In an extract from her book, Sally Berkovic offers a glimpse into the hidden work of the burial society
'Issues of modesty, paradoxically, have put women’s bodies at the centre of public policy and communal debate within the Orthodox world'
In an extract from the updated edition of her book Under My Hat, Sally Berkovic charts advances for Orthodox women
"Take a census of the whole Israelite community" Numbers 26:2
"And all the skilled women spun with their own hands" Exodus 35:25
"Write down this poem and teach it to the people of Israel" Deuteronomy 31:19
"You shall eat, you shall be satisfied and you shall bless" Deuteronomy 8:10
"Make for yourself two trumpets of silver" Numbers 10:2
"And you shall count from the morrow of the Sabbath" Leviticus 23:15
As well as a Chief Rabbi, there should be a parallel woman leader, too
"This month shall be unto you the beginning of months" Exodus 12:2
"Woe is me, I am ruined because I am a man of unclean lips" Isaiah 6:5
"The Angel redeeming me from all evil, shall bless the lads… and let them increase fish-like in the midst of the earth" Genesis 48:16
"But your father cheated me, changing my wages time and again" Genesis 31:7
“And he sent out the dove from himself to see whether the waters has decreased” Genesis 8:8
©2024 The Jewish Chronicle
