Ronit Irshai

Irshai's analysis of halacha here is two sided: one is a straightforward analysis of the decisions and their plain meaning, and the other is through the critical lens of feminism, seeking to understand the worldview behind the decisions. Rather than viewing halacha as a purely self contained system where decisions flow straightforwardly according to the hermeneutic principles laid out in Sifra, halacha here is viewed as inherently biased according to the worldview of its interpreters. In her view the halacha has been interpreted by men, largely for the benefit of men, because of their preexisting biases and priorities--regardless of whether these were conscious concerns in their decisions.

I am unqualified to judge Irshai's interpretation of halacha or of the meaning of individual decisions, so I will leave it to those more expert than I. What interested me was her use of secular feminist sources and interest in the motivations of the poskim. Even when lenient rulings have become the mainstream, as in much of ART, the reasons are not solely due to concerns for the woman. In other areas, such as stringent rulings on abortion, concerns for the woman's wider needs--not only to life but to health and happiness--are absent. The feminist sources provide a contrasting worldview and lens with which to view motivations and form halachic decisions, and while not all approaches can be reconciled, Irshai argues convincingly that they are not doomed to be contradictory in all cases.

The flaw that I did find with the book is that it could easily have been longer. Understandably, she chooses to focus on certain cases as representative, enabling her to analyze them more deeply. This is true of both the halachic and feminist sources. In addition the analysis extends only as far as the texts themselves; while she touches on which approaches have become dominant (understandably, primarily in Israel, though R' Moshe Feinstein's decisions receive significant coverage) the analysis does not extend to the emerging halachic-social reality in which the technologies discussed are all used to varying degrees in different religious sectors. That is beyond the scope of the project here, but would form an interesting vein of inquiry for future work.… (mais)