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In Orthodox communities where women don’t read Torah, Purim offers a rare opportunity
(JTA) — When Alyza Lewin became a bat mitzvah in 1977, the fact that she had a ritual ceremony at all was still relatively revolutionary in Orthodox circles. But she took the rite of passage a step further, and did something that, for Orthodox Jews at the time, was considered the exclusive province of men.
She chanted the Scroll of Esther, known as the megillah, in front of a mixed-gender audience in suburban Washington, D.C. on the festival of Purim. Among the crowd were her grandfathers, who were both Orthodox rabbis. Lewin was the eldest of two daughters, and her father wanted to find a ritual she would be allowed to perform while remaining within the bounds of traditional Jewish law.
“My father, when it came time for the bat mitzvah, was trying to figure out what was something meaningful that a young woman could do,” she said. “So he decided: My Hebrew birthday is four days before Purim — he would teach me how to chant Megillat Esther.”
For many modern Orthodox women more than four decades later, women’s megillah readings have moved from the cutting edge to squarely within the norm. The increasing number of women’s readings is an indication of the growth of Orthodox feminism — and its concrete expression in Jewish ritual.
According to the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance, at least 105 women-led megillah readings, for both mixed-gender and women-only audiences, are taking place worldwide this year. In 2019, according to JOFA, the number hit a peak of 139, up at a relatively steady pace from 63 in 2012, when the group began collecting data. The number of readings dipped last year due to COVID-19 precautions, but JOFA expects this year’s total to come close to the pre-pandemic high once congregations get around to notifying the organization of their events.
JOFA’s executive director, Daphne Lazar Price, said she had observed but did not quantify a related phenomenon where she’s seen “tremendous growth:” girls marking their bat mitzvahs with megillah readings, as Lewin did.
“Instead of a traditional Torah reading service or women’s tefillah [prayer] service or a partnership minyan service, we’ve seen a lot more… girls read, in part or the entire, Megillat Esther,” Price said.
Alyza Lewin’s personal megillah scroll cover is embroidered with an image of Mordecai being led on a horse by Haman on one side, and her name on the other side. (Photos courtesy of Alyza Lewin. Design by Jackie Hajdenberg)
Although traditional Jewish law, or halacha, obligates women to hear the megillah on par with men, many more traditionalist Orthodox communities still do not hold women’s megillah readings. Some Orthodox rabbis may believe that women need to hear the scroll chanted but should not themselves chant the scroll. Another objection stems from the idea that synagogues should gather the largest audience possible to hear the megillah, rather than fragment the crowd into smaller readings.
Still others worry that a women’s megillah reading will act as a sort of gateway to non-Orthodox practice more broadly. Gender egalitarianism is one of the principal dividing lines between Orthodoxy and more liberal Jewish movements, and some Orthodox rabbis say women who organize a megillah reading of their own may then venture into chanting Torah or leading public prayers, which women in the vast majority of Orthodox communities are not allowed to perform.
“The fear is, if we give a little, it’s a slippery slope and once we allow women’s megillah readings people intentionally will manipulate or maybe even accidentally just get confused,” said Rabbi Dovid Gottlieb, an Israeli Orthodox rabbi formerly based in Baltimore, describing some rabbis’ concerns regarding women’s megillah readings in a lecture last month surveying a range of perspectives on the topic. “If women’s megillah readings are OK, then women’s Torah reading is OK, then women rabbis are OK and before you know it, I don’t know what.”
In recent years, a growing number of Orthodox women rabbinic leaders have weighed in on the question as well. Maharat Ruth Friedman, a spiritual leader at the Orthodox congregation Ohev Sholom: The National Synagogue in Washington, D.C., said women reading megillah may feel more acceptable to Orthodox communities that see women’s performance of other rituals as a step too far away from Orthodoxy.
“It is kind of the one semi-kosher or kosher thing that women in more [religiously] right-wing communities can do,” Friedman said. “It doesn’t necessarily mean that the rabbis allow them to meet in the synagogue space, but at least that there is a contingent of women who will go to them.”
In some communities, women’s megillah readings might take place in private homes or in other spaces outside the synagogue. Some Orthodox rabbis permit women to read the megillah for other women, but prohibit it in front of men.
The idea of feminist megillah readings has become so mainstream that it was a storyline on “Shababnikim,” an Israeli comedy series about renegade haredi Orthodox yeshiva students. One of them is alarmed by his fiancee’s determination to read the megillah for a group of women and barges in to stop the reading. He later decides that despite his discomfort he should be more flexible in the future, within the constraints of Orthodox law, to make the woman he loves feel respected.
As women’s megillah readings have increased in popularity, they have reached the farthest parts of the globe, even reaching as far south as Antarctica. (Courtesy of Raquel Schreiber via JOFA)
At the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, a liberal Orthodox synagogue in New York City, women have been reading megillah for decades. Founding Rabbi Avi Weiss wrote a Jewish legal analysis explaining why women are permitted to read the scroll in 1998.
“I personally am someone who advocates, and in our synagogue community looks to expand, women’s roles and give more opportunities for women,” said the synagogue’s current senior rabbi, Steven Exler.
Lewin is also watching the practice expand at her synagogue, Washington, D.C.’s Kesher Israel Congregation, where women have read from the megillah for nearly three decades. This year, she’s reading the fewest chapters of the megillah she has ever read. She usually reads half of the scroll, including a difficult passage in the ninth chapter. But for this week’s women’s reading at her synagogue, a new volunteer signed up to chant the ninth chapter.
Still, despite her pioneering reading at age 12, and her decades of chanting, Lewin has encountered the Orthodox community’s ambivalence around women and megillah firsthand. For many years, she borrowed her father’s scroll when Purim came around. But about eight years ago, Lewin asked him for her own scroll as a gift, which can cost upwards of $1,800.
Lewin’s father traveled to Israel to find a scribe to commission the megillah. But he wasn’t comfortable telling the scribe the megillah would go to a woman, and instead said it was a gift for his son-in-law.
Years later, Lewin was at a wedding where she met the scribe who wrote her treasured megillah, and revealed to him that the scroll belonged to her.
“He was thrilled,” Lewin said. “I think it was his individual personality. There are some individuals who are very supportive of the increase in opportunity for women, that women are becoming much more learned in terms of Jewish law.”
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Trump Says US May Exit Iran War Soon, Threatens to Quit NATO
Emergency personnel operate around a destroyed car following a targeted Israeli strike, amid escalating hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, as the US-Israel conflict with Iran continues, in Beirut, Lebanon, March 31, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Stringer
The United States will end its war on Iran fairly soon and could return for “spot hits” if needed, President Donald Trump told Reuters on Wednesday, hours before he was scheduled to make a primetime address to the nation.
Trump also said he would state in the speech, which is due at 9 pm EDT (0100 GMT on Thursday), that he was considering withdrawing the US from the NATO alliance.
Asked when the United States would consider the Iran war over, Trump said: “I can’t tell you exactly … we’re going to be out pretty quickly.”
He was expected to reiterate a two-to-three-week timetable for ending the war in Iran during the address, a White House official later said.
US action had ensured Iran would not have nuclear arms, Trump said: “They won’t have a nuclear weapon because they are incapable of that now, and then I’ll leave, and I’ll take everybody with me, and if we have to, we’ll come back to do spot hits.”
An Iranian official, Mehdi Tabatabai, said in a post on X that an important letter to the American people from Iran‘s President Masoud Pezeshkian would be released “in a few hours.”
TRUMP CONSIDERS QUITTING NATO
Global oil supplies were expected to be hit twice as hard this month as in March, the International Energy Agency said on Wednesday, underlining the urgent need for an end to the conflict Trump began with Israel on Feb. 28.
Trump said separately on social media that Iran had asked for a ceasefire but that he would not consider it until Tehran ceased blocking the Strait of Hormuz, a major fuel shipment route. Iran denied making any such request.
Two security sources from Pakistan, which is mediating in the conflict, earlier told Reuters that Islamabad had proposed a temporary ceasefire to both sides but had not heard back from either.
US Vice President JD Vance communicated with intermediaries from Pakistan about the Iran conflict as recently as Tuesday, a source briefed on the matter told Reuters on Wednesday. At Trump‘s direction, Vance signaled privately that Trump was open to a ceasefire as long as certain US demands were met, including reopening the Strait of Hormuz, the source said.
Trump had signaled on Tuesday he could wind down the war in two to three weeks even without a deal, and scaled up threats to pull the US out of the NATO defense alliance if European states did not help stop Iran threatening the waterway.
In his remarks to Reuters on Wednesday, Trump said he would express his disgust with NATO for what he considers the alliance’s lack of support for US objectives in Iran.
European states took pains to appear unruffled, and France’s junior army minister Alice Rufo said operations by NATO in the Strait of Hormuz would be a breach of international law.
JET FUEL AND DIESEL SHORTAGE
The conflict has spread across the region and caused major energy disruption.
IEA head Fatih Birol said the main issue so far from Iran‘s effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz was the lack of jet fuel and diesel that was already a problem in Asia and would hit Europe in April or May.
The head of European budget airline Ryanair said jet fuel supply to Europe could be disrupted from June if the conflict did not end in the next month, potentially forcing the airline and rivals to consider cancelling summer season flights.
Businesses around the world are struggling, with cosmetics and tea among the latest sectors to report difficulties.
However, global stocks rallied and oil prices fell almost 3% as hopes of a de-escalation fueled the biggest rebound in regional equities in more than three years.
Higher fuel prices are already weighing on US household finances before the November midterm elections, with two-thirds of Americans believing the US should work to exit the Iran war quickly, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found.
TANKER HIT OFF QATAR
Drones hit fuel tanks at Kuwait’s international airport, causing a big blaze, and authorities in Bahrain reported a fire at an undisclosed company facility from an Iranian attack.
Qatar said an oil tanker leased to state-owned QatarEnergy was hit by an Iranian cruise missile in Qatari waters, but that there were no injuries or environmental damage.
An overnight strike hit Shahid Haghani Port, Iran‘s largest passenger terminal, deputy regional governor Ahmad Nafisi told state media, calling it a “criminal” attack on civilian infrastructure.
Iran has fired repeatedly on Gulf countries, some home to US bases, during the conflict, and is using the Strait of Hormuz, a conduit for a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas, as a bargaining chip.
Iran‘s Revolutionary Guards have threatened to hit US companies in the region including Microsoft, Google, Apple, Intel, IBM, Tesla, and Boeing, from 8 pm Tehran time (1630 GMT) on Wednesday. Trump has said he was not concerned.
LATEST STRIKES
In Tel Aviv on Wednesday, evening air raid sirens and air defense systems were repeatedly triggered as Iran fired a volley of missiles around an hour before the start of Passover, the Jewish festival of freedom.
Israel’s fire and rescue service said there had been multiple “impacts” in the greater Tel Aviv area. It was not immediately clear if the impacts were caused by missile strikes or debris from missile interceptions.
Shortly after the latest Iranian attack, the Israeli military said in a statement that the Air Force was carrying out strikes on dozens of targets across Tehran.
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UK Police Arrest 3 More Men Over Arson Attack on Jewish Community Ambulances
Charred remains of ambulances belonging to Hatzola, a Jewish community organization, which were set on fire in an incident that the police say is being treated as an antisemitic hate crime, in northwest London, Britain, March 23, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Hannah McKay
British police said on Wednesday they had arrested three more men in connection with an arson attack on Jewish community ambulances in north London last month.
The ambulances were set on fire on March 23 in what British Prime Minister Keir Starmer described as a “deeply shocking antisemitic arson attack.”
The SITE Intelligence website has said an Iran-aligned multinational militant collective called Islamic Movement of the People of the Right Hand had claimed responsibility for the incident near a synagogue in the Golders Green area of London.
Counter-terrorism officers are heading the investigation, but as yet the incident is not being treated as terrorism.
The Metropolitan Police said the three men, aged 20, 19, and 17, had been arrested at separate addresses in east London on suspicion of conspiracy to commit arson with intent to endanger life.
Two were British nationals, while the third was a dual British-Pakistani national. Last week, detectives detained two British nationals aged in their 40s and later released both on police bail.
“We know concern among the Jewish community remains high, but I hope these arrests show that we are doing everything we can to bring those responsible to justice,” said Commander Helen Flanagan, Head of Counter Terrorism Policing London.
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New York City Mayor Mamdani Heckled While Speaking at Passover Seder in Manhattan After Comedian Drops Out
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani holds a press conference at the New York City Office of Emergency Management, as a major winter storm spreads across a large swath of the United States, in Brooklyn, New York City, US, Jan. 25, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Bing Guan
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani was reportedly heckled mid-speech at a Passover seder celebration in Manhattan on Monday night.
An attendee shouted “every Jewish organization is a target” when Mamdani, 34, t0ld the crowd at the 33rd annual Downtown Seder at City Winery about how the rise in antisemitism “has caused enormous pain for so many Jewish New Yorkers,” according to the New York Post.
Other attendees reportedly shushed the heckler and applauded the mayor as he finished his speech. Another attendee told the Post on Tuesday that when Mamdani was introduced on stage, a woman in the crowd shouted, “Shame, shame, shame.”
A far-left democratic socialist and anti-Zionist, Mamdani refuses to recognize Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state; supports boycotts of all Israeli-tied entities, has been accused of promoting antisemitism; has repeatedly accused Israel of “apartheid” and “genocide”; and refuses to explicitly condemn the phrase “globalize the intifada,” which has been used to call for violence against Jews and Israelis around the world.
Monday’s Passover seder at City Winery was hosted by the venue’s Jewish founder and owner Michael Dorf. Israeli-American comedian Modi Rosenfeld, also known as Modi, was scheduled to perform at the event but pulled out last minute after learning that Mamdani was participating. “We were not aware Mamdani was participating until today. Modi will not be attending this evening,” Rosenfeld’s team said on social media early Monday.
Dorf defended Mamdani’s attendance in a Substack but added, “While I respect Modi’s decision not to share the stage with Mayor Mamdani, I truly wish he had been there.” The head of City Winery said “hate mail started rolling in” as soon as it was announced publicly the day prior to the event that Mamdani would attend the Passover celebration.
When Dorf introduced Mamdani on stage Monday night at the Passover event, he described the mayor as a “person who is trying hard to bridge divides in our community and our great city.”
The Passover event featured 15 special guests and 100 percent of proceeds were donated to Seeds of Peace, a nonprofit organization that helps create young leaders “who work in solidarity across differences to create more just and inclusive societies,” according to its website.
Jewish comedian Olga Namer performed and made jokes about New York City’s mayor. She introduced herself as a Syrian Jew and said, “I’m confident that Mamdani likes half of me.” She then compared Mamdani to the Biblical figure Moses because “he is also causing an exodus of Jews to go to Florida.”
Israeli musician David Broza performed and former CNN anchor Don Lemon asked the “four questions” mentioned in the Passover Haggadah “but done with a special orientation based on his arrest a few weeks ago protecting freedom of expression,” according to a description of the event by City Winery. Lemon was arrested for participating in a protest at a Minnesota church where an Immigration and Customs Enforcement official is a pastor.
George Floyd’s brother spoke at Monday night’s event about “racism” and Israeli-American Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie was featured in a live stream from Israel.
Earlier in March, Mamdani celebrated Ramadan with Abdullah Akl, the political director of the Muslim American Society of New York. The latter called for the Hamas terrorist organization to “strike Tel Aviv’” before leading a crowd in chanting for an “intifada” during a protest in New York City, according to the Washington Free Beacon. He was arrested at a pro-Hamas demonstration in 2024 and has posted antisemitic and anti-Israel messages on social media, including one message in which he encouraged others to “teach [their] children that the Zionist entity is an enemy.”
Mamdani also hosted an Iftar dinner at Gracie Mansion with Mahmoud Khalil, the anti-Israel activist and Hamas supporter who justified the Hamas-led terrorist attack across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and said “we couldn’t avoid” the deadly massacre.