On Equal Pay Day: Building a Community on a Foundation of Justice

April 4, 2017Stephanie Blumenkranz, Rabbi Marla J. Feldman, and Rabbi Mary Zamore
White marble statue of justice holding brass scales

The Talmud teaches, “When a person robs his fellow even the value of a perutah [penny], it is as though he had taken his life away from him.” (Bava Kama 119a) While the ancient rabbis were not concerned with a gendered-based pay gap, they did understand that fair pay is the basis of human dignity in the employer-employee relationship.

Inspired by Jewish ethics and a commitment to justice, Women of Reform Judaism (WRJ) and Women’s Rabbinic Network (WRN), with the support of the Jewish Women’s Foundation of New York, are launching a new initiative to address the gender wage gap that exists in the American Jewish community, and, in particular, within Reform Movement institutions in North America.

On this Equal Pay Day, there is much to be done to bring justice to working women, including those who are employed within the Jewish community. Today’s date symbolizes the extra time when women’s earnings, on average, finally catch up to what a man earned for the same job by the end of last year. It is time to correct this inequity within our community.

Keep reading at eJewishPhilanthropy.com.

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About the Authors

Stephanie Blumenkranz

Stephanie Blumenkranz is the Assistant Director of the Jewish Women’s Foundation of New York (JWFNY). JWFNY utilizes innovative social change grantmaking, advocacy and education campaigns to advance the status and wellbeing of women and girls in the United States, Israel and around the world. Founded in 1995, JWFNY has awarded over $4.5 million to 185 projects. For more information, visit www.jwfny.org.

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Rabbi Marla J. Feldman
Rabbi Marla J. Feldman

Rabbi Marla J. Feldman was the Executive Director of WRJ from 2012 tp June of 2023, having previously served as the Director of Development for the URJ and Director of the Commission on Social Action of Reform Judaism. Feldman is a Reform rabbi (HUC-JIR, New York) and lawyer (JD, Univ. of Fla). Previously, Rabbi Feldman worked in the Jewish community relations field in Detroit and Delaware and served Reform congregations in Sarasota and Orlando, Florida. Feldman has authored Reform Movement action manuals and published modern midrash, and her articles have appeared in numerous publications and newspapers. She is the author of “Biblical Women Speak: Hearing Their Voices through New and Ancient Midrash” (JPS, 2023).

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Rabbi Mary Zamore
Rabbi Mary Zamore

Rabbi Mary L. Zamore (she/her) is the Executive Director of the Women’s Rabbinic Network. A recipient of WRJ’s Women’s Empowerment Award, Rabbi Zamore has also been named a T’ruah Rabbinic Human Rights Hero. She was a fellow with the Association for Public Religion and Intellectual Life at Auburn Seminary, NYC, studying in the Oppressions and Repair Colloquium. She is the editor of The Sacred Exchange: Creating a Jewish Money Ethic (CCAR Press, 2019) and The Sacred Table: Creating a Jewish Food Ethic (CCAR Press, 2011), designated a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award. Ordained by Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York in 1997, she proudly served congregations in Central New Jersey for 18 years before joining WRN.

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