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TORAH from page 1
according to a study guide for exploring Torah commentary released by the organization.
Commentary "calls upon us to ask questions of the text that will challenge our perceptions and force us to look into the text more deeply and more personally," according to the guide.
That personal connection to traditional commentaries was missing for many women, said Judith Rosenkranz, three-year president of WRJ.
There is no commentary that "expressed a women's point of view," she said, adding that current commentaries don't give a full perspective of what women were doing at the time events in the Pentateuch were happening.
Though there do exist commentaries by women on smaller sections of the Torah, there is no complete women's commentary, SEiid Ms. Rosenkrantz. ■
"There are writings that indicate that there were portions that included women that did not make it into the Torah when it was assembled," Ms. Rosenkrantz said. "But the Torah was assembled by men and it was put together in a form to back up a patriarchal society."
Creating the commentary is a large and complex task, so Women of Reform Judaism is starting out with a pilot "sampler" version to come out in the summer of 1997.
"We designated parashot (Torah portions) from each of the five books (of Moses)," Ms. Rosenkrantz explained, "and when we sent out invitations to submit work, that's what people were asked to comment on."
Thoselnvitations to submit work went out to female rabbis, cantors. Biblical scholars and educators in 15 countries around the world. The commentaries were then returned to Rabbi Emily Feigenson of Los Alami-tos, Cal. She then forwarded the interpretations to consulting editors —people who compare and select various works without knowing who their authors are.
Commentaries were then sent
Finding a voice: Dina-Hasida Mercy currently uses male commentaries in her Torati study classes.
to reading committees for feedback on how easy they were to comprehend and whether the interpretations were realistic. Those comments then went back toRabbi Feigenson for a final edit.
' Representatives of the Reform Temple Sholom in Vancouver , were happy to hear that the group is working on this type of a project. "We're pretty proud of the the Women of Reform Judaism for taking this on," said Marie Henry, co-president of the congregation's sisterhood.
Dina-Hasida Mercy, who conducts women's Torah study groups through the Jewish Renewal Or Shalom synagogue, was also pleased to hear about the endeavor.
Her classes use commentaries by Everett Fox, Raphael Hirsh, Gunther Plaut and Rabbi Aiyeh Kaplan.
"It sounds like a wonderful project," Ms. Mercy said. "I have a great deal of respect for the Reform Movement's values. There's a real commitment to social justice and looking at things in a critical way."
"I think that what they turn out will be a very worthwhile contribution to liberal Judaism," she said, "I think we definitely need it because women and men, do see things very differently and experience things differently."
The idea for a women's commentary on the Torah was generated at a Women of Reform Judaism convention in 1993 in San Francisco. In a keynote address. Cantor Sarah J. Sager of Cleveland claimed that current commentaries present only a "masculine experience of God." She challenged WRJ to come up with an alternative interpretation that would allow women's voices to be heard.
Ms. Rosenkrantz feels the "opportunity to participate in a new direction is tremendously exciting. Obviously this is a reflection of the times in which we live, but all commentary is. The commentary written in Jerusalem is different itoxa the commentary written in Babylonia because the times were different.
Today we are living in a time when women are being recognized as full participants and are haviiig a voice and a say, so here is an opportunity to participate in a true breakthrough in a literary sense,"
Before proceeding with a full commentary, however, the organization has to decide if the pilot commentary is "meaningful," Ms, Rosenkrantz explained, "Does it shed new light? Is it adding a new dimension to existing works? Is there a need for this type of thing?"
She is optimistic the answer to all these questions will be yes. "I anticipate fully that the decision will be to go forward [with the complete project]," Ms. Rosenkrantz said.
Temple Sholom's Rabbi Philip Bregman was not sure how a female commentary would differ from a male commentary, "Most of the things that I read, to tell you the truth, if I don't look at the name beforehand, I couldn't tell you if it was written by a male or female.
"If it gets people studying Torah," said Rabbi Bregman, "and it gets them thinking about Torah, good! What could . be bad?" □