wicked Hildesheimer is the horse and chariot of the Evil Inclination ... All the heretics in the last century did not seek to undermine the Law and the Faith as he does." In their struggle against acculturation,

34440-573: The polemics. They did not secede over reasons of finance and familial relations. Only a handful of Secessionist, Austrittorthodox , communities were established in the Reich; almost everyone remained Communal Orthodox, Gemeindeortodox , within Liberal mother congregations. The Communal Orthodox argued that their approach was true to Jewish unity and decisive in maintaining public standards of observance and traditional education in Liberal communities. The Secessionists viewed them as hypocritical middle-of-the-roaders. The conflicts in Hungary and Germany, and

34650-409: The predetermined sanctity of the subject matter and accepting its results only when they accorded with the latter. More importantly, while he was content to engage academically, he opposed its practical application in religious questions, requiring traditional methods to be used. Hildesheimer's approach was emulated by his disciple Rabbi David Zvi Hoffmann , a scholar and apologetic. His polemic against

34860-489: The preferred term. Strictly traditionalist Eastern European immigrants formed the Union of Orthodox Rabbis (UOR) in 1902, in direct opposition to the Americanized OU and JTS. The UOR frowned upon English-language sermons, secular education and any acculturation. In 1897, an old-style yeshiva , Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS), was founded in New York. Its students rebelled in 1908, demanding rabbinic training more like that of their JTS peers. In 1915, RIETS

35070-486: The priestly caste who left the city to marry divorcees, men who appealed to state courts , those who ate food cooked by Gentiles , and other transgressors. Hamburg's Jews repeatedly appealed to the civil authorities, which eventually justified Cohen. However, the unprecedented meddling in his jurisdiction profoundly shocked him and dealt a blow to the prestige of the rabbinate. An ideological challenge to rabbinic authority, in contrast to prosaic secularization, appeared in

35280-404: The principles that would become the basis for Black feminism. These women accomplished things that were previously unheard of for Black women, such as giving public lectures, fighting for suffrage, and aiding those in need of help following Reconstruction. However, fissures soon developed between White feminists, even those who had been active in abolition, and pioneering Black feminists. Suffrage

35490-436: The public understood that his philosophy and Liberal Judaism were radically different, he removed the word Orthodox from the name of his Hildesheimer Rabbinical Seminary . By the 1920s, the term had become common and accepted even in Eastern Europe. Orthodoxy perceives itself as the only authentic continuation of Judaism as it was until the crisis of modernity. Its progressive opponents often shared this view, regarding it as

35700-420: The publication of the article "Conjure Feminism: Toward a Genealogy" published in a special issue on conjure feminism in Hypatia Journal in 2021. The conjure feminism theory incorporates Black women's knowledges of African derived spiritualities to guide their methods of survival in the U.S. and the African diaspora more broadly. Black feminist scholars Kinitra Brooks, Kameelah Martin, and LaKisha Simmons co-wrote

35910-407: The racism and pushback she gets as a powerful, fat, black woman musician She has stated: "I make Black music, period... I’m doing this sh*t for the big Black women in the future who just want to live their lives without being scrutinized or put into boxes". Black Girl Magic (#BlackGirlMagic) is a movement that was popularized by CaShawn Thompson in 2013. The concept was born as a way to "celebrate

36120-412: The right of secession, the Netziv and other Russian rabbis forbade it for contradicting the idea of Israel's unity. In the 1860s and 1870s, moderate maskilic rabbis like Yitzchak Yaacov Reines and Yechiel Michel Pines called for inclusion of secular studies in the heder s and yeshiva s, anticipating a communal disintegration as in the west. Instead they proposed a careful modernization, based on

36330-407: The same time, Reena Walker, along with the members of AWARE, also worked in coalition with AWIDOO (American Women in Defense of Ourselves), formed by Barbara Ransby, to sign a full-page ad in The New York Times to stand in support of Anita Hill . In 1995, Reena Walker went on to put out the call to various women and organized the group African Americans Against Violence that effectively stopped

36540-481: The state expected them to assume pastoral care, foregoing their principal judicial role. Of secondary importance, much less than the civil and legal transformations, were the ideas of Enlightenment that chafed at the authority of tradition and faith. By the end of the 18th century, the weakened rabbinic establishment was facing a new kind of transgressor: they could not be classified as tolerable sinners overcome by their urges ( khote le-te'avon ), or as schismatics like

36750-454: The strict right-wing of German Jewry. It was fully articulated by Bernays' mid-century disciples Samson Raphael Hirsch and Azriel Hildesheimer . Hirsch, a Hamburg native who was ten during the Temple dispute, combined Orthodox dogmatism and militancy against rival interpretations of Judaism, granting leniency on many cultural issues and embraced German culture. The novel mixture termed Neo-Orthodoxy spread. While insisting on strict observance,

36960-428: The taskforces, and occasionally outside of the taskforces' wide subject areas, NJA members often established more focused Working Groups. New Jewish Agenda chapters around the country were active in coalitions to combat racism, anti-Semitism and apartheid . NJA sponsored vigils outside South African consulates in five U.S. cities which "received press from Seattle to Wash, DC and from Paris to Cape Town", according to

37170-460: The term Orthodox Jews was made in the Berlinische Monatsschrift in 1795. The word Orthodox was borrowed from the general German Enlightenment discourse, and used to denote those Jews who opposed Enlightenment. During the early and mid-19th century, with the advent of the progressive movements among German Jews, and especially early Reform Judaism , the title Orthodox became the epithet of traditionalists who espoused conservative positions on

37380-451: The time of slavery. If defined as a way that Black women have sought to understand their position within systems of oppression, then this is exemplified in Sojourner Truth 's famous speech at the 1851 Women's Convention in Akron, Ohio . Truth addressed how the issues being discussed at the convention were ones that primarily impacted White women. The book A Voice from the South (1892), by Anna Julia Cooper has been credited as one of

37590-460: The traditional sound of hip-hop. Lil' Kim stood behind her words and never apologized for who she is. Faith Evans is another female emcee who broke barriers in the hip-hop world. At just 21 years old, she was the first female artist signed to Bad Boy Records. Faith Evans spent more than 20 years in the music business fighting gender discrimination and harassment in an industry where men were the dominant content creators and producers. Mary J. Blige

37800-400: The traditionalist wing of American Jewry, forcing locals to adopt their views. The younger generation in the JTS and the Rabbinical Assembly concurrently demanded greater clarity, theological unambiguity and halakhic independence from the Orthodox veto on serious innovations. In 1935, for example, the RA shelved its proposal for a solution to the agunah predicament. "Conservative Judaism"

38010-599: The trauma Black women experience. Black feminist identity politics can be defined as knowing and understanding one's own identity while taking into consideration both personal experience as well as the experiences of those in history to help form a group of like-minded individuals who seek change in the political framework of society. It also can be defined as a rejection of oppressive measures taken against one's group, especially in terms of political injustice . Black feminist writer Patricia Hill Collins believes that this "outsider within" seclusion suffered by Black women

38220-430: The two stressed that the difference was dogmatic and not halakhic . They managed to tarnish Frankel's reputation in the traditional camp and delegitimized him for many. The Positive-Historical School is regarded by Conservative Judaism as an intellectual forerunner. While Hildesheimer distinguished Frankel's observant disciples from Reform proponents, he wrote in his diary: how meager is the principal difference between

38430-441: The unwillingness of mainstream second wave feminism to embrace their cause. They developed a militant agenda, broadly challenging homophobia and demanding a respected place within feminism. Some advocated and experimented with as complete a social separation from men as possible. These separatist notions were off-putting to Black lesbian feminists involved in Black Power movements and tended to deepen their feelings of alienation from

38640-590: The use of Facebook , Twitter , Instagram , YouTube , Tumblr , and other forms of social media to discuss gender equality and social justice . According to NOW Toronto, the internet created a "call-out" culture, in which sexism or misogyny can be called out and challenged immediately with relative ease. Social media served as a medium for Black feminists to express praise or discontent with organizations' r representations of Black women. Lizzo, for example, has been using social media, especially Instagram, to promote diverse black bodies. She often speaks against

38850-428: The validity of the Oral Law, could confidently appropriate the vision of most medieval rabbinic scholars; a defensive German Orthodoxy, by contrast, could not. ... Thus began a shift in understanding that led Orthodox rabbis and historians in the modern period to insist that the entire Oral Law was revealed by God to Moses at Sinai." 19th-Century Orthodox commentaries, like those authored by Malbim , attempted to amplify

39060-484: The work of many non-Jewish feminists of color who had been challenging the white-dominated culture of the larger feminist movement , and making space for complicated conversations about overlapping identities. One of the FTF's projects was Gesher (Bridge), a newsletter that included reports from each chapter's FTF, and raised feminist issues within NJA. Gesher later became the Jewish Feminist journal Bridges , which continued to be published until June, 2011. NJA sent

39270-401: The young. Bernays signified a new era, and historians marked him as the first modern rabbi, fitting the demands of emancipation: his contract forbade him to tax, punish, or coerce, and he lacked political or judiciary power. He was forbidden from interfering in the Temple's conduct. Conservative in the principal issues of faith, in aesthetic, cultural, and civil matters, Bernays was a reformer and

39480-435: Was a contingent process, drawing from local circumstances and dependent on the threat sensed by its proponents: a sharply-delineated Orthodox identity appeared in Central Europe, in Germany and Hungary, by the 1860s; a less stark one emerged in Eastern Europe during the Interwar period . Among the Jews of the Muslim lands , similar processes on a large scale began only around the 1970s, after they immigrated to Israel. Orthodoxy

39690-443: Was able to coordinate meetings at the Forum that led to the initiation of a Palestinian/Israeli women's organization. After the 1985 Forum, NJA attendees spoke around the country about the process and outcomes of organizing for it. In 1985, NJA published and widely distributed a pamphlet called "Coming Out/Coming Home" about homophobia and gay rights within the Jewish community. They also spearheaded anti-homophobia work which included

39900-592: Was accomplished in part by distributing educational packets on the issues to over 2,000 rabbis and synagogues and by publishing articles and letters to the editor. NJA also distributed two brochures about the concerns that had kept progressive Jews from responding to Central American crisis and the scriptural commandments that obligate Jews to harbor the persecuted and protect them from harm. In 1986, NJA sponsored national speaking tours by three rabbis whose congregations have offered sanctuary to Central American refugees. Agenda's "Jewish Witness for Peace " delegation created

40110-421: Was adopted as an exclusive label by most JTS graduates and RA members, became a distinct movement. In 1950, the Conservatives signaled their break with Orthodoxy by acceptance of a far-reaching legal decision, which allowed one to drive to the synagogue and to use electricity on Sabbath. Judaism never formulated a conclusive credo ; whether it reflects a dogma remains controversial. Some researchers argued that

40320-519: Was also isolated because the mainstream Jewish community did not agree with its positions regarding Israel/Palestine and the status of Lesbian and Gay Jews. NJA helped with the development of other left wing Jewish organizations, including Americans for Peace Now , The New Israel Fund , Jewish Fund for Justice, The Shalom Center, The Shefa Fund, Bridges Journal, American Friends of Neve Shalom, Brit Tzedek v'Shalom , Bat Shalom , and The Abraham Fund . It also built liaisons with older organizations such as

40530-433: Was another artist who became an advocate of women empowerment in hip-hop. She was a legendary singer who influenced the Bad Boy Records label, although she was never signed by them. Together, these women shared a sense of freedom in the music business that allowed them to bring women together across the world. There was a new perspective in the spot light that swung the pendulum in a different direction and gave women in hip-hop

40740-421: Was appointed rabbi of the Orthodox sub-community in Berlin (which had separate religious institutions but was not formally independent of the Liberal majority), where he finally established his seminary. In 1877, a law enabling Jews to secede from their communities without baptism was passed in Germany. It was a stark example that Judaism was now confessional, not corporate. Hirsch withdrew his congregation from

40950-408: Was associated with secularization, luminaries such as Yisrael Meir Kagan stressed the importance of simple, unsophisticated commitment to the precepts passed down from the Beatified Sages. This became standard in the ultra-Orthodox world. Judaism adheres to monotheism , the belief in one God. The basic tenets of Orthodoxy, drawn from ancient sources like the Talmud and later sages, chiefly include

41160-435: Was challenged by those who did not obey". He was deeply troubled by reports from his native Frankfurt and the arrival from the west of dismissed rabbis, ejected by progressive wardens, or pious families, fearing for the education of their children. These émigrés often became ardent followers. Sofer's response to the crisis of traditional Jewish society was unremitting conservatism, canonizing every detail of prevalent norms in

41370-429: Was created through the domestic sphere, where Black women were considered separate from the perceived White elite who claimed their dominance over them. They also felt a disconnect between the Black men's suffering and oppression. As a result of White feminists excluding Black women from their discourse, Black feminists expressed their own experiences of marginalization and empowered Black consciousness in society. Due to

41580-422: Was elected chair of the SNCC in 1966, he reoriented the path of the organization towards Black Power and Black nationalism . While it is often argued that Black women in the SNCC were significantly subjugated during the Carmichael era, Carmichael appointed several women to posts as project directors during his tenure as chair. By the latter half of the 1960s, more women were in charge of SNCC projects than during

41790-423: Was exposed to the hierarchical structure of the organization. Baker disapproved of what she saw as sexism within both the NAACP and the SCLC and wanted to start her own organization with an egalitarian structure, allowing women to voice their needs. In 1964, at a SNNC retreat in Waveland, Mississippi , the members discussed the role of women and addressed sexism that occurred within the group. A group of women in

42000-442: Was founded in July 1986 as a program of the FTF, and soon NJA Chapters reported AIDS activism at the local level. At the 1987 National Convention at UCLA , the AIDS Working Group presented a workshop on "AIDS in the Jewish community". Despite the New Jewish Agenda's emphasis on multi-issue organizing, The Middle East Task Force (METF) was central to NJA's work. NJA joined a field that was still deeply controversial and heated within

42210-461: Was held again at BMCC, and the theme that year was "Sisters Remember Malcolm X: A Legacy to be Transformed". It featured plenary sessions, a workshop on "Sexual Harassment: Race, Gender and Power", and was held in a much larger theater that year. Black women were a central focus and not an aside as they were prior. Speakers included Sonia Sanchez , Audre Lorde , Verniece Miller , Reena Walker , Carol Bullard (Asha Bandele), and Vivian Morrison . At

42420-696: Was influenced by new writers such as Alice Walker whose literary works spawned the term womanism , which emphasized the degree of the oppression Black women faced when compared to White women and, for her, encompassed "the solidarity of humanity". Black lesbian feminism, as a political identity and movement, arose out of a compound set of grievances involving race, gender, social class, as well as sexual orientation . Black lesbian women were often unwelcome in male-dominated Black movements, and tended to be marginalized not only in mainstream second wave feminism (as exemplified by Betty Friedan who held off making lesbian rights part of her political agenda) but also within

42630-520: Was largely subsided; the latter were even dubbed henceforth as "Litvaks", as the anti-Hasidic component in their identity was marginalized. In the interwar period, Rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan emerged as the popular leader of the Eastern European Orthodox, particularly the Agudah-leaning. American Jewry of the 19th century was small and lacked traditional institutions or strong rabbinic presence due to its immigrant-based nature. This informality allow religious innovation to flourish. Voluntary congregations were

42840-473: Was limited and regulated. This state of affairs came to an end with the rise of the modern, centralized state, which appropriated all authority. The nobility, clergy, urban guilds, and all other corporate estates were gradually stripped of privileges, inadvertently creating a more equal and secularized society. The Jews were one of the groups affected: excommunication was banned, and rabbinic courts lost almost all their jurisdiction. The state, especially following

43050-558: Was much shaped by a conscious struggle against the pressures of secularization , acculturation and rival alternatives. The strictly observant Orthodox are a definite minority among all Jews, but there are also numerous semi- and non-practicing persons who are officially affiliated or personally identify with the movement. In total, Orthodox Judaism is the largest Jewish religious group, estimated to have over 2 million practicing adherents, and at least an equal number of nominal members or self-identifying supporters. The earliest known mention of

43260-466: Was one of the early areas of a schism between White and Black feminists. Though feminism as a movement was at a rise in the late 1800s and early 1900s, Black women were often left behind and disregarded by the White feminists of this movement. This, however, did not stop the Black feminists, who would eventually create a separate path for themselves fighting for the cause. Out of this, the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs (NACWC) founded in 1904,

43470-475: Was reformed to match prevalent aesthetic conceptions, much like non-Orthodox synagogues though without the ideological undertone, and the liturgy was often abbreviated. Neo-Orthodoxy mostly did not attempt to reconcile its conduct and halakhic or moral norms. Instead it adopted compartmentalization, de facto limiting Judaism to the private and religious spheres, while otherwise yielding to outer society. While conservative Rabbis in Hungary still thought in terms of

43680-550: Was reorganized as a Modern Orthodox institution, and a merger with the JTS was discussed. In 1923, the Rabbinical Council of America was established as the OU's clerical association. Between the ultra-Orthodox and Conservatives, Modern Orthodoxy emerged as a distinct movement. Its postwar leader, Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik , left Agudas Israel to adopt a positive, if reserved, attitude toward Western culture. As dean of RIETS and honorary chair of RCA's halakha committee, Soloveitchik shaped Modern Orthodoxy for decades. RCA stressed

43890-485: Was the first regular Orthodox newspaper, signifying the coalescence of a distinct Orthodox millieu, rejected their call. Ettlinger, and German neo-Orthodoxy in his wake, chose to regard the modern secularized Jew as a transgressor rather than a schismatic. He adopted Maimonides' interpretation of the Talmudic concept tinok shenishba (captured infant), a Jew by birth who was not raised as such and therefore could be absolved for not practicing, and greatly expanded it to serve

44100-488: Was to fight what they saw as interlocking systems of oppression and raise awareness of these systems. In 1978, the National Coalition of Black Lesbians and Gays was founded. In addition to the multiple organizations that focused on Black lesbian feminism, there were many authors that contributed to this movement, such as Audre Lorde , Barbara Smith , Pat Parker , June Jordan , Darlene Pagano , Kate Rushin , Doris Davenport , Cheryl Clarke , Margaret Sloan-Hunter , and

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