Holidays and Religious Traditions
![Jewish mother and baby](2023/may/images/jewish-mothers-960-640.jpg)
How Judaism Honors New Mothers, From Medieval Embroidery to New Traditions Today
Professor Lisa Fishbayn Joffe explores the Jewish history and traditions that value and celebrate motherhood.
More Stories
![Family at a bat mitzvah](2022/march/images/bat-mitzvah-735x490-min.jpg)
"The introduction of bat mitzvah was a steppingstone to expanding roles for women in every part of the Jewish world," scholar Lisa Fishbayn Joffe argues.
![A 13th-century Byzantine image of the prophet Elijah from the Monastery of Saint John Lampadistis in Cyprus.](2022/march/images/passover/elijah-735x490-min.jpg)
In a new book, scholar Daniel C. Matt '72 traces Elijah's transformation from a zealous prophet fired by God to the harbinger of the Jewish messiah.
![A man with a yarmulke in temple, leaning over to see the altar](2021/august/images/congregations-v2-735x490-final.jpg)
Rabbi Eric Yoffie '69 argues that worship over a computer can never substitute for praying together in person.