CU UN
Dh CD C9
The Case of Feminism— Mechanisms of Change 15
Upper class individuals had already begun the process privately half a century earlier. Governmental policies forced changes in Jewish education, but only for males. The writings of Pestalozzi and those
influenced by him stimulated feminine education and in the second half of the century this included the Orthodox world
The steps taken by the three mid-century rabbinic conferences made substantial changes and went further that the surrounding Christian world. They were, however, caught up in an internal battle over traditional justification for such changes versus a simple declaration that modern Judaism is different and need not heed tradition. That struggle did not halt the process, however, but it stopped short of a full declaration of equality. The last convention was willing to have such a statement placed on the table but then referred it to a future meeting. No one at the future meetings in Germany or North America was willing to reintroduce it.
From 1848 on German Jews spent their effort fighting for equal rights for men and so dodged the issue. In North America where this was not as issue, it was simply avoided even when introduced by Someone as prominent as Kaufmann Kohler . That continued to be the Pattern even while women’s suffrage was widely debated in the broader world. Even after the victory of the suffrage movement the reluctance to ordain a woman remained.
After the initial burst of enthusiastic liberalism, the organized Reform movement lost interest in feminism and whatever progress Was made came through the minhag or the action of a single individual.~The stand on feminism represents a very mixed record until the social justice movement of the 1960s and beyond.