Although I was not able to get to the conference until Friday and missed the keynote speaker, Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg, the first speaker who I did hear was really fantastic. Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum of Congregation Beit Simchat Torah in New York, a synagogue serving Jewish gays, lesbians, and bisexuals, spoke about the history of the Jewish community's acceptance of gay, bisexual, and transgendered people. Her congregation is reconstructionist (the newest movement of Judaism), and she explained that the reconstructionists were the first to include non-heterosexual Jews in religious practice.

The incorporation of gay, bisexual, and transgendered people is still a very controversial issue. Many Jews are struggling to understand the biblical text of Leviticus, which seems to adamantly forbid these behaviors. I, personally, do not understand why G-d would have created so many forms of sexuality if only one kind was to be allowed. It is very harsh to expect gay, bisexual, and transgendered people to either not be sexually active at all or to be with someone with the opposite sex, even if it is not desired. I also believe that it is healthy for us to study and question all of the texts, as rabbis have throughout history, in order to better comprehend their meaning and purpose.

At present, the reform movement of Judaism has accepted non-heterosexuals into the community, and the conservative movement is still divided on this issue. According to Rabbi Kleinbaum, the inclusion of gays, lesbians, and bisexuals into the Jewish community will strengthen and unify it.

After hearing the rabbi speak, I attended a seminar entitled "Jewish Women in a Post-Feminist World," which was led by Professor Laura Wexler, who teaches American and Women's Studies classes at Yale. She began by asking us if the feminist movement is over, and most people expressed that they feel it is still alive. However, we talked about how the movement has definitely changed since the sixties, as we do not grow up surrounded by public displays but rather around women's studies classes and increased gender awareness.

We also discussed whether or not it is harder to be a feminist now than thirty years ago because there seem to be no big issues to fight for. Students suggested that this might be due to the fact that women are more self-absorbed these days, causing them to only focus on injustices in their own lives, or that political activism is just less visible because it is being done on a more personal level. Professor Wexler suggested that the concept of identity politics has led to the present division of the movement. The goal of third wave feminism, therefore, should be to encourage the celebration of our differences in order for us to unite under them.

The seminar proceeded to bring Judaism into the discussion. Professor Wexler asked if Jewish women are "women of color," because we are not fully accepted and yet not completely cast out. Since we can hide part of our identities, we have to be conscious of not hurting others by remembering what it felt like when we were hurt. On the other hand, it is important that we acknowledge all of our characteristics so that we never feel as though we have to hide a part of ourselves.

As a Jewish woman, I often feel a conflict between being a strong, independent woman and being a religious, observant Jew. The conference was very fulfilling because I was surrounded by multitudes of other Jewish feminists who were dealing with the same issues. I am very apprehensive about labeling Judaism a sexist religion, though, because I believe that many of the practices have deeper meanings than what meets the eye and that one should devote time to studying the texts before criticizing them. Women have a defined place in Judaism in which they are considered to be different, but equal to men. I have even heard the argument that women are thought to be more spiritual than men.

I use these type of explanations to justify laws that seem to promote inequality, for example, that women can not read from the Torah when men are present. The way this practice was explained to me was that only men are required to read from the Torah because it helps them to feel closer to G-d, and women do not rely on this act to reach an equivalent level of spirituality. I also want to note that women are halachically allowed to wear tifillin and tallit and read from the Torah as long as they are not taking the opportunity away from a man to do so, since men are specifically obligated to partake in these rituals.

A panel of women, each from one of the four movements of Judaism (orthodox, conservative, reform, and reconstructionist), spoke on Saturday about women and prayer. One of the main issues that came up was whether or not prayer should be changed to include women. For example, we can refer to G-d as She rather than He. By definition, the Jewish G-d has no gender, so by rights, this change is completely warranted. My understanding of the situation is that when most of the prayers were created, the world was completely male dominated so, of course, everything was written in the masculine form.

I think that most people would agree that prayers written from the present time on should include women, but the controversy is about prayers that were written hundreds of years ago. On the one hand, changing the ancient prayers will result in the loss of tradition. On the other hand, these changes may allow women to connect more easily with the prayers. There are modern siddurim (prayer books) that have been adapted include feminine translations, but in most cases, women just have to make their own decision as to whether or not they modify their own prayer.

This and all of the other questions that arose over the course of the weekend forced me to evaluate myself as a woman and as a Jew. The answers may not be clear or even exist at all, but I think that we learn a lot just from posing the questions. This conference was important because it served as an impetus for change and for future discussion about the many issues that are facing Jewish women today.