User:Rachel.shilcrat/sandbox

Criticism
While most Jewish feminist ethicists and thinkers agree that Judaism can be inadequate to the requirements of feminism, many have oppositional views towards methods of solving this problem, and are thus critical of each other's works. Some of this criticism occurs overtly, but much of it does not reference a specific author. Rather the criticism remains assumed; when one author puts forth an idea that disagrees with that of another, it can be understood to be a criticism of the other's work.

Modes of Criticism
For the most part,Jewish feminist thinkers seem to avoid specifically criticizing each other. Even authors like Tova Hartman and Rachel Adler, whose theologies and ideas are very dissimilar, avoid criticizing the other openly. While they disagree with each other's methodologies and opinions (see above), and respond to each other's works, open criticism is kept to a minimum within the genre.

References to other authors are most often used as positive examples, and focus on the commonalities between works, rather than the differences. Disagreeing authors, rather than attacking the works of another, will often let their works speak for themselves, setting themselves up as another option in thought, rather than an opponents. Despite the great divides in opinion, and the many disagreements, actual criticism rarely occurs.

Feminist Liturgical Methods
Many Jewish feminist thinkers, including Judith Plaskow and Rachel Adler support the addition of female centered language into the liturgy. Some authors disagree with this premise. Cynthia Ozick, for example, is very critical of this technique, and argues that using female god language would be equivalent to the reassumption of idolatry. For her, referring to God as "Queen of the universe" (rather than "King of the universe" harkens back to the fertility cults of ancient goddesses, and would be unacceptable. Plaskow adamantly disagrees with Ozick here.  In her work Standing Again at Sinai, Plaskow criticizes Ozick's arguments, saying that these new prayers do not set up a Goddess next to God, but rather expand God's image.

Feminist Theologies
Plaskow, Adler, and Ozick often criticized each other's works, using essays to respond to each other. Plaskow's article "The Right Question is Theological" is a refutation of Adler's "The Jew Who Wasn't There" and Ozick's "Notes Toward the Right Direction." In her article, Plaskow criticizes Ozick and Adler for being too focused on making changes to halakha to fit feminist needs, and for not discussing the Judaism's underlying theological problems. Plaskow is especially critical of Ozick's 1979 article"Notes toward finding the right question," in which Ozick argues that Judaism does not inherently subordinate women, but rather that the subordination Jewish women face come from "historical custom and practice." In her article, Plaskow argues against this statement, saying that Judaism's underlying theology this problematic in and of itself. But in her discussion of Ozick, Plaskow is less critical of Ozick's ideas than of her silence on the issue of theology. Plaskow wants to expand the discussion on theology; it is Ozick's unwillingness to do so that prompts Plaskow's criticism. Adler responded to the criticism that she was overly focused on halakha by writing first an article, then a book, outlying ideas regarding Jewish feminist theology.