The Music of Jewish Women: Making Space Through Song

Well, it's been quite a while since I last uploaded a blog post! I have spent the past year acclimating to my first year of college. Although I have had scarce time to research and write articles, my Gender and Judaism class from Spring term provided the unique opportunity to write a final paper on any topic related to Jewish women. Fittingly, I decided to conduct a musical ethnography by reviewing literature pertaining to the role song has played in Jewish women's concepts of self-expression, independence, and liberation throughout history. I am beyond excited to resume regularly uploading blog posts, and for now, I leave you with this:

Throughout the course of Jewish history, music has been an integral medium through which women have expressed their spirituality. Performed at holidays, life cycle celebrations, community gatherings, and services, song is deeply valued as a conduit to a higher spiritual connection. Lesser known, however, is the way in which music has been used by Jewish women to attain self-empowerment, social mobility, and religious autonomy.

In Jewish Women and Their Salons, for example, Emily Bilski and Emily Braun explore the lives of Jewish salonières – women who hosted salons that became cultural centers for art, literature, and, most of all, music. These establishments first appeared in 1780s Berlin as French Enlightenment ideas – individual liberty, progress, and tolerance – disseminated into Germany. Salons represented the public world in a private space, enabling women to rise to prominence through their musical talent from within their domestic realms. Similarly, Chapter 1 of For Women and Girls Only by Jessica Roda explores the way in which Hasidic Jewish women from New York have used music to reinvent religious and gendered stereotypes attached to Orthodoxy and Jewish femininity. By circulating their musical talents on social media, Hasidic women have granted themselves autonomy in a similar way to how music secured societal influence for Jewish salonières. At the same time, creative self-expression in private has made many Hasidic women feel closer to God. Music has been used to attain social mobility and to forge deeper relationships with God not only across Europe and the United States, but also across the Middle East and Northern Africa. In her article “Between the Family and the Outside World: Jewish Girls in the Modern Middle East and North Africa,” Rachel Simon highlights the importance of female music and poetry as a universally comprehensible medium for women’s artistic, spiritual, and religious self-expression and self-autonomy as a result of their exclusion from traditional forms of prayer.

Thus, despite often lacking autonomy within the synagogue and other male-dominated spheres of traditional worship, women have used music as a powerful tool to carve out spheres of public influence and sacralize their domestic realm, both of which have ultimately resulted in meaningful, anti-patriarchal forms of self-expression.

Disseminating their music through various platforms – salons, social media, and communal gatherings – has enabled Jewish women to overcome barriers to becoming integral members of society. The very nature of salon culture not only promoted women to a status equal to men, but went beyond that by characterizing Jewish salonières as “having greater equanimity than men” and thus “expecting [them] to take the lead” (Bilski and Braun 1). Although the women participating in these cultural hubs were already of esteemed social class, they were still definitively regarded as subordinate to men. Yet, salons represented unprecedented spheres of opportunity in which women served themselves; speaking, writing, and singing enabled women to form distinct, respectable identities, and thus their importance in salons largely exceeded that of men. Indeed, salons were widely regarded as domains where “the politically disadvantaged could earn distinction” (Bilski and Braun 6). For example, Jewish salonière Fanny Hensel “assumed the role of impresario – perhaps the first woman to do so,” while Amalie Beer was awarded the prestigious Luisenorden in 1816 by the King of Prussia for organizing and performing at benefit concerts to raise money for wounded Prussian soldiers. As a result, her social standing greatly increased as “the only Jew in Berlin to be admitted to an exclusive group of women with close connections to the court” (Bilski and Braun 42-44). Thus, music allowed these women to attain levels of social mobility that would otherwise be implausible.

Conversely to Jewish socialites in Europe, women in the Middle East and North Africa remained illiterate. Girls did not participate in formal worship in the synagogue, so it was deemed unnecessary to provide them with formal schooling. Yet, similarly to the Jewish salonières, some of these women became “renowned for their poetic and musical talents and became very popular within the community” (Simon 89). Their exclusion from traditional forms of worship like literature, prayer, and Torah study motivated alternative forms of religious self-expression. Music was an optimal medium because it “overcame barriers of speech, allowing for human communion” (Bilski and Braun 38). Even if Jewish women couldn’t read prayers or participate in scholarly discussions, they could still become involved – and even experience a semblance of leadership – in the synagogue through leading their community in song. Jewish women worked around the limitations they faced, resulting in liberated, alternative forms of spirituality.

This too has been the case for certain Hasidic women in New York who have used home studios to transform their artistic talents and productions into an informal market, “expanding our understanding of women’s agency beyond the private/public divide” (Roda 18). Many people perceive Hasidic women as subjugated to men, completely shut out from the public sphere and unable to outwardly express themselves authentically or creatively. However, a select group of these ultra-Orthodox women – Bracha Jaffe and Shaindy Plotzker, for example – have used and continue to use social media platforms like Instagram and Youtube to publicize their music, spreading empowering ideals of female independence, self-confidence, and authenticity. Their music videos have elevated them to celebrity status, yet simultaneously sparked harsh criticism within Orthodox Jewish communities based on accusations that these women are breaking Jewish laws surrounding modesty and privacy. Despite this controversy, female Hasidic musicians have continued to use music to push back on the narrative that women cannot be both religious and self-actualized. Similarly to their Middle Eastern and North African counterparts, these women have used music as a work-around for expressing their authentic selves despite sexist societal constraints. Hasidic women’s performances are “a testimony to their revelation of who they are, who they want to be, and the changes they are bringing about in their circles” (Roda 32). Whether the platform is social media, upper-class salons, or community synagogues, music has uniquely enabled Jewish women across the world to make their voices heard in societies in which they would otherwise be silenced.

Music has also empowered Jewish women by serving as a medium by which they sacralize their domestic realms and consequentially strengthen their connections to God. Jewish salonières, for example, “exerted their influence from inside the home” by transforming their own living spaces into vibrant, bustling hubs of discussion, art, and music (Bilski and Braun 1). This convergence between public and private spheres was important, as “performances…brought people inside a Jewish home who otherwise would not have approached the door” (Bilski and Braun 38). By hosting musical events, Jewish salonières fulfilled the mitzvah of hachnassat orchim – the commandment that emphasizes the importance of showing hospitality and kindness to guests, especially in one's home – which made women feel more connected to the Mosaic covenant. Amalie Beer, the previously mentioned salonière awarded the Luisenorden by the King of Prussia, even became known as “The Queen Mother” for her “royal hospitality combined with her maternal devotion” (Bilski and Braun 38). This language evokes traditional characterizations of the divine presence of Sabbath, which is often described as a bride, or Queen Sabbath, particularly in kabbalistic thought. Thus, music not only strengthened the bond between Jewish salonières and God, but it implicitly elevated certain women like Beer to divine, holy status – all from within their homes.

The same was true for Jewish women in the Middle East and North Africa. While a vast portion of literature-based worship was “rigid and less understood by the masses,” music was “understood by all” and thus the primary way for women to feel as if they could truly communicate with God (Simon 90). Jewish women raised humble family gatherings to levels of profound sacrality by honoring the Torah through music and sung poetry (Simon 89). Not only was music used to communicate prayers and spirituality, but songs were also used as forms of storytelling. Passing on oral tradition, especially mysticism and folklore, is a deeply valued aspect of Jewish tradition and is considered by many to be a commandment. Jewish women’s songs “dealt with daily issues and events…matters of belief…and private life,” providing a universal medium to encapsulate their lives and pass on their values. As a result of fulfilling this sacred pillar of Judaism, women in the Middle East, North Africa, and beyond deepened their sense of spirituality.

For many Hasidic women, too, creative expression within the home enriches their personal connection to Judaism. In Hasidic culture, music is seen as a way to access and deepen prayer, providing a portal to connect with God at any time. Nigunim, for example, are traditional wordless melodies sung in group settings to pursue joy, community, and Godliness (Roda 12). Many ultra-Orthodox women also find a particularly deep spiritual meaning in restricting their creative expressions to the private sphere. One Hasidic woman in particular – Rivka – explained that “there are plenty of talented and artistic women in [her] community” but that “they just create differently because they are guided by the law of the Torah” (Roda 8). While a select group of ultra-Orthodox musicians find public performance to be empowering, the vast majority of women in this community feel most connected to God by expressing themselves in the privacy of the domestic realm. For many Hasidic women, modesty is a core value and a means of expressing their connection to God; it is seen as a way to maintain a boundary between their bodies and the world, fostering a sense of reverence and humility. Domestic musical self-expression therefore makes one’s living space – where women have historically spent most of their time – more sacred and enriches their personal relationship with Judaism. 

Music, spanning across time, space, social class, and platform, has functioned as an essential medium through which Jewish women have obtained social status, participated in their congregations, formed independent notions of spirituality, sacralized their homes, and deepened their relationships with God. Despite the enduring historical view of Jewish women as oppressed, acquiescent, and uninfluential, their use of music as a tool to uplift themselves socially and religiously points to a more nuanced reality. While they may do so in a discreet or private setting, Jewish women do, in fact, express themselves extensively and create spheres of influence. Their reclamation of agency through music not only challenges reductive narratives about Jewish women's roles but also redefines the boundaries of spiritual authority, domestic power, and communal influence.

By transforming music into a conduit for both personal expression and collective identity, Jewish women have established spaces of resilience, leadership, and sanctity within and beyond traditional structures. The domestic sphere is reframed as not as a site of confinement, but rather a locus of sacred creativity, influence, and divine connection. Jewish women’s music – whether heard in salons, kitchens, family gatherings, home studios, social media, or synagogues – has fostered deeper faith, resilience, and progress that continues to echo across generations.

Bibliography

Bilski, Emily D, et al. Jewish Women and Their Salons. Yale University Press, 2005.

Roda, Jessica. For Women and Girls Only. NYU Press, 5 Mar. 2024.

Simon, Rachel. “Between the Family and the Outside World: Jewish Girls in the Modern Middle East and North Africa.” Jewish Social Studies, vol. 7, no. 1, 2000, pp. 81–108, https://doi.org/10.1353/jss.2000.0023.