This paper examines contemporary shifts ways in the ways in which Mizrahi women publicly express their religiosity in Israel. While Mizrahi women in Israel have historically remained largely at the margins of Mizrahi religious practice in traditional prayer services and in more informal piyyut practices, over the past fifteen years women have become active in some of these realms. This paper will highlight these shifts and offer insights into what facilitated these changes.
In particular, this paper will focus on the ways in which Singing Communities (Kehillot Sharot in Hebrew)—an organization that began offering piyyut (sacred song) classes all over Israel beginning in 2003—contributed significantly to the legitimization of women’s role in Mizrahi religious practices. Not only did Singing Communities (SC) convince haredi Mizrahi paytanim (those expertly trained to sing piyyutim) to teach for mixed gender classes where women sang solos, but SC also sought out women teachers and trained female singers as paytaniyot.
Based on years of ethnographic and historical research, this paper argues that rather than movingMizrahim away from traditional religious practice, such trends in women’s religious practicerepresent a return to masortiyut, a more flexible form of religious observance practiced by Jews in theIslamic World for generations. While it is possible to view some of the changes occurring in women’s religious practice as “progressive,” they can also be understood as a corrective return to Mizrahi masorti religious practice prior to the hard-line ashkenization and charedization of many Mizrahim following their immigration to Israel.