User:Etheyman/sandbox

To glean knowledge from this section, it is important to note that the definition of theology is understood as “the systematic and rational study of concepts of deity and of the nature of religious truths”. Feminist ethics with the addition of a Jewish lens hosts a variety of theological opinions with differing views of what Feminist Jewish Ethics entails. While some discuss the language and figures of speech like metaphors, others weigh more heavily regarding the foundations of the religion and its male authoritative figures or simply the stories that tell the master-narrative, the juris-generative, communal ideas that re-calibrate the social norm.

Judith Plaskow wrote about use of masculine pronouns and the patriarchy dominated nature of Judaism. In her book, Standing Again at Sinai, she claims that there is “a sense of fluidity, movement, and multiplicity, [a] daring interweaving of women's experiences with Jewish, Native American, and Goddess imagery that leaves the reader/hearer with an expanded sense of what is possible in speak­ing of/to God”. To Plaskow, the homogeneous use of language is one of the main proponents of the patriarchal nature of Judaism. Plaskow’s theology, while fully acknowledging that the metaphors and images of God are man-made, notes that the language forms out of a societal standard. Therefore, when change occurs socially, so too must the method of approaching law. From Plaskow’s perspective, “To expand Torah, we must reconstruct Jewish history to include the history of women, and in doing so alter the shape of Jewish memory.” Plaskow’s notions of relabeling and re-figuring the language used to describe higher power suggest that the current system of Judaism cannot continue in any form egalitarianism because without common language, there will forever be a separation between male and female. Contrasting thinkers, like Tamar Ross, still see the need for an inclusion, but find that need to be inherently non-Jewish and in opposition to the fundamental theology on which the religion is based.

Within approaches to theology, however, the sole focus does not come from how God is or isn’t addressed or the language surrounding a Feminist Jewish ethic. Many thinkers have stepped away from focusing on the language and instead, looked at the content. Rachel Adler suggests that halakha itself is too central to Judaism, that a perpetual cycle where men create the language and the law that all are expected to follow is detrimental to the future of Judaism, but that it is still necessary to the essence of Judaism. Blu Greenberg brought the phrase “where there is a rabbinic will, there is a halakhic way” to Jewish feminism in 1981, printed within the pages of her book On Women and Judaism. Greenberg’s understanding of Jewish theology is contingent on the texts that have shaped its existence in the 21st century.

Rabbi Donna Berman, Ph. D. formed her theology through the method of Nashiut Ethics, an ethical system of “doing Jewish ethics” that revolves around lived experience, rather than the law or texts that are included within the greater Jewish canon. For Berman, those that have been marginalized will never be heard unless they are asked, unless their experiences are brought to the table to show what is true for the Jewish people within a societal context. Her ethical system is based on those found in Ada Maria Isasi-Diaz’s mujerista theology and womanism, committed to equality and social justice, and strays farthest from presenting Jewish source texts or basing her thought in any form of Halakha, Jewish law. Berman’s theology pieces together some of Adler and Plaskow’s thoughts, while still pulling from completely different schools of thought within feminist Judaism. By uncovering the stories of the disenfranchised, Nashiut Ethics offers an opportunity to change the language that Judaism uses. According to Berman, the voices that were never heard before, those who never had the chance to speak up, either because they weren’t asked anything or they weren’t asked the right questions. Upon opening the doors for a new conversation, the barriers set forth by a patriarchal system are broken down. Through this methodology, Judaism can prosper and progress relative to society and the conditions of the time.