Family life, gender and Jewish feminism

Overview

Shalom bayit and judith Plaskow's central argument in Standing Again at Sinai.

What you need to know

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Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   Why is the Jewish home described as a small sanctuary?

   Model answer

   Because since the loss of the Temple the table has taken the place of the altar, and the home is where Shabbat, kashrut, festivals and the education of children are actually carried out.

2. 2

   Give three religious practices centred on the Jewish home rather than the synagogue.

   Model answer

   Lighting the Shabbat candles and making kiddush, keeping a kosher kitchen, and fixing the mezuzah to the doorposts.

3. 3

   What is meant by shalom bayit?

   Model answer

   Shalom bayit is peace in the household, the obligation on husband and wife to treat one another so that the home is harmonious, which halakhah treats as a serious religious duty.

4. 4

   What role has traditionally been assigned to the mother in Jewish family life?

   Model answer

   She has been regarded as responsible for the religious character of the home, for kashrut in the kitchen, for the Shabbat lights and for the earliest religious education of the children.

5. 5

   How is Jewish status reckoned, and where do the streams differ?

   Model answer

   Orthodox and Masorti Judaism reckon descent through the mother, while American Reform and Liberal Judaism in Britain also recognise a child with a Jewish father who is raised as a Jew.

6. 6

   In what ways have the roles of men and women in Jewish families changed?

   Model answer

   Women now commonly work outside the home and study Jewish texts at a high level, fathers take a larger share of childcare, and in non-Orthodox families religious leadership at home is shared rather than divided by sex.

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