Janine Elkouby and Sonia Sarah Lipsyc have published a book entitled Quand les femmes lisent la Bible, When Women Read the Bible. The term “Bible” is to be understood as both written Torah and oral Torah, since in Judaism one cannot be understood without the other.
Their book is a compilation of essays by twenty women. The first part of the book deals with women figures in the Bible, individual women (one essay deals with Dinah, another one with Sarah) as well as group of women (for instance the women who have no name in the Torah, such as Noah’s wife or Job’s wife or the daughters of Zelophehad). The second part is devoted to modern issues regarding women within the framework of Orthodox Judaism.
Both women are Orthodox and Sonia Lypsic was a student of Nechama Leibowitz. Janine is a Classics teacher whereas Sonia Sarah is a sociologist. The twenty authors or so are French-speaking women, with two notable exceptions, namely Tamar Ross and Leah Shakdiel. Their book certainly fills a void within French Jewry.
To understand the significance of their work, you need to know that there is no such thing as Modern Orthodoxy in France. Undoubtedly there are rabbis and individuals with Modern Orthodox sympathies and practices but there are no organized MO body.
Another important element in France is the haredization of French Judaism; that is to say a definite move to the right (for want of a better word) and a consequent tendency to view stringency as more religious. What follows is that women are discouraged to learn and especially to study the Talmud.
Thus there is not one single Jewish high school in France where girls are taught Talmudic studies.
If this is continues we are entitled to fear a widening of the gap between religious women who will have little access to Jewish texts and educated women who will assimilate all the more quickly as they will be led to believe that Judaism has nothing stimulating to offer them.
8 Comments
May 19, 2008 at 12:12 am
Thanks for sharing. Sorry to hear there is not much room for women’s Jewish scholarship in France. Sounds like an interesting book.
May 19, 2008 at 9:05 pm
Thanks for shedding some light on the makeup of Jewish life in France. I met several French Jewish women last year in ulpan here in Israel (they live in Ramat Beit Shemesh). All but one were haredi, and the non-haredi woman was hard to identify (though it was clear she was not haredi).
It’s not very common for girls to be taught gemara in any Orthodox school setting. The one school in Beit Shemesh that does teach it got lots of flak at the beginning (ranging from disapproval to throwing things at the students). Was there ever a middle-of-the-road type of Orthodoxy in France? I know many French Jews have made aliyah in past years; how has this affected Judaism in the country?
I hope you enjoy the book.
May 19, 2008 at 9:15 pm
Until the Sefardi arrived in the 1960s, French Orthodoxy was quite middle-of-the-road from what people tell me. Because of the Arab culture they lived in, I think that a very strict separation between men and women is not such a problem for them, especialy for those from Morocco. I once attended a service in a Sefardi shul in Paris where the women were separated from the men by a wall. Add a fast spread of Chabad practices and you get some of the reasons why French Judaism has changed and is still moving to the right.
Regarding your last question, I am not sure because I live in a middle-size town with a small comunity from where noone has mad aliyah, some have moved to Paris or its area though as Jewish life is eaier there.
May 20, 2008 at 4:30 am
this is so interesting, thanks for sharing it. i really enjoy your blog because i have no familiarity with the jews of france at all….so yours is such a great window for me! i look forward to hearing your thoughts on the book. (i assume it’s all in french, which would get me nowhere. it’s all french to me!)
May 20, 2008 at 12:49 pm
I’ll try to keep all of you updated once I have received the book and read it.
May 21, 2008 at 6:40 am
Thanks for submitting this to this week’s Haveil Havalim. As it so happens, I had already pulled this exact entry because of the very reason that Phyllis mentioned and that is the stories of the French Jewish community is not widely known. Thank you so much for sharing.
July 15, 2008 at 1:38 pm
Thank very much for your information and the commentaries about our book with Janine Elkouby.
If you are interessted by women and judaism in France you can see my own blog and website : http://soniasarahlipsyc.canalblog.com
Amitiés.
Sonia Sarah Lipsyc
July 15, 2008 at 5:25 pm
Sonia Sarah: Thanks for visiting this blog.