In his inspiring lecture in memory of Simon Rawidowicz, David Ellenson (drawing on Rawidowicz) presents exegesis as the backbone of Jewish tradition and as its most important mechanism of vitality and continuity. “Interpret or perish” underlies the unbroken relevance of halakhah and Jewish tradition.
If we assume that contemporary insights challenge the traditional world in various complex ways, two important questions arise: First, given that religious people are exposed to various critiques of religion and have internalized most of its tenets, is it at all possible to return to tradition?1 Second, even if we posit that the reflective person can make this return, is every element open to reinterpretation?
Feminist criticism has erected a very thick barrier between women and their religious tradition. That tradition is an extreme case of the marginalization and exclusion of women, and the stifling of their voice, to the point that Cynthia Ozick called...
