I resisted the call to include non-male voices every time I taught Torah. Then I tried it.
December 30, 2020
5:13 pm
A Jewish woman holding a Jewish Tanakh, which includes the books of the Torah, the Prophets and the Writings. (Godong/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
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(JTA) — Many of my fellow rabbinical students and friends are enthusiastic about a new strategy for elevating women’s voices in Torah study into the beit midrash this fall.
The Kranjec Test — named for Danielle Kranjec, the Jewish educator who created it — holds that collections of texts known as source sheets must include at least one non-male voice. It’s the Jewish studies equivalent of the well-known Bechdel test for film, in which movies pass if they include two women having a conversation about something other than men, and it quickly gained currency among my colleagues.