Dr. Daniel Sperber

I recently read a book by Rabbi Dr. Daniel Sperber, who is an expert on the development of Jewish law. The book is entitled "The Way of Halacha", and it was published in Hebrew, by "Reuven Mass" press, in Jerusalem, in 2007. It was a present from my friend Z. It is called דרכה של הלכה in Hebrew. To my knowledge, there is no English version available. I will try to summarize some of his arguments. Because the book is long, this may take me a few posts. In general, there may be times when my posts are summaries of articles/books I think are relevant to the Modern Jewish experience as it pertains to gender/sexuality, because I intend for this blog to be a sort of resource-bank as well as a forum for sharing my opinions (and discussing them - please feel free to comment on posts :) )

I will note before I begin that while Dr. Daniel Sperber does conclude that women in today's day and age are allowed to peform aliyot, he himself does not institute the policy of women's aliyot* in the synagogue where he is the rabbi. I think this is a recognition that while it is up to religious leaders to formulate theories and laws of religious change, and provide opportunities for such change for those who desire it, change can not be imposed, but ultimately must come from the bottom up. Thus, it is important to find a theoretical framework for women who want aliyot to feel comfortable pursuing them, without forcing women who do not want aliyot to take them. Of course, feminist theory argues such women only do not want the aliyot because they themselves have internalized the views of their male opressors. Had they only not been brain-washed, they would surely want to read from the Torah in public. Such a theory however, deprives women of agency, thus being mysogynist in its very attempt to be feminist. It is also elitist and imperialist, in that it imposes its own value-system on a subjugated population. Thus, it opresses in its attempt to liberate.

* To receive an aliyah (plural: aliyot) is to read in public from the Torah scroll during prayer services.