Pregnancy and the Reproductive Habitus of Ultra-Orthodox Jewish Women

Background: This study examined the effectiveness of a birth preparation course on coping with childbirth among primigravid ultra-orthodox Jewish women in Israel. Methods: In total, 130 ultra-orthodox 25–35-week primigravid women were divided into a study (n = 100, participated in birth preparation courses) and a control (n = 30, did not participate in the courses) group. A questionnaire was delivered three times: T1—before the course/delivery, T2—two–three days after delivery, and T3—a month after delivery. Results: At T3, self-efficacy among the study group was higher than in the control group. Differences in self-efficacy were found over time regardless of the group (F(2,246) = 12.83, p < 0.001), as a time–group interaction effect (F(2,246) = 10.20, p < 0.01). Self-efficacy in the study group (Mean, M = 3.40, Standard deviation, SD = 0.63 at T1) dropped to M = 3.06, SD = 0.76 at T2 and rose to M = 3.34, SD = 0.64 at T3. In the control group, self-efficacy (M = 3.53, SD = 0.56 at T1) dropped to M = 3.26, SD = 0.63 at T2 and to M = 2.95, SD = 0.76 at T3. Discussion: The childbirth preparation course was found to be effective in raising self-efficacy among primigravid ultra-orthodox religious women when compared to the control group.

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The Rebellion of the Daughters

10.23943/princeton/9780691194936.001.0001 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Rachel Manekin

Keyword(s):

World War I ◽

Religious Education ◽

Primary Schools ◽

University Education ◽

Orthodox Jewish ◽

Traditional Schools ◽

Eastern European ◽

Jewish Women ◽

World War ◽

Educational Innovations

This book investigates the flight of young Jewish women from their Orthodox, mostly Hasidic, homes in Western Galicia (now Poland) in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In extreme cases, hundreds of these women sought refuge in a Kraków convent, where many converted to Catholicism. Those who stayed home often remained Jewish in name only. The book reconstructs the stories of three Jewish women runaways and reveals their struggles and innermost convictions. Unlike Orthodox Jewish boys, who attended “cheders,” traditional schools where only Jewish subjects were taught, Orthodox Jewish girls were sent to Polish primary schools. When the time came for them to marry, many young women rebelled against the marriages arranged by their parents, with some wishing to pursue secondary and university education. After World War I, the crisis of the rebellious daughters in Kraków spurred the introduction of formal religious education for young Orthodox Jewish women in Poland, which later developed into a worldwide educational movement. The book chronicles the belated Orthodox response and argues that these educational innovations not only kept Orthodox Jewish women within the fold but also foreclosed their opportunities for higher education. Exploring the estrangement of young Jewish women from traditional Judaism in Habsburg Galicia at the turn of the twentieth century, the book brings to light a forgotten yet significant episode in Eastern European history.

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Challenge and Conformity

10.3828/liverpool/9781786941718.001.0001 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Lindsey Taylor-Guthartz

Keyword(s):

Family Members ◽

Religious Life ◽

Active Participation ◽

Orthodox Jewish ◽

Lived Religion ◽

Jewish Women ◽

Women's Participation ◽

The Usa ◽

Religious Establishment ◽

The Impact

Orthodox Jewish women are increasingly seeking new ways to express themselves religiously, and important changes have occurred in consequence in their self-definition and the part they play in the religious life of their communities. Drawing on surveys and interviews across different Orthodox groups in London, as well as on the author's own experience of active participation over many years, this is a study that analyses its findings in the context of related developments in Israel and the USA. Sympathetic attention is given to women's creativity and sophistication as they struggle to develop new modes of expression that will let their voices be heard; at the same time, the inevitable points of conflict with the male-dominated religious establishment are examined and explained. There is a focus, too, on the impact of innovations in ritual: these include not only the creation of women-only spaces and women's participation in public practices traditionally reserved for men, but also new personal practices often acquired on study visits to Israel which are replacing traditions learned from family members. The book is a study of how new norms of lived religion have emerged in London, influenced by both the rise of feminism and the backlash against it, and also by women's new understanding of their religious roles.

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A Glimpse Into the World of Battered Ultra-Orthodox Jewish Women in Israel: A Follow-Up Study on Women Who Resided in a Shelter

Health Care For Women International ◽

10.1080/07399332.2013.862793 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 35 (4) ◽

pp. 400-422 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Mally Shechory-bitton

Keyword(s):

Orthodox Jewish ◽

Jewish Women ◽

Follow Up Study ◽

The World

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“I Think God Is a Feminist”: Art and Action by Orthodox Jewish Women

Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion ◽

10.2979/jfemistudreli.37.2.02 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 37 (2) ◽

pp. 5

Author(s):

Tran ◽

Halberstam

Keyword(s):

Orthodox Jewish ◽

Feminist Art ◽

Jewish Women

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Karen E.H. Skinazi, Women of Valor: Orthodox Jewish Troll Fighters, Crime Writers, and Rock Stars in Contemporary Literature and Culture. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2018. 290 pp.

10.1093/oso/9780197516485.003.0025 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 278-280

Keyword(s):

New Brunswick ◽

Contemporary Literature ◽

Charles Taylor ◽

Religious Practice ◽

Orthodox Jewish ◽

Jewish Women ◽

Religious Observance ◽

Rutgers University ◽

German Philosopher ◽

Readable Book

This lively and readable book opens the window to a rich and vibrant world of Orthodox, or religiously observant, Jewish women who keep kosher and Shabbat while holding jobs, solving crimes, confronting prejudice, and making music. Drawing on memoirs, novels, film, and a graphic novel, Karen Skinazi argues that Jewish women find opportunities for personal empowerment through religious observance, and that their actions within the tradition (and against it) offer opportunities for corrective approaches to the tradition and to its perception by outsiders. The book is structured around selected verses of “Eshet ḥayil”—“Woman of Valor” (Prov. 31:10–31)—an acrostic poem that is sung on Friday nights as part of the Shabbat observance (the term also refers to any woman who is an active public figure). For Skinazi, the initiative, authority, energy, and intelligence ascribed to the woman of valor in the poem offers a counternarrative to mainstream fictional and media depictions of religious observance. The book thus offers itself as a feminist affirmation of religious practice in the post-secular age as described by German philosopher and sociologist Jürgen Habermas and Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor....

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