For many years, I’ve had a Miriam’s Cup on my Passover seder table, next to the Cup of Elijah. Our cup of Elijah is a kiddush cup belonging to my great-grandfather Joseph Frankel and inscribed with his name. Our cup… Read More ›
Jill Hammer
Was Sefer Yetzirah Written by a Woman? Jill Hammer
This year, I published a book called Return to the Place: The Magic, Meditation, and Mystery of Sefer Yetzirah (available from Ben Yehuda Press, benyehudapress.com). Sefer Yetzirah, or the Book of Creation, is an ancient Jewish mystical work (written in… Read More ›
Hagar, the Divine Witness, and the New Year by Jill Hammer
The Torah reading for the first day of Rosh haShanah, the Jewish new year, is not, as one might expect, the creation of the world (Rosh haShanah was Friday night, Saturday and Sunday, 9/18-9/20). Instead, the set reading is Genesis… Read More ›
Eve, Revisited by Jill Hammer
About six months ago I was hired to write a curriculum for a Jewish organization on biblical women in ancient and contemporary midrash. Midrash—the ancient process of creative interpretation of sacred text that began two thousand years ago and continues… Read More ›
Ruth the Priestess: Redemption and the Returning Grain by Jill Hammer
I spend a lot of time on Zoom these days and my current life in New York City is not tremendously familiar to me. Home schooling, uncertainty about work, and concern for relatives are all part of my world right… Read More ›
A Jewish Amulet against Plague by Jill Hammer
I begin with prayers and wishes for all who are suffering because of the COVID-19 epidemic: those who are ill, those who are mourning people who have died, those who face economic hardship, and all who are afraid. May we… Read More ›
The Kreismesser: Women and Magic Swords in Jewish Tradition by Jill Hammer
I have always had a particular fascination with women warriors—particularly ancient and medieval ones. Joan of Arc was a favorite, as was Artemis, Greek goddess of the hunt. My father had a sword from Spain hanging on his wall in… Read More ›
The Holy of Holies and the Umbilical Cord: The Evolution of a Ritual Object by Jill Hammer
In the Jewish calendar, we’re just past the holiday season—the High Holidays, the harvest festival of Sukkot, and the concluding festival of Simchat Torah when the last verses of the Torah are read and the first verses are started again…. Read More ›
The Prophetess: Greta Thunberg, Global Warming, and the Legacy of Prophecy in Our Own Day by Jill Hammer
My community and many others have been watching in awe as Greta Thunberg makes waves around the world—her lone climate change protest in Sweden growing in a single year into a climate strike with millions of demonstrators around the world. … Read More ›
Sappho’s Poems as an Ethos for Women’s Ritual by Jill Hammer
For by my side you put on many wreaths of roses and garlands of flowers around your soft neck and with precious and royal perfume you anointed yourself. On soft beds you satisfied your passion. And there… Read More ›
Spring Blossoming: The Holy Orchard as Goddess by Jill Hammer
Every year when the cherries, pears, plums, and apple trees begin to bloom, I go out walking. I look for every spot in my vicinity where white and pink blossoms are blooming in exquisite profusion like foam on an ocean…. Read More ›
Tree of Life: The Festival of the Trees in an Age of Treefall by Jill Hammer
Almost every day, I walk in Central Park. There are certain trees there I’ve come to know: the gnarled cherry trees by the reservoir, the bending willows and tall bald cypress by the pond, the sycamores that drop their bark… Read More ›
Jewish Hair, Witch Hair, and the Problem of Identity by Jill Hammer
This is a time of increased vulnerability for many minority populations in the United States: people of color, immigrants, LGBT people, native peoples. The policies and rhetoric of the current administration have left all these groups exposed to hostility. Women… Read More ›
Challenging Christian Feminists to Re-Imagine the Goddess by Carol P. Christ
From the 1993 Re-Imagining Conference: Our mother Sophia, we are women in your image: With the hot blood of our wombs we give form to new life. With the courage of our convictions we pour out our life blood for… Read More ›
Michal the Priestess: Midrash, Multiplicity, and the Tales of King David by Jill Hammer
When I was in my late teens, I discovered midrash: the Jewish exegetical process by which commentators weave creative and additive interpretations into the sacred text. Midrash comes from the word “to ask,” “to seek,” or “to divine.” For example,… Read More ›
The Thirteen Attributes of Shekhinah: A Prayer for the High Holidays by Jill Hammer
On Rosh haShanah and Yom Kippur (the Jewish New Year and the Day of Atonement), and on the festivals throughout the year, traditional Jewish liturgy includes the Thirteen Attributes of the Divine. Exodus 34:6-7 is the first to mention these… Read More ›
Miriam the Prophetess as Guardian and Healer by Jill Hammer
The biblical traditions of Miriam the prophetess have captured the imaginations of Bible-readers throughout the ages. Miriam, Moses’ sister, watches over Moses in his cradle (Exodus 2), and leads the Hebrew women in dance at the shore of the Sea… Read More ›
Meeting Phrike: Feminist Theology and the Experience of Horror by Jill Hammer
Myself, I saw the numb pools amidst the shadows; myself, the wan gods and night in very truth. My frozen blood stood still and clogged my veins. Forth leaped a savage cohort… Then grim Erinys (Vengeance) shrieked, and blind Furor… Read More ›
The Book of Earth & Other Mysteries: a book review by Elizabeth Cunningham
When a poem shows me something in a strange and wonderful light and at the same time awakens some bone-deep knowing of my own, I feel more alive, I feel less alone. My soul is stirred and satisfied. The Book… Read More ›
Judaism, Feminism, and The Twoness of Creation by Jill Hammer
Rabbi Amorai said: “Where is the garden of Eden: He answered himself: “In the earth.” Sefer haBahir, 12th century Provence For many liberal Jews, the phrase “tikkun olam” has been an important rallying cry. The phrase is often used as… Read More ›
The Red Thread, the Red Heifer, and Red Ritual by Jill Hammer
There is an old Jewish custom to use a red thread, tied around a bedpost or a child’s wrist, to keep away demons. In particular, the red thread is said to keep away Lilith, the female demon who steals children. … Read More ›
“Seeking Harbor in Our Histories” – ASWM 2016 Conference
The Association for the Study of Women & Mythology (ASWM) will be hosting this year’s Conference, “Seeking Harbor in Our Histories: Lights in the Darkness” at the Boston Marriot Burlington Hotel on 1-2 April 2016. ASWM conferences strive to support… Read More ›
The Hebrew Priestess: A Book Review by Joyce Zonana
Weaver, Prophetess, Shrinekeeper, Witch; Maiden, Mother, Queen, Midwife; Wise-Woman, Mourning-Woman, Seeker, Lover, Fool . . . . Thirteen possibilities for the female self, thirteen aspects of the Goddess, thirteen archetypes for the Hebrew (or any other) Priestess . . …. Read More ›
Stealing the Yarn: Jewish Women and the Art of Feminist Dreaming (Part 2) by Jill Hammer
In my last post, I discussed the uses of dreamwork for Jewish women who are uncovering their own spiritual language. The protagonists of recorded Jewish dreams, from Joseph to the dream interpreters of the Talmud to the kabbalists, tend to… Read More ›
Entering The Cave: Jewish Women and the Art of Feminist Dreaming (Part 1) by Jill Hammer
Dreams are my window on my wildest self. They are also a way to observe the conflicts within, and therefore they are a feminist practice, teaching me about my relationship to power, gentleness, love, and brokenness. Claiming my dreams is… Read More ›
Embracing the Hebrew Priestess by Jill Hammer
Even after I was ordained as a rabbi, I longed to be a priestess. The spiritual leadership I wanted most was less about leading traditional Torah study and prayer (though I’d done plenty of that) and more about immersing in… Read More ›
