I hear a lot of comments to the effect that women are second-class citizens in traditional Judaism, and I can certainly understand where that impression comes from. Men populate the more public halachic acts, such as counting for a minyan and leading the public prayers which require one. There are various religious acts that men are told to do and women are generally told not […]

If women in STEM is trending in the 2010s, then a woman who rose to the top of the field of Mathematics over 60 years ago was certainly a trailblazer. An Orthodox Jewish women who did this was basically unheard of. Enter Dr. Edith Luchins, born in Poland in 1921, the oldest of four Hirsch […]

I don’t remember exactly when I first learned about “shelo asani isha,” but I have to imagine that I wasn’t too happy about it. There is a section of the siddur called birkas hashachar (morning blessings), which is recited every morning by observant Jews. One of the blessings within birkas hashachar is said by men and blesses God for having not […]

In Orthodox Dating Scene, Matchmakers Go Digital A newly-launched program called OU-JLIConnections is a partnership between the Orthodox Union’s Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus and the popular Orthodox dating site SawYouAtSinai, which relies mostly on matchmakers browsing online dating profiles. OU-JLIConnections uses campus Jewish educators who know the students as matchmakers rather than SawYouAtSinai’s randomly […]

Dear Rebbetzin Chaya- I didn’t grow up religious, so I left a world of egalitarian Judaism. And I’m happy with that decision. Then again, on Simchas Torah it seems like there’s nothing for women to do. How do I come to terms with the fact that I don’t want to do hakafos but also feel […]