Seeking the Female Face of God: A Feminist Liturgical Reading

Abstract

This article pursues a reading of Melissa Raphael’s book, The Female Face of God in Auschwitz, from a liturgical perspective, in the context of previous feminist theological scholarship, seeking to uncover the precise implications the protection of God’s presence has for contemporary Jewish worship. By reading Raphael in conversation with both the heritage of Jewish feminist liturgical innovation and the heritage of post-Holocaust theological discourse, the article uncovers both the disruption the Holocaust brings to Jewish practice, and the constructive potential of feminist post-Holocaust theology.