Women's Torah Project

Last updated

The Women's Torah Project (WTP) was an initiative to have the first Torah scroll scribed entirely by women. The project began in 2003 and was completed in Seattle in 2010. Wendy Graff was the leader of WTP. [1] The WTP was commissioned by the Seattle-based Kadima Reconstructionist Community.

Contents

History

The Women's Torah Project (WTP) produced the first Torah scroll scribed and embellished entirely by women.  Commissioned by Seattle-based Kadima, a Jewish Reconstructionist community, the Women's Torah was produced by six female scribes on three continents.  Begun in 2003, the project was completed in Seattle in 2010 under the leadership of Wendy Graff. [1]

Kadima had been raising funds to purchase a Sefer Torah for several years when, in the early 2000s, the community's first rabbi, Drorah Setel, suggested instead that Kadima commission a Torah scribed by a woman. Traditional Jewish law had excluded women from scribing a Torah, much as women had been excluded from the rabbinate and cantorial positions. [2]   (That legitimacy is still debated within the Orthodox community. [3] )  Determined to redress that exclusion, Kadima underwrote the training of two women to become Torah scribes (soferot; Hebrew pronunciation: [/sof'rot/] ; fem. sing: soferet), one of whom, Shoshana Gugenheim of Jerusalem, was hired to be the lead scribe for the Women's Torah Project. [4] Rachel Reichhardt, based in São Paulo, Brazil, certified as a soferet by the Seminario Rabínico Latinoamericano in Buenos Aires in 2004, was the second scribe to join the project. [2] Eventually Linda Coppleson of West Orange, New Jersey; [1] Rabbi Hannah Klebansky of Jerusalem, [1] Irma Penn of Winnipeg, Alberta, Canada; and Julie Seltzer, [5] of Berkeley, California, all contributed to completing panels for the Torah. Scribe Jen Taylor Friedman of New York checked and made minor corrections to the completed panels. [5] The panels were also checked by experts in Jerusalem.

Implements and embellishments

Seven women artists from around the world created embellishments for Kadima's Women's Torah. Laurel Robinson [6] of Atlanta was the first artist involved, contributing a carved wooden yad (pointer) and storage box that is inscribed with a poem by poet and liturgist Marcia Falk. Artist sooze bloom deLeon grossman of Vashon Island, Washington, designed and created the pomegranate-motif Torah mantle. [7] The seeds of the pomegranate were crafted from fabric donated to the Women's Torah Project to honor individual women and girls. Grossman also created an extra-large tallit to be shared by groups called to the bima for aliyot during Torah services. [7] The Torah's copper with brown diamond rimonim (Torah finials), were designed and created by metalworker Aimee Golant [8] of San Francisco. Jeweler Andrea Sher-Leff of Austin, Texas, created a silver and garnet buckle, echoing the pomegranate motif, for the belt that holds the Torah scrolls together. [9] Lois Gaylord of Seattle made the silk belt itself and wove the large, feather-motif bima cloth which incorporates a specially designed Star of David weave pattern. Elka Freller of São Paulo made the kiddush cup from blown glass, Brazilian agate and silver. Amy Gilron of Beer Sheva, Israel, made the wood mosaic etz chaim, the pair of spindles to which the parchment panels of the Torah are attached.

Consecration

The Women's Torah was consecrated on Saturday, October 16, 2010, and read from for the first time during a Shabbat service and siyyum (completion celebration) led by Kadima Liturgy Co-chair Sandra Silberstein; the Torah Service was conducted by Rabbi Jane Littman. The first readers (in order) were: Sima Kahn, Neal Sofian, Lois Gaylord, Sandra Silberstein, Leah Knopf, Douglas Brown, Rachel Reichhardt, Wendy Graff and Mollie Price. It resides with the Kadima Reconstructionist Community of Seattle. The current Women's Torah Project coordinator is Christie Markowitz Santos.[ citation needed ]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women in Judaism</span> Role of women in Judaism

Women in Judaism have affected the course of Judaism over millenia. Their role is reflected in the Hebrew Bible, the Oral Law, by custom, and by cultural factors. Although the Hebrew Bible and rabbinic literature present various female role models, religious law treats women in specific ways. According to a 2017 study by the Pew Research Center, women account for 52% of the worldwide Jewish population.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siddur</span> Jewish prayerbook

A siddur is a Jewish prayer book containing a set order of daily prayers. The word siddur comes from the Hebrew root ס־ד־ר‎, meaning 'order.'

A rabbi is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Rabbinic Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi—known as semikha—following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of the rabbi developed in the Pharisaic and Talmudic eras, when learned teachers assembled to codify Judaism's written and oral laws. The title "rabbi" was first used in the first century CE. In more recent centuries, the duties of a rabbi became increasingly influenced by the duties of the Protestant Christian minister, hence the title "pulpit rabbis", and in 19th-century Germany and the United States rabbinic activities including sermons, pastoral counseling, and representing the community to the outside, all increased in importance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jewish principles of faith</span>

There is no established formulation of principles of faith that are recognized by all branches of Judaism. Central authority in Judaism is not vested in any one person or group - although the Sanhedrin, the supreme Jewish religious court, would fulfill this role if it were re-established - but rather in Judaism's sacred writings, laws, and traditions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Torah Judaism</span> Israeli electoral alliance

United Torah Judaism, often referred to by its electoral symbol Gimel, is a Haredi, religious conservative political alliance in Israel. The alliance, consisting of Agudat Yisrael and Degel HaTorah, was first formed in 1992, in order to maximize Ashkenazi Haredi representation in the Knesset. Despite the alliance splitting in 2004 over rabbinical differences, the parties reconciled in 2006, in order to prevent vote-wasting. In April 2019, the party achieved its highest number of seats ever, receiving eight seats.

Torah reading is a Jewish religious tradition that involves the public reading of a set of passages from a Torah scroll. The term often refers to the entire ceremony of removing the scroll from the Torah ark, chanting the appropriate excerpt with special cantillation (trope), and returning the scroll(s) to the ark. It is also commonly called "laining".

Jewish feminism is a movement that seeks to make the religious, legal, and social status of Jewish women equal to that of Jewish men in Judaism. Feminist movements, with varying approaches and successes, have opened up within all major branches of the Jewish religion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sofer</span> Jewish scribe

A sofer, sopher, sofer SeTaM, or sofer ST"M is a Jewish scribe who can transcribe Sifrei Kodesh, tefillin (phylacteries), mezuzot and other religious writings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women of the Wall</span> Jewish feminist organization

Women of the Wall is a multi-denominational Jewish feminist organization based in Israel whose goal is to secure the rights of women to pray at the Western Wall, also called the Kotel, in a fashion that includes singing, reading aloud from the Torah and wearing religious garments. Pew Research Center has identified Israel as one of the countries that place "high" restrictions on religion, and there have been limits placed on non-Orthodox streams of Judaism. One of those restrictions is that the Rabbi of the Western Wall has enforced gender segregation and limitations on religious garb worn by women. When the "Women of the Wall" hold monthly prayer services for women on Rosh Hodesh, they observe gender segregation so that Orthodox members may fully participate. But their use of religious garb, singing and reading from a Torah have upset many members of the Orthodox Jewish community, sparking protests and arrests. In May 2013 a judge ruled that a 2003 Israeli Supreme Court ruling prohibiting women from carrying a Torah or wearing prayer shawls had been misinterpreted and that Women of the Wall prayer gatherings at the wall should not be deemed illegal.

<i>Soferet</i> (film) 2006 Canadian film

Soferet: A Special Scribe is a 2006 television documentary about Aviel Barclay, who studied to become a sofer, which is a traditionally male position transcribing Jewish Hebrew texts. The documentary explains how she became the world's first known traditionally trained female scribe in October 2003. The film explores the importance of the Torah in Jewish life, the perfection required to execute a kosher Torah scroll, and a feminist perspective on the battle waged by some Jewish women to assume responsibilities traditionally reserved for men.

Jen Taylor Friedman is a soferet. On September 9, 2007, she became the first woman known to have completed a Torah scroll. Taylor Friedman's sefer Torah was commissioned by United Hebrew Congregation, a Reform temple in St. Louis, Missouri.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Congregation Dorshei Emet</span> Reconstructionist synagogue in Hampstead, Quebec

Congregation Dorshei Emet is a Reconstructionist synagogue in Hampstead, Quebec. It was founded in 1960 by Lavy Becker, who served as volunteer rabbi. Ron Aigen was hired as the congregation's first paid rabbi in 1976. Rabbi Boris Dolin joined the shul in 2016. Dorshei Emet constructed its first synagogue building in 1967. The congregation soon outgrew this structure, and built a larger one on the same site in 2003.

Sharon Kleinbaum is an American rabbi who serves as spiritual leader of New York City's Congregation Beit Simchat Torah. She has been an active campaigner for human rights and civil marriage for gay couples.

Deborah Brin is one of the first openly gay rabbis and one of the first hundred women rabbis. She is now the rabbi emerita of Congregation Nahalat Shalom in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Hakafot ; Hakafah —meaning "[to] circle" or "going around" in Hebrew—are a Jewish minhag (tradition) in which people walk or dance around a specific object, generally in a religious setting.

Aviel Barclay is a Canadian soferet. On October 6, 2003, she became the first woman to be traditionally trained and certified as a Jewish scribe, an occupation held by men in the Orthodox tradition. She completed her first Torah scroll in fall 2010 under the auspices of the Kadima Women's Torah Project in Seattle, Washington. She is the subject of the 2005 television documentary Soferet.

Or Haneshamah, officially, Or Haneshamah – Ottawa's Reconstructionist Community, is a Jewish Reconstructionist synagogue located in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The congregation is one of only three affiliated Reconstructionist congregations in Canada, and the only Reconstructionist congregation in Ottawa. Founded in 1987, Or Haneshamah describes itself as a progressive, liberal, egalitarian, inclusive, multi-generational congregation notable for welcoming all Jews, including unaffiliated, intermarried, and LGBTQ individuals and families. As of 2016, the congregation's membership constituted approximately 90–100 households.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Torah scroll (Yemenite)</span> Yemenite Jewish tradition of orthography in a Torah scroll

Yemenite scrolls of the Law containing the Five Books of Moses represent one of three authoritative scribal traditions for the transmission of the Torah, the other two being the Ashkenazi and Sephardic traditions that slightly differ. While all three traditions purport to follow the Masoretic traditions of Aaron ben Moses ben Asher, slight differences between the three major traditions have developed over the years. Biblical texts proofread by ben Asher survive in two extant codices, the latter said to have only been patterned after texts proofread by Ben Asher. The former work, although more precise, was partially lost following its removal from Aleppo in 1947.

This is a timeline of LGBT Jewish history, which consists of events at the intersection of Judaism and queer people.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Bartley, Nancy (14 October 2010). "Rare New Torah Made by Women Debuts Saturday in Seattle". The Seattle Times. Archived from the original on 18 June 2012. Retrieved 2 June 2016.
  2. 1 2 Graff, Wendy (Fall 2006). "Three Thousand Years is Long Enough to Wait: Scribing a Women's Torah". The New Light. XLIX (1).
  3. ↑ Singer, Ross (Winter 2006). "Women and Safrut: Can a Woman Be a Scribe?". JOFA Journal.
  4. ↑ "First Torah Commissioned to be Scribed Entirely by Women is Read in Seattle". Jewish Women's Archive. 16 October 2010.
  5. 1 2 Fishkoff, Sue (21 October 2010). "CJM's Resident Scribe Takes Part in Group Torah Project in Seattle". J Weekly.
  6. ↑ Silvers, Emma (16 February 2012). "Unfurling a Piece of History: Women's Torah to Embark on Eight-Day Local Tour". J Weekly.
  7. 1 2 Johnson, Natalie (26 October 2010). "An Island Woman Sews a Historic Mantle for a Holy Book". Beachcomber.
  8. ↑ Guthman, Edward (7 February 2012). "S. F. Metal Artist Crowned Women's Torah Project". SF Gate.
  9. ↑ Anderson, Phil (12 November 2005) Torah Sees a New Day. CJOnline.com/ Topeka Capital-Journal
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.