An illustrative photo of an ultra-Orthodox wedding. (Yaakov Naumi/Flash90)
NEW YORK JEWISH WEEK Outsiders who see the parade of strollers in Jerusalem’s haredi, or ultra-Orthodox, neighborhoods or get their views of haredim from TV shows like “Shtisel” or “Unorthodox” may be quick to judge the women there as constrained by their roles as wives and mothers.
Researcher Michal Raucher paints a much more complicated picture of strictly religious Jewish women in her new book, “Conceiving Agency: Reproductive Authority Among Haredi Women.”
Based on her interviews with more than 20 women and as many medical professionals, the book shows the many ways haredi women express their autonomy when it comes to contraception, prenatal care and abortion. Trusting their own bodies and experience, women often “find space to make reproductive decisions without the incursion of their husbands or their rabbis,” writes Raucher. “Furthermore, although their bodies are heavily re