When the Synagogue Is Turned into a Delivery Room: Embracing Gender and Sexual Bodily Experiences through a Kabbalistic Renewal Custom

ABSTRACT: The Reform Jewish community is known today as one of the leading Jewish denominations that promotes a liberal religious discourse and praxis, particularly advancing gender equality. As a non-Orthodox movement advocating this egalitarian ideology, Reform communities face exclusion and condemnation, especially in Israel where the Orthodox establishment dominates. In this article, based on fieldwork in Israeli Reform congregations, I examine how female congregants participating in the Tikkun Shavuot , a traditional Kabbalistic holiday custom, create a variety of interpretations of embodiment attributed to gender and sexual experiences. The tikkun , which experienced a renaissance during the last decades among Jewish liberal communities, is informed by Torah study, bodily New Age gestures, and artistic performances. I argue that framing the performance of the renewal holiday custom as a dialog with the body, engagement with sacred texts, and the communal discourse created around it, allowed women to connect to painful bodily experiences from the past and voice objections regarding heteronormative social perceptions. Thus, I suggest that religious-feminine performance may contribute to reconnecting to bodily memories, as well as legitimizing, validating, and affirming feelings of regret, guilt, and self-acceptance.