In the Image of God: A Feminist Commentary on the Torah is a unique
blend of traditional Judaism and radical feminism and is a
groundbreaking commentary on the Bible, the central document of Jewish
life. Using classical Jewish sources as well as supplementary material
from history, anthropology, sociology, psychology, ancient religion, and
feminist theory, Judith Antonelli has examined in detail every woman and
every issue pertaining to women in the Torah, parshah by parshah. The
Torah is divided into fifty-four portions; each portion, or parshah, is
read in the synagogue on the Sabbath (combining a few to make a yearly
cycle of readings). This book is modeled on that structure; hence there
are fifty chapters, each of which corresponds to a parshah. One may,
therefore, read this book from beginning to end or use it as a study
guide for the parshah of the week. The reader will discover in these
pages that the Torah is not the root of misogyny, sexism, or male
supremacy. Rather, by looking at the Torah in the context in which it
was given, the pagan world of the ancient Near East, it becomes clear
that far from oppressing women, the Torah actually improved the status
of women as it existed in the surrounding societies. Not only does this
book refute the common feminist stereotype that Judaism is a
"patriarchal religion" but it also refutes the sexism found in Judaism
by exposing it as sociological rather than "divine law."
