The Status of Women in Jewish Law: Responsa, by David Golinkin

VIII + 413 pp., The Center for Women in Jewish Law at the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies, Jerusalem 2012, (English)

This book is a collection of 15 responsa which study the status of women in the synagogue and public life, prefaced by two introductory essays on approaches to the topic since 1845. Rabbi Golinkin deals with the tension that exists between Jewish Law and modernity, striving to bridge the gap between tradition and change. This important work points to the flexibility within Jewish Law that allows women to participate in most areas of Jewish ritual. Rabbi Golinkin deals with questions such as women being counted in the minyan and serving as Shelihot Tzibbur (prayer leaders), women being called for aliyot to the Torah, women reciting the mourners’ Kaddish, women putting on tefillin, women acting as poskot (decisors of Jewish Law), the ordination of women rabbis, and more.