What would it look like if we challenged ourselves to build source sheets that include at least one woman’s voice? - Jewish Educator, Danielle Kranjec
https://ejewishphilanthropy.com/the-kranjec-test/
There is a wonderful story of B’ruriah, the wife of Rabbi Meir, one of the few non-males cited as an expert in the Talmud: Rabbi Yosi from the Galilee [a known misogynist] was walking by the way and encountered B’ruriah. He asked her, “By which way should we travel to get to Lod?” B’ruriah responded, “Foolish Galilean, don’t the sages say, ‘Do not speak much with women?’ You should have said, “Lod, where?” B’ruriah is not only able to best Rabbi Yosi, but also to gently point out to him what he is missing in usually avoiding conversing with women, even at the moment when he is forced to do so, because he is relatively ignorant.
The challenge of sharing not only a balanced but diverse range of the voices that have made up our tradition is that so few of those non-male voices have been preserved. Here and there in the Talmud, we can find the occasional witty repartee of a B’ruriah but, as in our modern world, for a woman (or any minority’s) voice to be uplifted, they must often be extraordinary. And, as extraordinary, they are equally as rare in any gender, and therefore, present only in the rare instance.
A group of Hillel educators, inspired by their teacher, Danielle Kranjec, created in her honor the “Kranjec Test”. Looking at the prevalence of source sheets (sheets that quote different Jewish texts and are often handed out and used as the basis for any Jewish class or discussion), she asked what it would be like if, for any sheet that quoted more than two sources, at least one would be a woman. On the face of it, the challenge seems easy. However, when the time comes to create the source sheet, however, the ideal runs smack into the real. Pirkei Avot, the go to collection of mishnaic wisdom, contains no quotes from women. The Talmud, as mentioned above, has a few unnamed women, some women named by their relationship (daughter, mother, wife) to others, and a very, very few, like B’ruriah mentioned by name. The classic collections of commentary on the Torah, the mikrot g’dolot - do not contain any women. In fact, it was the Women of Reform Judaism who challenged the then UAHC to create a Women’s Commentary on the Torah, to lift up those voices, not only to learn how the text might be viewed differently, but also to create a locus of where such commentary might be found. I even searched the Google for “quotes by Jewish women” - the results were unsatisfying. (The first that came up was as celebration of Jewish women that featured a quote by actress Natalie Portman: “Not all girls have to be scientists, not all girls have to be tough, you know. It's cool if they want to be moms or be more shy or vulnerable.”)
In reaching out to my (female) colleagues for help, I was given many places to study the work of female scholars. I have tried to bring that work forward, most notably in recent High HolyDay sermons and in what we study in our Tuesday morning class. However, there is more work for me to do. I hope that you will not only join me in this journey, in this column, over the next few months, but continue to share your wisdom, your findings, and to keep challenging me.
I’ll end with the words from the article laying out the challenge of the Kranject test, cited above:
Learn women’s Torah. We cannot teach what we haven’t learned, and so we have an obligation to actively seek out women’s Torah. If you’re not sure where to start, this list includes resources that we have found powerful and inspiring.
Elevate women’s voices. We must give platforms to women who have been otherwise relegated to the sidelines. Not only does this include (re)discovering female memoirs from generations past, but also celebrating and centering the Torah of contemporary female scholars, rabbis, and educators.
Teach women’s wisdom. We all have materials we like and return to frequently. But if those sessions do not include women’s voices, we must be ready to revise them so that they more accurately reflect the collective teachings of our people and traditions.
As we continue the work of bringing forward the voices of those unseen and unheard in our communities, we must remember that gender is only one axis for inclusion. Our hope is that The Kranjec Test will be a step in thinking and acting critically about the texts we study, the voices we cite, and the ways we teach.
We are committed to a 5781 in which our teaching more regularly passes the Kranjec Test. We invite you to join us.
