Jewish Feminism And The Concept Of God (gender And God)

Women have disappeared in history when the matriarchy society finished, or as Simone de Beauvoir in her classic work The Second Sex argues that women were "born" as "Other" , because men have established an absolute human type. For women can't live without tradition, not only they will criticize the male norm but they also have to struggle with the tradition rooted in the thought of their own. The subject of this dissertation is feminist philosophy in Judaism. Exploring the implications of women's increasing development in criticizing and reshaping Jewish tradition, it asks what might happen to the central to the categories of Jewish thought as women enter into the process of defining them.Ontologically, and in traditional Jewish thought, God is first and "God" is the central concept of religion. In order to express their respect, people always take God as father or king but not mother or queen. Why? Because in our society, father or king is the representative of major status and authority. So the first object which feminists want to attack on is the patriarchal values. Then they will create a new Judaism that is whole on the basis of acknowledging the in-justice of Torah.This dissertation demands a new aspect of feminism through the concept of "gender" (must be distinguished from the word "sex"), and this is a key to the door of Jewish feminism. At the some time, I pay more attention to the metaphors for God that have formed the Jewish imagination and shaped Jewish self -understanding and behavior. Based on the introduction of western feminism, the main content was divided into two parts: Gender of God; Gender God created. Through them I want to show the methods that feminists used to criticize tradition and reconstruct the frame of their theory.Of course, this dissertation is only the tip of iceberg. I can only hope that those who know more as well as who know less will get something useful of their own in this thesis.