Jewish Gender & Feminism Quiz

Even as Jewish women have attained ritual and leadership opportunities formerly restricted to them, the history of female exclusion in Judaism continues to linger. How much do you know about gender issues in the Jewish past and present?

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Question 1. What are tekhines?
 Yiddish petitionary prayers traditionally recited by women
 The Yiddish name for sweet pastries traditionally baked by women
 The Yiddish name for the heavy stockings that women in Eastern Europe wore in order to dress modestly
 All of these

 

Question 2. Which of these is not a para-rabbinic role assumed by women in the Modern Orthodox community?
 Advisor on the laws of ritual purity
 Advocate for women seeking a Jewish divorce
 Spiritual mentor in a synagogue
 Cantor

 

Question 3. True or false: In medieval mystical theology, all of God's ten attributes are female.
 True
 False

 

Question 4. True or false: In the Bible, women are sometimes presented as equal to men, and sometimes as subordinate.
 True
 False

 

Question 5. Which holiday, according to legend, was a reward given to the women of Israel because they refused to surrender their jewelry for the creation of the Golden Calf?
 Rosh Chodesh
 Rosh Hashanah
 Shavuot
 Tu Bishvat

 

Question 6. What was life like for Jewish women in the Middle Ages?
 In Muslim lands women tended to be more sheltered than in Christian areas
 In Christian lands women tended to be more sheltered than in Muslim areas
 In both Muslim and Christian lands Jewish women enjoyed tremendous upward mobility
 In both Muslim and Christian lands Jewish women lived circumscribed lives, but were allowed to initiate divorce

 

Question 7. What do medieval Jewish legal authorities think about wifebeating?
 Some Sephardic authorities permit it, Ashkenazic authorities do not
 There is general consensus that it is permitted
 There is general consensus that it is encouraged
 Mystical authorities permit it, rationalists do not

 

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