Wow, Avital Chizhik, I am absolutely blown away by your eloquence. This is a wonderful piece that I very much relate to. I know, I know, I wrote that other sarcastic response to Shafran, but this is a nuanced look at what Orthodox gender roles really mean to educated women. I. Am. In. Awe. Of. Your. Talent. Great job! I pray for the day that young women are educated for the sake of education and not simply vocation. I want to see intelligent women taught to hold themselves with dignity and confidence, encouraged to speak and build and succeed, entrusted with the best of secular knowledge, history, literature, sciences, politics. Religious women who speak proper English and Hebrew, who identify as citizens of a greater society, who know how to seamlessly interact and work with those outside their community, whether secular or non-Jewish. I want to see women who are tolerant and unafraid of the outside, who turn to the world with an unwavering confidence in their own faith and strength. So – tefillin? Adjusted prayer services? Female rabbis? Lowered mehitzahs? I’m not convinced. Those women who feel disadvantaged by ritual differences are welcome to do as they please in communities that are receptive to it, without being dismissed by others. But to demand for a community to reform tightly held traditions is insensitive, and those who use it is as a political means are only doing harm to the Orthodox women who have (dare I say?) deeper and more critical questions to face. Because I don’t care to own the bimah. I simply want to own my mind.
Posted on: Mon, 03 Feb 2014 16:34:27 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015