Expanding the Palace of Torah

Orthodoxy and Feminism

Ross Tamar

Expanding the Palace of Torah offers a broad philosophical overview of the challenges the women's revolution poses to Orthodox Judaism, as well as Orthodox Judaism's response to those challenges. Writing as an insider – herself an Orthodox Jew – Tamar Ross confronts the radical feminist critique of Judaism as a religion deeply entrenched in patriarchy. Surprisingly, very little work has been done in this area, beyond exploring the leeway for ad hoc solutions to practical problems as they arise on the halakhic plane. In exposing the largely male-focused thrust of the rabbinic tradition and its biblical grounding, she sees this critique as posing a potential threat to the theological heart of traditional Judaism – the belief in divine revelation. This new edition brings this acclaimed and classic text back into print with a new essay by Tamar Ross which examines new developments in feminist thought since the book was first published in 2004.

About the Author

Prof. Tamar Ross is professor emerita of the Department of Jewish Philosophy at Bar Ilan University. She continues to teach at Midreshet Lindenbaum. She received her Ph.D. from Hebrew University and served as a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Jewish Studies at Harvard. She is the author of numerous critically acclaimed articles on concepts of God, revelation, religious epistemology, philosophy of halacha, the Musar movement, and the thought of Rabbi A. I. Kook.

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