Encyclopedia Categories | Jewish Women's Archive

A painted illustration of King Solomon surrounded by three of his wives.

Women of Solomon: Bible

Solomon, third king of Israel, is said to have had a harem that included 700 wives and 300 concubines. Many of those women were not Israelites and refused to adopt Israelite traditions and religion, reinforcing a common Biblical motif about foreign women.

Women of the Wall

Women of the Wall (WOW) is an international community of women who, since 1988, have sought the freedom to conduct women-led Torah services in the women’s section at the Western Wall in Jerusalem. WOW’s legal claims and political strategies raise questions about women’s rights to equality within Judaism and under Israeli law, the nature of religious toleration for non-Orthodox Jewish movements, and Israel’s identity as a Jewish and democratic state.

Oil painting by Gustav Klimt depicting a semi-nude Judith prominently, holding the head of Holofernes in the bottom right

Women Warriors

In the Hebrew Bible and ancient Jewish literature, most warriors are men. However, a few women go to war or kill: Deborah, Jael, the unnamed woman of Thebez, and Judith.

Four 6-8 inch tall terracotta figurines of women holding hand drums

Women with Hand-Drums, Dancing: Bible

Several biblical passages mention women (e.g., Miriam) celebrating victory with drums, dances, and song. Examining those passages in light of archaeological materials and comparative Near Eastern texts indicates that women, rather than men, were percussionists in ancient Israel and likely participated in religious and secular musical activities.

Women's League for Conservative Judaism

Women’s League for Conservative Judaism (WLCJ), founded in 1918, is the national organization of Conservative sisterhoods. Throughout its history WLCJ has foregrounded women’s education and engagement in order to enrich the spiritual and religious lives of Conservative/Masorti women and to empower them as leaders in their homes, synagogues, and communities.

Women's Tefillah Movement

The Women’s Tefillah Movement grew out of a need for Orthodox Jewish women for more meaningful and participatory roles in prayer services that remain within the boundaries of Jewish law and practice. With the growth of “partnership minyanim,” the number of Women’s Tefillah Groups has diminished somewhat, but they are still important places within Orthodoxy especially for young girls celebrating becoming a Bat Mitzvah.

Marjorie Wyler

Marjorie Wyler was a Jewish Theological Seminary professor for over half a century and was involved in numerous public service and Jewish organizations. Furthermore, her involvement in religious broadcasting, coupled with decades of public relations work, made her an advocate for the ethics of social justice inherent in Judaism.

Jael leads Barak to the corpse of Sisera in her tent.

Yael Wife of Heber The Kenite: Midrash and Aggadah

The midrash praises Yael and includes her among the devout women converts. According to the rabbis, Yael’s actions helped God to realize God’s plan by punishing Sisera measure for measure for his wicked deeds, and by affording Israel a military victory over its enemies.

Yael: Bible

Yael plays an important role in the story of Israel’s wars with the Canaanites, described in the Book of Judges. In the narrative about the military heroine Deborah, Yael kills Sisera, the Canaanite general of King Jabin, after he escapes from the battle with Deborah’s general, Barak.

Yalta

Yalta is a character in the Babylonian Talmud, the wife of Rabbi Nahman, and the daughter of the exilarch. She is depicted as a strong-willed, free-spirited woman.

Yemen and the Yishuv

Yemenite women proved to be stable and resourceful, both in Yemen where tradition reigned, and also after immigration to Erez Israel and New York, facing changes and challenges in turbulent times. They adapted to changing economic, social, and communal conditions, acculturated in language skills and organizational life, and were instrumental in bringing up their daughters and sons to successfully integrate into the new worlds.

Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef

Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef was the Sephardi chief rabbi of Israel and the leader of the Shas political movement.

Ze'enah U-Re'enah

The Ze’enah u-Re’enah is a Yiddish compilation of the Torah and Haftarot, among other sources. The oldest surviving version was published in the early seventeenth century, and subsequent editions show the evolution of Yiddish language over the next several centuries. The Ze’enah u-Re’enah came to be used as a fundamental text for women within Ashkenazi communities, where the work was universally popular.

Elaine Zecher

Rabbi Elaine Zecher uses her own experiences of illness and struggle to counsel congregants and craft prayers for Mishkan T’fillah and Mishkan HaNefesh, the prayer books of the Reform Movement.

Zeresh: Midrash and Aggadah

Zeresh was the wife of Haman, portrayed by the midrash as even more wicked than her husband. Of all of Haman's advisors, she was his best counsel.

An engraving print of the Biblical ancestor Lamech and his two wives, Zillah and Adah.

Zillah: Bible

Zillah is one of the first women mentioned in the Bible. The unusual appearance of Zillah and two associated females in the male genealogies of Genesis 1–10 may be linked to the special role of her children.

Zillah: Midrash and Aggadah

Zillah was a wife of Lamech. According to one tradition, Zillah was designated to bear children, but in another tradition she was said to solely provide intercourse for Lamech. Nonetheless, she bore two children.

Zilpah: Bible

Zilpah was given as a wedding gift to Leah by her father Laban on the occasion of Leah’s marriage to Jacob. Through the initiative of Leah, Zilpah became a secondary wife to Jacob and bore him two sons, Gad and Asher.

Zilpah: Midrash and Aggadah

The Rabbis count Zilpah among the six Matriarchs. She was Leah’s handmaiden and she and Leah were originally intended to marry Esau; when Leah married Jacob instead, he was also given Zilpah. Midrashic accounts place Zilpah in different, minor roles.

Zipporah: Bible

Zipporah is the wife of Moses, given to him in marriage by her Midianite priest father. She heroically saves Moses and her sons from a random attack from an angel by cutting off her son’s foreskin; the explanation for this act is unclear. However, Zipporah is shown as fiercely devoted to her husband, even though he neglects her.

Zipporah: Midrash and Aggadah

Zipporah was the wife of Moses. The Rabbis ascribe many traits to her; they considered her different than other women, in a positive sense, in both appearance and deed.

Portrait of Avivah Zornberg looking into camera in front of a blue background photographed by Joan Roth

Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg

Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg is a highly regarded Torah scholar and author. Her complex interpretive lens is both contemporary, in drawing from literary sources, philosophy, and psychoanalytic theory, and very traditional, in reading the Bible through the lens of classic commentaries and rabbinic midrash.

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