WOMEN OF REFORM JUDAISM (WRJ) is immensely proud to have nurtured the creation of The Torah: A Women’s Commentary. This book began when one woman, Cantor Sarah Sager, challenged WRJ to produce a Torah commentary that would help women re-claim Torah by gathering together the scholarship and insights of women across the Jewish spectrum and around the world. When Cantor Sager served in 1992 as Scholar-in-Residence at the biennial convention of District 3 of the WRJ (then called NFTS, National Federation of Temple Sisterhoods), she planted a seed, claiming that women could create a Torah commentary that would incorporate women’s experiences and women’s history into the living memory of our people.
One year later, at the 1993 NFTS Biennial Assembly in San Francisco, Cantor Sager challenged the entire national delegate assembly to “imagine…women being permitted, for the first time, feeling able, feeling legitimate in their study of Torah…and imagine Sisterhood as the empowering agent for this transformation of what is into what should be.”
The Board of Directors of Women of Reform Judaism responded enthusiastically to Cantor Sager’s challenge. Then-president Judith Rosenkranz asked past-president Judith Hertz and board member Elaine Merians to chair a committee that would assess the feasibility of creating a women’s Torah commentary. Dr. Sherry Blumberg and other scholars worked with various WRJ districts over the following years, leading women in Torah study and helping to spark an interest in this project. In the spring of 1995, WRJ convened a gathering in Elizabeth, New Jersey, that brought together WRJ lay leaders, scholars, and clergy to begin to envision what this sort of commentary might look like. Enthusiasm for the project was contagious. Less than one month later, WRJ Board member Davna Brook put forth a motion to the WRJ Board of Directors that WRJ should publish a Torah commentary authored by women. The motion passed unanimously amidst tears of joy and celebration.
From that point on, WRJ was committed to funding fully the publication of this commentary, which aimed to bring new insights to the Torah, hopefully engaging thousands of women and men in study. We recognized the extraordinary promise this project held, for it would be an opportunity to bring representations of women, in ancient Israel as well as in our modern world, into the public arena. It would offer a way into Torah study for women who previously felt excluded or marginalized. And it would provide an opportunity to highlight the outstanding work of Jewish women scholars and community leaders. In its distinguished 94-year history, WRJ has been involved in countless important projects; but this is certainly one of its most ambitious and most historically significant.
Many conversations and meetings followed in which the content and form of the commentary began to take shape. We explored many far-reaching questions: What would be the look and tone of the book? Who would be invited to participate? How would the commentary handle gender issues in Hebrew and English? How could we meet the high standards of scholarly integrity yet also succeed in engaging students just beginning Torah study? And, of primary importance, who could possibly gather together and lead the dynamic women who would make these critical decisions?
Understanding that leadership for the project held the key to its success, WRJ invited Dr. Tamara Cohn Eskenazi (Professor of Bible at HUC-JIR) to serve as Editor. Dr. Eskenazi, whose expertise, contacts, and academic standing are widely recognized and respected, possessed a clear vision of the book’s promise; and she approached collaboration with WRJ with open arms. In an early meeting with WRJ leaders, Dr. Eskenazi commented, “Women of Reform Judaism brings a sophistication of judgment and commitment to learning.…Partnering together will allow us to put Torah back into the hands of the community, especially the women.”
Dr. Eskenazi immediately went to work assembling an editorial board of leading women scholars and clergy: Dr. Rachel Adler, Dr. Judith Baskin, Dr. Sherry Blumberg, Dr. Tikva Frymer-Kensky ז״ל, Rabbi Sue Levi Elwell, Ph.D., Dr. Carol Meyers, Dr. Carol Ochs, Dr. Judith Plaskow, Cantor Sarah Sager, Rabbi Judith Schindler, Rabbi Ruth H. Sohn, Dr. Ellen Umansky, and Rabbi Andrea L. Weiss, Ph.D., who later took on the role of Associate Editor.
This volume is a testament to the generous spirit of women working together and supporting each other. Each step toward publishing the commentary was the result of determination and diligent teamwork on many different levels. Over the years, hundreds of women—lay leaders as well as Jewish professionals and scholars—collectively labored to birth The Torah: A Women’s Commentary. Rabbi Emily Feigenson edited an early pilot edition entitled Beginning the Journey: Toward a Women’s Commentary on Torah, which was released at the 1997 WRJ Assembly. A sample parashah, Parashat Pinchas, edited by Dr. Eskenazi, followed in 2003. Both of these early samples stimulated feedback from readers that was crucial in determining the final content and design of the book. Further refinement came in 2006 after nearly 15,000 women and men around the world took part in the opportunity to study from Parashat Chayei Sarah sample booklets.
Members of WRJ hosted commentary salons in order to raise the significant funds required to publish this book. A very special thank you is due to WRJ Board member Joanne Fried for her generous gift that initiated our successful fundraising campaign. To all the women and men whose solicitations and contributions enabled WRJ to publish The Torah: A Women’s Commentary, I say a heartfelt thank you.
Special acknowledgment must be given to WRJ Honorary President Norma U. Levitt and Past Presidents Betty Benjamin, Constance Kreshtool, Dolores K. Wilkenfeld, Judith M. Hertz, Judith O. Rosenkranz, Judith Silverman, and Helene Waranch. Their commitment to the Commentary kept the project on the WRJ agenda.
Several former staff members deserve recognition for their important roles in the genesis of this project. These include Executive Director Emeritae Dr. Jane Evans ז״ל, Eleanor Schwartz, and Ellen Y. Rosenberg, under whose leadership the project began. Eve Roshevsky and Alison Lee were also instrumental in advancing the Commentary in its early days.
WRJ Executive Director Shelley Lindauer shepherded this project to its conclusion and deserves unlimited thanks. WRJ Manager of Development and Special Projects Lindsay Bellows kept accurate donor records. I leave it to the Acknowledgments to formally recognize the contributions of the many individuals involved in the actual production of the present book.
May God bless us as we inaugurate a new era of Torah study.
,בָּרוּךְ אַתָּת יְיָ, אֱלֹחֵֽינוּ מֶֽלֶךְ תָעוֹלָם
.שֶׁהֶהֶיָֽנוּ וְקִיְּמָֽנוּ וְתִגִּיעָֽנוּ לַוְּמַן תַוֶּת
Praise to You, Eternal our God,
Sovereign of the universe, for giving us life,
sustaining us, and enabling us to reach this season.
—Rosanne M. Selfon
President
Women of Reform Judaism