Students, Rabbi Form New Discussion Group

Several undergraduates and a Harvard Hillel rabbi have formed a new student group to focus on how feminist positions and Jewish beliefs interact.

The organization, called "For Ourselves," attracted more than 20 people to its first meeting Sunday night at the Hillel building, said Rabbi Sally R. Finestone, the group's advisor.

Finestone said that she, along with For Ourselves' student co-coordinators, created the group in order to explore women's roles in Judaism.

"I felt that there are a lot of times when Judaism and contemporary feminism come into conflict," Finestone said, "but I also felt that the two have a lot to give to each other."

Karen R. Prager '91, one of the group's student organizers, also said that concerns over the status of women in the religion motivated her to help form the group.

"I was very interested in having a forum to reconcile some of the differences between Judaism and feminism," Prager said, adding that in many areas of social life the two sets of beliefs do not coincide.

Prager cited divorce as a specific example of an area where the paths of Judaism and feminism diverge, and said that "one of the big problems is that women cannot initiate divorce under Jewish law. Only the man can do this."

According to Meredith E. Goldberg '92, who also helped to set up the group, the student group plans to examine what she called the "broad spectrum" of women's roles in Judaism.

Goldberg said that the status of women varies widely among different branches of the religion but that women from orthodox, conservative and reform backgrounds all attended the first meeting of For Ourselves.

The group's organizers said that they expect to sponsor their first campus event next month. Susan Weidman Schneider, editor-in-chief of Lilith, a Jewish women's magazine, is tentatively scheduled to speak at Harvard on April 5.