Valeria Seigelshifer | Ono Academic College (original) (raw)

Papers by Valeria Seigelshifer

Israel Studies Review, 2019

Over the past two decades, Israeli Orthodox Jewish women filmmakers have used film to speak in a ... more Over the past two decades, Israeli Orthodox Jewish women filmmakers have used film to speak in a public voice about various subjects that were previously taboo. Although there are aspects of Orthodoxy to which these filmmakers object, they do so as ‘devoted resisters’. Rather than expressing heretical opposition, the women stay committed to Orthodoxy precisely because they are able to use filmmaking to resist. In their negotiations of voice used to ‘justify’ their decision to become filmmakers, the women position themselves as ‘accidental’ filmmakers, thereby remaining within Orthodoxy while critiquing it through their films. Cultural resistance in this case is not carried out as defiance to Orthodox Judaism but rather out of a relationship with it, featuring a form of resistance that insists upon devotion to multiple commitments.

Women's Studies International Forum, 2011

... The bride's friends bring presents—usually head scarves ... more ... The bride's friends bring presents—usually head scarves that the bride will use as head coverings after the marriage. ... At the end of this party, when most of the young women had left, the bride-to-be was anxious to try on some of the scarves she had received as head coverings. ...

Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies, 2020

Israel Studies Review 34(1), 2019

Over the past fifteen years, cultural practices involving the covering of women's heads have been... more Over the past fifteen years, cultural practices involving the covering of women's heads have been discussed extensively in academic and popular discourse. Although the practice of head covering can be easily interpreted as one of the various forms of the regulation of women's bodies within religious systems, such an understanding, leaves unanswered, perhaps unasked how women living in traditional cultures experience their commitments. In this paper, we examine the experiences of modern orthodox women vis à vis the practice of head covering. What emerges from women's narratives is a multivalent and nuanced experience in which the commitment to halakha and the search for self expression are in a permanent and dynamic interplay. Characterized by a high degree of cultural reflection, rather than living in a state of false consciousness, the experience of these women points to a conscious decision to embrace tradition without the need to silence conflict.

Israel Studies Review, 2019

Over the past two decades, Israeli Orthodox Jewish women filmmakers have used film to speak in a ... more Over the past two decades, Israeli Orthodox Jewish women filmmakers have used film to speak in a public voice about various subjects that were previously taboo. Although there are aspects of Orthodoxy to which these filmmakers object, they do so as ‘devoted resisters’. Rather than expressing heretical opposition, the women stay committed to Orthodoxy precisely because they are able to use filmmaking to resist. In their negotiations of voice used to ‘justify’ their decision to become filmmakers, the women position themselves as ‘accidental’ filmmakers, thereby remaining within Orthodoxy while critiquing it through their films. Cultural resistance in this case is not carried out as defiance to Orthodox Judaism but rather out of a relationship with it, featuring a form of resistance that insists upon devotion to multiple commitments.

Women's Studies International Forum, 2011

... The bride's friends bring presents—usually head scarves ... more ... The bride's friends bring presents—usually head scarves that the bride will use as head coverings after the marriage. ... At the end of this party, when most of the young women had left, the bride-to-be was anxious to try on some of the scarves she had received as head coverings. ...

Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies, 2020

Israel Studies Review 34(1), 2019

Over the past fifteen years, cultural practices involving the covering of women's heads have been... more Over the past fifteen years, cultural practices involving the covering of women's heads have been discussed extensively in academic and popular discourse. Although the practice of head covering can be easily interpreted as one of the various forms of the regulation of women's bodies within religious systems, such an understanding, leaves unanswered, perhaps unasked how women living in traditional cultures experience their commitments. In this paper, we examine the experiences of modern orthodox women vis à vis the practice of head covering. What emerges from women's narratives is a multivalent and nuanced experience in which the commitment to halakha and the search for self expression are in a permanent and dynamic interplay. Characterized by a high degree of cultural reflection, rather than living in a state of false consciousness, the experience of these women points to a conscious decision to embrace tradition without the need to silence conflict.