Reflecting on Judaism

           Professor Tamar Ross is a professor at the Bar Ilan University. A rabbi friend recommended that I read her book 'Expanding the Palace of Torah'. During the course of corresponding with her I learned that she is the daughter of a Detroit Rabbi. Her ivrit be-ivrit education started from day one.  Her parents made sure that this would be her mother tongue, and she learned English only when she started playing with other children in nursery school.  Her father was her main teacher for religious subjects, and hired additional rabbi teachers for Yiddish, Hebrew literature, grammar and a few other topics, all in ivrit be-ivrit where possible.

           I read her book and was fascinated by it for it discusses an aspect of Judaism that is little known or appreciated by many. If I have one comment to make about the book, it is that it is written for those 'in the know'. If it were to be published in a more popular style I think that it could be a best seller. If one wants to know just how strong the Jewish Feminist movement is, go online and log on to 'Jewish Feminists' in Google.

           One can understand why many jewishly committed women are dissatisfied with the role they are allocated within our religion. For example, they are not allowed to be witnesses, the rabbis discouraged them, and some still do, from taking part in Public Affairs or from holding Public Office and there is the perennial problem of Aguna, still unsolved. Professor Ross reminds us that in bible times there were women Prophets, women Judges and women Leaders but, by way of comparison, it was not until recently that the Rabbinate in the UK allowed women to sit on Boards of Management of United Synagogues. This must be degrading for women some of whom are professors, surgeons, lawyers or indeed at the top of many professions. But when it comes to their religious status the rabbis still want them to be hidden. Professor Ross shows that that when the early rabbis discussed the interpretation of the Torah women were mostly, if not completely, excluded from the discussions. Had they been included some conclusions may have been different. She, as a learned orthodox Jewess, believes that there are viable, alternative interpretations. According to the late Prof. Yeshayahu Leibowitch the questions raised by Jewish Feminists pose one of today's foremost problems for Judaism.

           After reading her book my mind went back to some of my own limited experiences. As a child I was told that women may not touch a Sefer Torah because they might be unclean because, may be, they were in their 'periods'. This excuse is now rarely given or believed. Some years ago I attended a lecture by Rabbi David Hartman during the course of which he digressed and told us of an experience he had with his daughter. During a Simchat Torah celebration she approached him and said that she wanted to dance with him and with the Torah. He told her that they couldn't do that because it was an orthodox synagogue. She replied that she was more educated in religious matters than most of the congregants and therefore she was entitled to a dance. He took a deep breath and they danced. As soon as Simchat Torah was over he phoned his Rav, Rav Soleveitchik, to confess his sin. He knew that if he didn't one of his 'good' friends would. The Rav replied, 'my dear Davidle if that is the worst thing that you ever do I will be proud of you'. I think that it is this Rabbi Hartman's daughter that established the Shira Hadashah women's orthodox services which are proving so successful and where women read direct from the Torah with men present.

           In the late 1960's I was chairman of our local part time Hebrew classes and learned that a small community in Kingston had arranged a Bat Mitzvah ceremony for their girls, aged 12. I had never heard of such a ceremony but it sounded a good idea for it motivated their girl pupils. As our classes were the largest in Europe, some 1,000 part time pupils with up to 40 girls aged 12, I approached the United Synagogue, our parent body, to help arrange a similar ceremony for us. They turned us down out of hand as it was untraditional (unhalachic?). I had a word with a local Rabbi who saw nothing wrong with the idea. I also approached the Chief Rabbi and he did not disapprove either but, not wanting to become involved in synagogue politics, he suggested that we call it Eshet Chayil and not Bat mitzvah. The head teacher prepared a special year's study course for the girls and we organised the ceremony locally. We were put in 'cherem' by the United Synagogue. Not one of their officers attended. We obtained the agreement of a well known lady to address the girls and the function was a great success.  The following year we received many, many requests for invitations from the United Synagogue's officers but had to refuse some. On this occasion the Chief Rabbi's wife did the honours. Subsequently, the idea caught on and almost every United Synagogue with part time classes arranged similar ceremonies.

           Yet another experience concerned women wanting to say kaddish. The father of a niece died and when I went to visit her during the Shivah week she was very upset. She told me that she wanted to say Kaddish but she was not allowed to do so. I suggested that she say kaddish and if someone asked her to stop she should politely ask for his sources. She did so, nothing happened, and she continued saying it. I was not being contrary in giving her the advice I did. For many years I was lucky to be taught by a very bright knowledgeable rabbi, coincidently the same rabbi who taught Prof. Ross some of the subjects when she was young, and kaddish by women was one of the subjects we discussed. The practice of women saying kaddish has today become far more acceptable.

           The above personal experiences represent a microcosm of a wider malaise. Since the obstacles I mention were eventually solved to the women's satisfaction why were they not approved immediately thereby avoiding the women having to fight for their rights? These experiences indicate that many rabbis have a ''knee jerk' reaction to change. So why should women believe that they will be more forthcoming in the future. They have had to fight for many of the things they wanted, even things permitted within the Halachah, and no doubt they will continue to fight on the same basis. As my father used to say, only he said it in Yiddish, 'it is easier to say 'no' than to be brave and say 'yes' even if the 'yes' is the proper answer.'

I now quote what Wikipedia says about Prof. Ross and then put her contribution in the 'Jewish Feminist' context. This is intended for those who wish to delve deeper into 'Jewish Feminine situation'.

           "Tamar Ross is a professor of Jewish Philosophy at Bar Ilan University. She has scholarly expertise in the thoughts of Abraham Isaac Kook, the modern Musar movement and the ideology of Mitnaggedism, and Judaism and gender. She is the author of books and articles on Jewish ethics and theology, contemporary issues in traditional Jewish thought, philosophy of halakha, and Orthodox Jewish feminism."

           "As a Modern Orthodox Jewish feminist, Ross attempts to reconcile the idea of "Torah from Heaven" with what she perceives to be flaws in the viewpoint of Halakha and narrative, including both rules which she perceived as biased towards men, and narrative written from an exclusively male viewpoint. One approach she develops to address this problem is the idea of evolving revelation, that is, that we learn more as history evolves and societies develop and mature. She argues against the concept of Yeridat ha-dorot, the idea that knowledge of Torah diminishes with time. She also argues against approaches of more liberal movements which address perceived flaws by challenging the divinity and religious validity of sacred texts and traditions, arguing that such an approach only undermined the foundations faith. She develops the metaphor of "Expanding the Palace of Torah", originally an idea of Abraham Isaac Kook, for an approach seeking to address contemporary concerns by expanding rather than undermining religious tradition".

'Jewish feminism' From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

           Jewish feminism is a movement that seeks to improve the religious, legal, and social status of women within Judaism and to open up new opportunities for religious experience and leadership for Jewish women. Feminist movements, with varying approaches and successes, have opened up within all major branches of Judaism.

Origins of the movement

           According to historian Paula Hyman, two articles published in 1970 on the role of women in Judaism were particularly influential. "The Unfreedom of Jewish Women," published in the Jewish Spectator by its editor, Trude Weiss-Rosmarin, criticized the treatment of women in Jewish law, followed in 1972 by an article by Rachel Adler, then an Orthodox Jew and currently a professor at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, called "The Jew Who Wasn't There: Halakhah and the Jewish Woman," published in Davka, a countercultural magazine.^[2]

           In 1972, a group of ten New York feminists calling themselves Ezrat Nashim (the women's section in a synagogue, but also "women's help"), took the issue of equality for women to the 1972 convention of the Conservative movement's Rabbinical Assembly, presenting a document on March 14 that they named the "Call for Change." The rabbis received the document in their convention packets, but Ezrat Nashim presented it during a meeting with the rabbis' wives.

           The "Call for Change" demanded that women be accepted as witnesses before Jewish law, be considered as bound to perform all mitzvot, be allowed full participation in religious observances, have equal rights in marriage and be allowed to initiate divorce, be counted in the minyan, and be permitted to assume positions of leadership in the synagogue and within the general Jewish community. Paula Hyman, who was a member of Ezrat Nashim, wrote that: "We recognized that the subordinate status of women was linked to their exemption from positive time-bound mitzvot (commandments), and we therefore accepted increased obligation as the corollary of equality. Eleven years later, in October 1983, the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS), the main educational institution of the Conservative Movement, announced its decision to accept women into the Rabbinical School. Hyman took part in the vote as a member of the JTS faculty.

Orthodox Judaism

Haredi Judaism and its opposition to feminism

Haredi Judaism views all forms of feminism, whether in "Jewish" or non-Jewish forms as unnecessary, on the grounds that Torah Judaism believes in wholeness, in the valid claims of contrasting aspects: in being part of a society while remaining a unique people; in being part of a community while maintaining one's individuality; in being a full-fledged part of the world while also being a woman. The Haredi vision of womanhood can be summed up in King Solomon's poem "A Woman of Valor," which praises a woman for qualities such as wisdom, courage, creativity, business acumen, and the profound insight to recognize how to relate to individuals according to their specific needs.

           Therefore there is no movement within Haredi Judaism to train women as rabbis. While most Haredi women receive schooling in Bais Yaakov schools designed for them exclusively, the curriculum of these schools does not teach Talmud and neither encourages nor teaches its female students to study the same subjects as young Haredi men in the Haredi yeshivas.

           The most important thrust of Haredi education for girls and young women is to educate, train and encourage them to fulfill their potential which includes becoming wives and successful mothers within large families devoted to the Torah Judaism way of life. In some Haredi communities, the education of girls in secular subjects (such as mathematics) is superior to that of boys. This is partly because of the greater time devoted to sacred subjects in the case of boys, and partly because many Haredi women work in paid jobs to enable their husbands to engage in full-time Torah study or to bring in a second income.

Modern Orthodox Judaism and feminism

           Modern Orthodox feminism, like its Conservative and Reform/Reconstructionist counterparts, seeks to change the position of women in Jewish law (halakha), life, and leadership. However, it differs in several key respects. Firstly, its stated approach accepts the Orthodox belief that Jewish law is divine in origin, and as such, Orthodox Jewish feminists say they seek change only in a manner that can be defended in terms of Jewish law, and try to work with, rather than against, the rabbinate.

           Therefore, in conflicts between halakha and arguments from egalitarianism, Orthodox feminists say they have remained loyal to halakha, though this is disputed by other feminists and anti-feminist Orthodox Jews. Secondly, Orthodox feminism neither requires precisely equal roles between men and women, as has been the tendency in Conservative Judaism, nor does it seek to overthrow the religious tradition and substitute new sources and traditions, as has been suggested by Reform feminists such as Rachel Adler and Judith Plaskow. Rather, accepting the possibility that somewhat different approaches may be appropriate for men and women, Orthodox feminism generally seeks support for acceptable means to change women's halakhic status, a significant presence and role within the public communal service, and new, supplemental traditions, or the reinstitution of old traditions, of importance to women's lives and worship. Orthodox feminism tends to focus on specific, practical issues, such as the problems of agunah, fostering women's education, leadership, and participation, and arguments for involvement in specific rituals.

           One reason for a different agenda for Modern Orthodox feminism is its need to focus on issues which became largely non-existent in liberal branches of Judaism prior to the appearance of Jewish feminism in the 1970s. These issues include the agunah problem arising from a lack of legal power in certain circumstances to initiate a divorce, problems of access to advanced religious education, and matters of physical access and personal comfort in matters of tzniut (modesty), such as, for example, the construction of mechitzot which permit women to see and hear services.

Blu Greenberg founded the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance (JOFA) to advocate for women's increased participation in Modern Orthodox Jewish life and to create a community for women and men dedicated to such change.

           Critics of Orthodox feminism from within Orthodox Judaism have disputed its claims to Orthodox legitimacy, including its claims to accept the divinity of Jewish law and to work within legitimate halakhic processes.