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Article: The Engendered Shema: Sarah-Echoes in the Name of Israel.
- Article from:
- Judaism
- Article date:
- June 22, 2000
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2000 American Jewish Congress. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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RACHEL ADLER HAS PROPOSED THE "ENGENDERING" OF Judaism, a process that both reveals and repairs the "dis/remembering" of women in Jewish religious traditions. [1] Women's full inclusion in Jewish liturgy, she argues, necessitates supplying "missing ancestral memories" and "missing language about the people Israel." [2] One might well begin with the shema, Judaism's central liturgical declaration of the unity of God. It is framed as a call to "Israel," and a close look at the Torah's explanation of the meaning of the name Israel reveals unacknowledged matriarchal resonances in its biblical presentation.
Across the ages, the call of "Hear O Israel" has addressed ...