2009
ISSUE 72 | 63
T
he potential for
Torah
study to satisfy the
contemporary longing for spiritual mean-
ing was one of the driving forces behind Cantor
Sarah Sager’s dream of creating a women’s
Torah
commentary. In the fall of 1993, at the
national assembly of the Women of Reform Ju-
daism in San Francisco, Cantor Sager gave a
talk entitled, “Sarah’s Hidden Voice: Recover-
ing and Discovering Women’s Spirituality.” She
concluded her speech with the following charge:
I present this idea of re-claiming
Torah
as a very specific proposal
to this great gathering of Jewish women, to this unique organization
dedicated to the spiritual life and religious empowerment of Reform
Jewish women. If we are really serious about women‘s spirituality,
about re-claiming our history and our voices, about liberating the con-
cepts of God and community, of integrating the
Torah
of our tradition
into the
Torah
of our lives, then there is something very concrete that
we can do. We can commission the creation of the first women’s com-
mentary to the
Torah
.
Fourteen years later, Cantor Sager’s dream was fulfilled with the
publication of
The Torah: AWomen’s Commentary
,
which was debuted
in December at the Reform Movement Biennial in San Diego.
In the Song of Songs, the male speaker describes his lover as “a
locked fountain, a sealed-up spring” (4:12); he speaks of her as “a gar-
den spring, a well of fresh water (literally, ‘living water’)“ (4:15). For
women and men, for Jews and non-Jews,
The Torah: AWomen’s Com-
mentary
offers a new way to unlock the fountain of
Torah;
it provides
a fresh chance to drink deeply from this well of living water in order
to quench our thirst for answers and questions, for meaning, for com-
munity, for glimpses of the Divine.
How does the
Commentary
accomplish this? One way is by pro-
viding multiple lenses for viewing each
Torah
portion. First, the heart
of each parashah is the “Central Commentary,” which provides a
verse-by-verse explanation of the biblical text, highlighting female char-
acters and issues involving women. Second, a shorter, “Another View”
essay focuses on a specific element in the
parasha
in a way that
complements, supplements, or sometimes challenges the Central
Commentary. Third, a “Post-Biblical Interpretations” section brings
together teachings from rabbinic writings and classical Jewish com-
mentaries, showing how traditional Jewish sources responded to texts
pertaining to women. Fourth, a more philosophical essay called “Con-
temporary Reflection” explores various aspects of the
Torah
portion and
challenges readers to consider how the
parasha
speaks to us as contem-
porary readers. And fifth, the “Voices” section contains a collection of
creative responses to the
Torah
portion, mainly poetry. Five distinct
modes of biblical interpretation; five different doors to the deep.
OPEN I NG THE DOOR
TO THE DE E P :
THE CREAT I ON OF
THE TORAH : A WOMEN ’ S
COMMENTARY
Dr. Andrea L. Weiss,
Associate Professor of Bible, HUC-JIR/NY
T
his evening of celebration in honor of the
completion and publication of
The Torah:
A Women’s Commentary
is a very meaningful
one for me and for many others. Many women
have joined us from both the Women’s Rab-
binic Network and the Women for Reform
Judaism. All of us who have worked our entire
careers to create a new and more complete vi-
sion of
Torah
that reflected the reality of women’s experiences and
women’s perspectives have a great deal to celebrate with this publica-
tion. That this celebration takes place as part of the lecture series
established in honor of Dr. Fritz Bamberger by his family, is particu-
larly meaningful. I did not know Dr. Bamberger well, but I do feel a
deep sense of connection to him and to his family. I do know very
well the significance and impact of his life on HUC-JIR and on David
Ellenson’s intellectual life. My sense of gratitude for the Bambergers’
generosity and care is very deep. We are grateful to the co-editors of
this commentary, Dr. Tamara Cohn Eskenazi and Dr. Andrea Weiss,
for starting us off, rolling the stone off the well, and opening the door
to some deeper reflections.
It is a distinct honor to moderate such a distinctive panel of
women, all members of the HUC-JIR faculty. Being on the panel with
them shows me just how profoundly our Jewish world has changed. I
can never take for granted the power of learning from and with women
scholars. I have learned that once women enter into the arena of
Torah
learning and study it never is really just mix and stir. It’s really mix and
transform. The presence of women demands that the text be seen with
new eyes and heard with new ears. It is this creativity and vision which
we truly celebrate on this unique evening. The world has truly changed
in our lifetime. Our panel really reflects the amazing transformation
that has taken place at HUC-JIR. How privileged we all are to be wit-
nesses to this. And it is a particular privilege that as moderator I am
able to participate in a conversation about a text with which we wres-
tle so deeply.
When we complete the chanting of the book of of the
Torah
,
it
is customary for the community to acknowledge that momemt by
chanting “
Hazak, Hazak, v’Nithazek
” – “
Be strong, be strong, be
strengthened.” We find ourselves strengthened by the work of these
four amazing scholars and the work of all whose energy, creativity, and
efforts brought this volume into existence. As we conclude this evening
with a song from Debbie Friedman, whose music inspires and trans-
forms us all, my prayer is that we continue to go from strength
to strength, that we continue to be strengthened, and to strengthen
each other as we make our
Torah
’
s meaning go even deeper and to-
wards truth.
THE POWER OF L EARN I NG
FROM AND WI TH WOMEN
SCHOL AR S
Rabbi Jacqueline Koch Ellenson,
Executive Director, Women’s Rabbinic Network
