The KSI Women’s Sisterhood was founded in 1932 as a group of women from the Kol Shearith Israel congregation, following the model of Reform synagogues. Kol Shearith Israel, founded in 1876 by Sephardic Jews who arrived in Panama from the Caribbean, has been associated with the Reform movement since the 1920s. It wasn’t until 2002 that the community hired its first Latin American, Spanish-speaking rabbi affiliated with the Conservative movement. Although the congregation formally remains part of the Reform movement, being the only non-Orthodox synagogue in the city, it has gradually redefined its practices to align more closely with tradition.
In this context, the women’s branch, which for over 80 years handled the synagogue’s organizational and logistical matters—such as holiday celebrations, social events, cooking, building maintenance, and tzedakah projects—had to redefine its role in light of the evolving social realities of women, their access to the workforce, and their changing economic situations.
It was in this context that I was invited to develop classes for women. I began to design a study program that would also serve as a framework for social connection and contribution to communal life. The goal was for the women of the community to feel they are full participants in a millennia-old tradition of women who gave life and meaning to our people by developing spaces for study and leadership.
Looking back, it becomes clear that women's study of sacred texts has not always been readily accepted. The Babylonian Talmud (Shabbat 62a) states that “women are a separate people.” Despite the egalitarian vision of human creation found in the first chapter of Genesis—in which both man and woman equally share the divine image—rabbinic tradition has felt much more comfortable with the vision of the second chapter. According to this view, women are a secondary conception, inherently other to men, and further removed from the divine image, as seen in the story of Eve’s creation.
This belief in women’s auxiliary status permeates much of rabbinic thought, and the sages who composed rabbinic literature assigned separate spheres and responsibilities to men and women. Women were thus confined to the private realms of the world—family and domestic concerns. As long as women fulfilled the roles expected of them by men, they were honored for enhancing their family’s life and especially for enabling their male relatives to fulfill religious obligations.
As the Babylonian Talmud (Berachot 17a) states, women earn merit “by sending their children to learn Torah at the synagogue, and their husbands to study in the rabbinical schools, and waiting for them to return.” However, rabbinic texts also include examples where study provided women with a different role. “Bruria spoke correctly,” states the Tosefta (Kelim Baba Metzia 1:6).
Bruria, who lived in the 2nd century CE, was the daughter of Rabbi Chanina ben Teradion and the wife of Rabbi Meir. She reportedly studied more than 300 halachic questions a day, and her legal opinions were accepted as law. Bruria is an inspiration, encouraging women to pursue study.
Today, in our communities, women earn the right to be active participants in the dialogue of tradition through their study. Rabbi David Hartman (z”l) wrote that everyone must be part of the interpretive tradition—and for that, one must study and engage in respectful dialogue with the texts. By bringing the voices of women from the past together with our own, we can ensure that these conversations become part of our religious heritage.
Being part of an interpretive community requires commitment: we must prepare, we must study. Our journey begins by participating in the story of a community that was present at Mount Sinai. According to tradition, everyone (including women) was part of the revelation. Believing in the eternal covenant between God and our ancestors implies a duty to commit and to study.
Café VeLimud, a monthly gathering in small groups of women, held in private homes or at the community center, invites its participants to join the dialogue and become part of a community of learners. Topics include women’s stories, the life cycle and Jewish living, biblical narratives, traditions, and halachic matters. Finding a space to grow and strengthen our identity is an essential part of this project.
Jewish education seeks to renew the ongoing dialogue that has defined Judaism for the past two thousand years. It must empower individuals to take part in this dialogue. To feel intellectually free to engage and wrestle with tradition, we must prepare—and that is our mission as modern women who are part of a vibrant Jewish congregation. Let us recite Shehecheyanu, celebrating the beauty of women’s voices sharing a space of Jewish learning and knowledge.