Penina Adelman

Areas of Expertise

Women in the Bible; Biblical Midrash; Women’s Folklore; Women and Ritual; Coming-of-Age Rituals Cross-Culturally; Jewish Women’s Folklore; Issues of Pre-teen Jewish Girls; Jewish Mothers in Relation to the Bat Mitzvah; Spiritual Direction

Email: jasmine@brandeis.edu

Current Project

On leave for the 2009-2010 Academic Year.

Biography

Penina Adelman is a writer and social worker. She writes and speaks about women and spirituality, women in the Bible, and women as mythmakers and creators of ritual.  Her first book, Miriam’s Well, helped launch the Rosh Hodesh (Jewish New Moon festival) movement which today involves thousands of Jewish women.  As a social worker for over 20 years, she has run support and activity groups for Ethiopian Jews, single mothers, Jewish adults with psychiatric conditions, and the mothers of bat mitzvah girls. She lives in Newton, Massachusetts with her family.

Education

M.S.W., Boston University School of Social Work

M.A., University of Pennsylvania

B.A., Oberlin College

Representative Publications

Adelman, Penina, Ali Feldman, and Shulamit Reinharz.  The JGirl’s Guide: The Young Jewish Woman’s Handbook for Coming of Age.  Woodstock, VT: Jewish Lights Publishing, 2005.

Adelman, Penina.  Praise Her Works: Conversations with Biblical Women.   Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society, 2005.

Links

Personal Web Page