Over the past year we’ve come across some great titles to enhance your col­lec­tion of resources for Jew­ish women. A few good­ies that stand out:

The Torah: A Women’s Com­men­tary (Dr. Tama­ra Cohn Eske­nazi and Rab­bi Andrea Weiss, eds.)

Cre­at­ed in a part­ner­ship between the URJ Press and Women of Reform Judaism, this com­men­tary presents the women’s side of our sto­ry. Women of Reform Judaism com­mis­sioned the work of the world’s lead­ing Jew­ish female Bible schol­ars, rab­bis, his­to­ri­ans, philoso­phers and archae­ol­o­gists to pro­vide com­pre­hen­sive com­men­tary, authored only by women, on the Five Books of Moses, includ­ing indi­vid­ual Torah por­tions as well as the Hebrew and Eng­lish translation.

Lev­el­ing the Play­ing Field: Advanc­ing Women in Jew­ish Orga­ni­za­tion­al Life Shifra Bronznick, Didi Gold­en­har, and Mar­ty Lin­sky, eds.)

Paints a pic­ture of gen­der bias in North America’s Jew­ish orga­ni­za­tions, and explains why more equi­table envi­ron­ments are essen­tial to the suc­cess of these orga­ni­za­tions and the long term health of the Jew­ish com­mu­ni­ty. It also presents com­pre­hen­sive strate­gies for any­one — exec­u­tives, staff, lay lead­ers, vol­un­teers — who wants to build an action plan for change with­in their own organization.

New Jew­ish Fem­i­nism (Elyse Gold­stein, ed.)

​“Grow­ing up in the 1960s, the notion of a woman rab­bi, a woman Israeli Supreme Court judge, an Ortho­dox female Tal­mud schol­ar, or an Ortho­dox syn­a­gogue where women read the Torah from their side of the mechitzah were impos­si­ble, even ridicu­lous sce­nar­ios. Yet in the mod­ern day, all of this is reach­ing the stage of ​“nor­ma­tive.” What’s left for Jew­ish fem­i­nism to accom­plish?” Join Jew­ish women from all areas of Jew­ish life as they exam­ine what makes a ​“Jew­ish woman” today, how fem­i­nism has affect­ed her iden­ti­ty and whether the next gen­er­a­tion of Jew­ish women is braced to tack­le the chal­leng­ing work still ahead.

Tak­ing Back God: Amer­i­can Women Ris­ing Up for Reli­gious Equal­i­ty (Leo­ra Tanenbaum)

From one of Third Wave feminism’s most respect­ed thinkers, comes an eye-open­ing look at women and reli­gion today
 

A Jew­ish Woman’s Prayer Book (Aliza Lavie)

A beau­ti­ful and mov­ing one-of-a-kind col­lec­tion that draws from a vari­ety of Jew­ish tra­di­tions, through the ages, to com­mem­o­rate every occa­sion and every pas­sage in the cycle of life, including:

Spe­cial prayers for the Sab­bath, hol­i­days, and impor­tant dates of the Jew­ish year
Prayers to mark cel­e­bra­to­ry mile­stones, such as bat mitz­va, mar­riage, preg­nan­cy, and childbirth
Prayers for com­pan­ion­ship, love, and fertility
Prayers for heal­ing, strength, and per­son­al growth
Prayers for dai­ly reflec­tion and thanksgiving
Prayers for com­fort and under­stand­ing in times of tragedy and loss