MO Woman

JGirls

Since the enormous success of the book Queen Bees and Wannnabes and Mean Girls, the film on the same subject, girlhood animosity has begun to be taken much more seriously.

The Jewish community needs to approach this issue in it's own way and through the eyes and perspective of Jewish tradition. Along these lines, a guidebook has been publushed which tries to guide girls though this awkward, sometimes difficult stage of life with Jewish sources and values in a cool way (although I have to admit I have not yet read it).

Dr. Elana Maryles Sztokman recently reviewed the book, The JGirl's Guide: The Young Jewish Woman's Handbook for Coming of Age, by Penina Adelman, Ali Feldman and Shulamit Reinharz for the Lookstein Center. She recommends it as a great Bat-mitzvah present as well!

Hanukkah Books for Kids

My sister-in-law just reviewed some fun looking children's books for Hanukkah on her blog, Junior Book Worm. I think she has read more children's books than anyone I know and she always has great recommendations.
 

"Goodnight Moon" Controversy

Karen Karbo has an amusing Op-Ed in today's NY Times, criticizing a politically-correct change made to the famous children's book Goodnight Moon. Apparently, the book includes a picture of the illustrator, Clement Hurd, holding a cigarette. HarperCollins decided to digitally alter the picture and remove the cigarette so as not to send a message to children that smoking is okay.

I must admit that I never noticed this aspect of the picture, and I am someone who really dislikes being around smoking. I have found ample opportunities to discuss why smoking is bad with my oldest daughter, and this may just be an example of political-correctness going off the deep-end.

Nehama Leibowitz Conference

I just found out about this conference commemorating the centenary of Nehama Leibowitz's birth, taking place in Jerusalem, Jan 2-3. Many great Tanakh teachers will be speaking.

Rabbi Slifkin

After all I have been reading (here and here) about Rabbi Slifkin (aka The Zoo Rabbi), I was intrigued when I heard that he had been invited to our shul in Ra'anana as a scholar-in-residence for parshat Noach (appropriately enough).

On Shabbat morning Rabbi Slifkin spoke about identifying different animals in Tanakh (apparently the Hippopotamus  is mentioned in the book of Job). He also shared some thoughts based on a work of midrash called Perek Shira, which discusses what can be learned from particular animals by applying psukim from Tanakh to them. From an eduactor's perspective I think that what Rabbi Slifkin is doing is very inspiring. It is refreshing to see such a knowledge of, and passion for, both the natural world AND Torah synthesized within one person.

Can Girls Wear Tefillin?

A discussion thread has just begun on the LookJed list (an excellent educational resource) regarding whether or not a girl should be permitted (halakhically, sociologically...) to wear tefillin in school if she so desires.

Aliza Berger-Cooper, who wrote an article about whether or not women are halakhically permitted to wear tefillin in Jewish Legal Writings By Women, is interested in updating her research with an educational perspective. It will be interesting to see how the discussion continues.

From: Parents/ To: Educators

As an educator and a parent I try to be sensitive about what is fair criticism of teachers and what is not. It is also always important to try to give a teacher the benefit of the doubt, especially in the beginning. But this post by Orthomom highlights some sad issues coming out of yeshiva day schools.

She also asks parents to add to her list of useful advice to teachers. At the moment mine is: "Please stop giving my 3 yr old chocolate spread everyday, I would much prefer he just eat plain bread!" But seriously, these confidence and social issues need to be addressed in the Modern Orthodox world.

Adjusting: School Schedules

We have had such a warm welcome here: loads of friendly visits, Shabbat invitations and offers of help. We are slowly returning to some semblance of a routine, but it takes a lot of getting used to. My sister-in-law says it takes a year to feel settled in a new community and I keep reminding myself of that. One aspect of life here, which takes some adjustment on the part of parents and children, is the Israeli school schedule.

Rabbi Weiss Halivni and Women's Talmud Scholarship

Thanks to Steven I. Weiss (aka the Canonist) for providing a thoughtful interview with Marjorie Lehman, Assistant Professor of Talmud at JTS. She discusses the impact that Rabbi David Weiss Halivni, her teacher and mentor, has had on her and her work. Rabbi Halivni, one of the great Talmud scholars of our generation, taught for many years in the Department of Religion at Columbia University and is now moving to Israel.

As a student of Talmud and Midrash, I have been greatly influenced by Rabbi Halivni's approach to rabbinic texts both through sitting in his classroom and through studying with his former student, Jeff Rubenstein, Professor of Talmud and Midrash at NYU.

My small addition to this conversation is that Rabbi Halivni had real vision regarding women's roles. Rabbi Halivni left JTS in disagreement with its decision to start ordaining women. He outlines his thoughtful and principled objections in his autobiography, The Book and the Sword. Nonetheless, he seemed genuinely excited to teach Talmud at a high level to both women and men. As a result his legacy includes a number of female Talmud scholars. Their scholarship will surely impact the Jewish community's view of women and their abilities in Torah she b'al peh.

Photo Credit: Joe Pineiro.

Discussing London with Our Children

My sister-in-law and brother-in-law live in London. I thought you might like to read their blog posts about the tragic attack on the trains and bus yesterday and how they chose to discuss it with their children.