Melanie Landau
By Melanie Landau
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Life Female Clergy Are Key to ‘Sacred Continuity’
Ironically, Friday’s announcement by the Rabbinical Council of America (RCA) is an acknowledgement of the reality and impact of Orthodox women clergy. We are facts on the ground. I am the Rabba the RCA is decrying. I received ordination from Yeshivat Maharat in June this year and fully consider myself a member of the clergy….
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Life Looking Past the Boudoir to Make Sex Holy
A recently published article in the Guardian, describes a new phenomenon of Orthodox women gifting photographs of themselves in lingerie to their husbands. A religious sex therapist said to me that this practice can help women feel more confident with their sexuality. These photos are probably no big deal — a photo from the article…
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Life What Michael Cohen Doesn’t Understand About Rape — Or the Talmud
When Michael Cohen, , told the Daily Beast on Tuesday that “You cannot rape your spouse,” he should have first consulted his law books — and his Talmud. Cohen was responding to a reporter’s question on the rape accusation Trump’s then-wife Ivana Trump leveled at her husband during divorce proceedings in the early 1990s (she…
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Life Tisha B’Av, Tu B’Av and My Journey of Sexual Healing
I recently participated in a panel on Judaism and Sexuality where I spoke about the potential of healing and transformation in sexuality. Where once there was only hurt, we can have corrective experiences around our vulnerability that allow us to access pleasure and joy in sexuality. In my experience this has required my willingness to…
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Life When Silence is Not Consent
In her recent New York Times article, Judith Shulevitz expresses concern about the new proposed affirmative consent laws, what is commonly referred to as “yes means yes” laws. Shulevitz seems most disturbed by the idea that to demand positive agreement to define consent within a sexual encounter will produce too much uncertainty and leave too…
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