From Sister to Sister: Women writing Jewish Law

Today’s bookshelf of Jewish legal writings by Orthodox women is diverse and growing. Starting in the 1980s, Orthodox female scholars have adopted and adapted various genres to discuss the intricacies of Jewish tradition from halachic perspectives. They seek to make halachic (Jewish legal) discourse more accessible to a broader audience, especially their fellow Jewish women. Earlier precedents of women writing (about) halacha from the first half of the 20th century are forgotten forebears of these books. One of those forgotten Jewish writers is Gella Sänger, who authored the handbook “Ishah el Achotah.” While it seems to have achieved some popularity just after its publication, it remains unacknowledged within halakhic history and the history of Jewish female writers, much like Gella Sänger herself. This is unfortunate as she is the first woman to have authored and published a handbook on Jewish law. Her writings foreshadow later discourse on the identity and agency of women writing (about) halacha that can be found in women’s Jewish legal writings in the 1980s and beyond. At the same time, “Ishah el Achotah” has features that rarely appear in more recent works. In this presentation, I want to explore her rendering of Jewish laws and traditions and her reflection on her identity and agency as a woman writing (about) Jewish law. Comparing them with those of female Jewish scholars who unknowingly followed her footsteps decades later, I want to explore the genre of Jewish legal writings by and for Orthodox women.

Katharina Hadassah Wendl (Klein) is a PhD student at the Freie Universität Berlin, where she is working for the research project “Materialized Holiness,” which seeks to explore Jewish scribal culture and tradition from antiquity to today. She is also involved in education and teaching at the London School of Jewish Studies. Her other research interests include online Jewish learning and the role of Jewish women within Halacha.