Religion
Lilith
Lilith’s character has evolved throughout the years. She began as a female demon common to many Middle Eastern cultures, was transformed by Medieval Jewry into Adam’s first wife, and was finally reclaimed by Jewish feminists as an icon.
Belda Lindenbaum
Belda Lindenbaum was driven by the birth of her daughters to create new opportunities for Jewish women and girls.
Rebecca Touro Lopez
Lot's Daughters: Midrash and Aggadah
Lot's Wife: Midrash and Aggadah
Lot’s wife was initially spared from the impending destruction of Sodom, but her unrighteous ways cause her to have an unhappy end. Midrash and Aggadah provide insight into her actions.
Ludomir, Maid of
A series of traumatic events motivated the Maid of Ludmir to begin practicing male ritual Hasidic observances as a young adult, and she became renowned for her miracle-granting abilities. Although she was able to hold a position of religious power in the Hasidic community without the help of powerful Hasidic men in her family, her story ultimately upholds gender expectations.
Maacah 4: Midrash and Aggadah
The Midrash and Aggadah regarding Maacah, daughter of Abishalom, who worshiped an idol, focuses mostly on her pagan worship of Asherah.
Maacah the wife of David: Midrash and Aggadah
Macaah, the wife of David, is a name for a non-Jewish woman taken captive during wartime to be a wife to her Israelite captor. Absalom, the son of Maacah and King David, grows up to be defiant and self-indulgent and acts against his father; this is attributed to him being the son of Maacah.
Maacah: Bible
It is claimed that Maacah is the mother of Asa, king of Judah from 908 to 867 B.C.E., which is problematic because the same woman is alleged to be the mother of Asa’s father. Maacah’s role appears most clearly as an official functionary in the Judean cult when Asa removes her from her position as gebirah (“great lady”) after she makes a cult object associated with the goddess Asherah.
Mahalath, daughter of Ishmael: Midrash and Aggadah
Midrash and Aggadah present both a positive and a negative take on the marriage of Esau, son of Isaac and Rebekah, to Mahalath, daughter of Ishmael.
Yeshivat Maharat
Founded by Rabba Sara Hurwitz and Rabbi Avi Weiss, Yeshivat Maharat is the first Orthodox rabbinical school to ordain women. Building upon expanding education and ritual roles for Orthodox women in America that began in the late twentieth century, themselves outgrowths of American feminism, as of 2021 Yeshivat Maharat had graduated over forty women who powerfully impact Orthodox and wider Jewish communities all over the world.
Maimonides
Maimonides, referred to by the acronym Rambam, was a medieval Sephardic Jewish sage who studied medicine and practiced as a physician throughout his lifetime. His legal and philosophical writings made him one of the greatest and most widely read medieval Jewish philosophers.
Ruth Barcan Marcus
Marriage in Halakhic Judaism
Martha Ackelsberg
Martha Ackelsberg is a Jewish feminist lesbian anarchist activist, community leader, and academic. She is a leading scholar of anarchism and of anarchist women’s organizations of the Spanish Civil War. A founder and/or early leading visionary in pivotal United States Jewish developments, Ackelsberg has been a key voice shaping feminist, lesbian, and havurah contributions to twentieth- and twenty-first century Jewish life.
Martha, daughter of Boethus
One of the richest women in Jerusalem during her time, Martha, daughter of Beothus, used her wealth to change the laws of marital status to marry Joshua ben Gamla, a High Priest.
Martyred Mother with seven sons (2MACC): Apocrypha
Following the passage of King Antiochus IV’s laws prohibiting the practice of Judaism, an unnamed mother leads a family through martyrdom.
Dalia Marx
Matriarchs: A Liturgical and Theological Category
Medieval Ashkenaz (1096-1348)
The Jews of medieval Ashkenaz are known for their prolific rabbis and for the Ashkenazic customs that became characteristic of many European Jewish communities. During the High Middle Ages, the women in these communities had many important roles women within the family and in the communal, economic, and religious life.
Leandra Medine
Medium of Endor: Bible
The story of Saul’s visit to the medium at Endor suggests that various types of divination were well established in Israel. Notably, the story does not imply that the medium’s identity as a woman is significant, illustrating that being a medium was a chance for women to have a professional role in ancient Israel.
Deborah Marcus Melamed
Deborah Marcus Melamed encouraged Jewish women to form their own relationship with Jewish practice through her 1927 book The Three Pillars, an interpretive guide to rituals and customs. Melamed also served as vice president of the Women’s League for Conservative Judaism from 1920 to 1930 or 1932.
Merab, daughter of Saul: Midrash and Aggadah
Merab, daughter of Saul, was meant to marry David, but ended up being given in matrimony to Adriel the Metholathite. Rabbis in the Midrash and Aggadah discuss two different versions of events: one in which Merab marries David, and one where she marries Adriel.
Merab: Bible
Merab, one of the daughters of King Saul, is originally offered in marriage to David, whom Saul hopes to have killed. However, Saul’s plan fails, and Merab marries another man. The story of Saul’s attempt to arrange Merab’s marriage shows the social structures between fathers and daughters among the ancient Israelites.
