The Ezrat Nashim Database is a volunteer-run, crowdsourced project documenting women's sections in synagogues around the world.
We focus on two concrete, observable criteria:
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How large is the ezrat nashim (women’s seating area)?
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How well can women see and hear from it?
In order to keep the site user friendly, we intentionally limit ourselves to a small set of measurable indicators. On their own, these details describe a physical space. In practice, they often work as a signal, however imperfect, of women's broader experience in the synagogue.
Our data is contributed by people familiar with each synagogue. We do not have a formal data review process. Information may be inaccurate and may change over time.
Contributions, corrections, and updates are welcome.
FAQ
Why don’t you include more data per synagogue?
The decision to limit the data that we collect was made primarily in order to simplify data entry. More data points per synagogue would mean a longer submission form, which would likely result in fewer submissions overall.
We may expand the project in the future to include additional data points.
How do you secure your location data?
Although synagogue street addresses are largely available online, we are mindful of the security risks that come with aggregating many locations in one place. In order to mitigate those concerns:
- We do not show exact locations on the homepage map
- We monitor and block suspicious-looking activity on pages that do expose exact locations
Have other questions? Contact Us