New Book-Fertility and Jewish Law: Feminist Perspectives on Orthodox Responsa Literature
Ronit Irshai’s new book Fertility and Jewish Law: Feminist Perspectives on Orthodox Responsa Literature has recently been published.
This book presents, from the perspective of feminist jurisprudence and feminist and liberal bioethics, a complete study of Jewish law (halakhah) on contemporary reproductive issues such as birth control, abortion, and assisted fertility. Irshai examines these issues to probe gender-based values that underlie the interpretations and determinations reached by modern practitioners of halakhah. Her primary goal is to tell, through common halakhic tools, a different halakhic story, one that takes account of the female narrative and its missing perspective.
The book looks very interesting, especially the introduction which is titled, “Epistemology, Jurisprudence, and Halakhah: A Feminist Critique.”
July 8th, 2012 at 7:01 pm
Thanks for introducing me to this interesting work and the interview in Ma’ariv. I seriously question question whether empathy is uniquely a feminine – or feminist trait. Indeed, Dr. Irshay’s crtique of the feminist movement suggests that it is wanting even there. However, advocating empathy and listening certainly grabs your attention. The new books indeed look interesting. See her summary of the book here: http://genderst.com/images/t-ris.doc