When we look at some of the written as well as unwritten laws of Judaism, it's not too hard to see why there is a big push in the feminist movement to reshape the roles of women in Judaism. Many women believe that their roles in Judaism are inferior to that of men, and they are attempting to shift some of the emphasis away from men and towards themselves.
             The first thing that should be noted in Judaism is that all interpretations of the Torah and Talmud, including women's roles have been made by men. Since women were not given the chance to study or interpret their religion, all of the authority has been placed in the hands of men. As a result many women feel that men, as the dominant sex, have interpreted the religion in their favor, placing women with unequal, subordinate roles (Wolf).
             The unequal relationship between the two sex's, becomes obvious when we look at a few of the Jewish laws such as, divorce, and the constant reference to God as the masculine pronoun "he" (Koltun 4). One of the first unequal relationships that we can look at begins with the creation of man. The book of Genesis contains a passage which states that, God created man first and then the woman second, out of the male's rib (Genesis 1:2). This can suggest some sort of hierarchy, where the male sex in God's eyes, is superior to the female sex (Koltun 222-225). Although there is another interpretation of the creation of mankind, where both the male and female are created equal in the image of the Creator, (Genesis 1:1) some feminist point the finger at the male's rib interpretation, to express the inequality within Judaism.
             Although women are required to pray according to Jewish law, they are meant to do it privately, or in the house. This is due to the fact that prayer, mainly the shema, (the prayer recited every morning, afternoon and evening,) (Biale 18) falls under the category of mitzvot (a ritua...