Ours is an era of profound spiritual searching, in which the role of the Jewish woman is being reexamined. Torah of the Mothers is a landmark collection of essays and teachings culled from years of Bible and Jewish study by highly accomplished women Torah scholars and educators.

Each contributor brings her own area of expertise to bear, providing novel and refreshing insights into biblical and rabbinic texts. Each also offers thought-provoking commentary on the ever present themes of exile and redemption, which are intrinsic to the ongoing saga of the Jewish people. 

In Torah of the Mothers, contemporary women also reflect upon teachers who have personally influenced and inspired them. Rav Joseph Dov Soloveitchik, Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, Rabbi Menachem Schneerson, the Lubavitcher Rebbe and Nechama Leibowitz, of blessed memories, are among the mentors who played, and continue to play, a meaningful role in their lives. 

Torah of the Mothers combines erudition with deep concern for the daily aspects of our spiritual lives. 


Dr. Ora Wiskind Elper teaches Jewish thought at Michlalah College, MaTaN Institute for Women's Torah Studies, and Touro College, Jerusalem. She is the author of Tradition and Fantasy in the Tales of Reb Nahman of Bratslav. She has also translated works from Hebrew, French and German, including An Introduction to the Kabbalah by Moshe Hallamish and Rav Avraham Itzhak HaCohen Kook: Between Rationalism and Mysticism by Benjamin Ish-Shalom.

Dr. Susan Handelman was Professor of English and Jewish Studies for twenty years at the University of Maryland and has recently moved to Israel to join the faculty of the English Department at Bar-Ilan University. She is the author ofThe Slayer of Moses: The Emergence of Rabbinic Interpretation in Modern Literary Theory and Fragments of Redemption: Jewish Thought and Literary Theory in Scholem, Benjamin and Levinas. She has also co-edited, with Joseph Smith, Psychoanalysis and Religion and co-translated and edited On the Essence of Chassidus by Rabbi Menachem Schneerson, the Lubavitcher Rebbe. 

Softcover, 510 pages 
published: 2006 
ISBN 965-7108-70-5 

(original hardcover edition published in year 2000 with ISBN 965-7108-23-3) 

Praise for Torah of the Mothers (in hardcover):

As I read with pure delight the profound, innovative and scholarly Torah of the Mothers, I couldn't stop thinking about my grandmother's tears when she told me that her father refused to hire a melamed to teach her Torah because she was a girl.

As these articulate essays attest, not only are women today learning and teaching Torah on the highest levels, they are also expressing and arranging their Chidushei Torah (new and original interpretations of the Torah) in written form. One aspect of this book that I found incredibly exciting was the academic, spiritual and personal dialogue created between younger scholars and their veteran mentors.

In light of the Midrash (Tanchuma, Re'eh 14) which explains Torat Imekha (“your mother”) as Torat Umatekha (“your nation”), I see this volume as a catalyst in the process of transforming the woman's Torah to the nation's Torah and highly recommend it to one and all.
Malke Binah
Founder and Director of MaTaN Women's Institute of Torah Studies

Torah of the Mothers is an important anthology of articles written by women Torah educators. It is a very fine work of serious scholarship, and a pleasure to read.
Rabbi Chaim Brovender
Dean of Ohr Torah Stone, Efrat

What has now been called a quiet revolution is now bearing its first fruits. These [contemporary Jewish] women have marked their presence with...Torah of the Mothers. The anthology is significant because it represents the current transition of Israel's first generation of female Torah scholars from students to teachers.
Catherine Cohen
Ha'aretz English Edition