Contemporary Orthodox Jewish Feminist Art in Israel: Institutional Criticism of the Rabbinical Establishment

The feminist art movement of Jewish religious women in the United States and Israel emerged at the end of the 1990s. This article examines Jewish feminist art being created in Israel—a country in which legislation has empowered Jewish Orthodox institutions with sole control over the personal status of its Jewish citizens. Through an examination of works by four Orthodox Jewish Israeli women artists, I demonstrate how they have formulated a broad, radical critique of the rabbinical institutions that govern the female body, particularly regarding menstruation, conversion, and modesty—topics that have bearing on their identity as women, Jews in general, and Orthodox Jews in particular. Considering the exclusion of women from spiritual leadership roles within the Orthodox Jewish world, I underscore the importance of the art world as an alternative field of action through which religious feminists can make themselves heard.