A poster by the name of quietann who occasionally posts on this blog is one of my favorite commenters. I value her viewpoint because I believe that she is one of the more intellectually honest and unbiased commenters as well as one of the most perceptive. in the world of Orthodox Bloggers. She brings to this blog and to any others in which she participates a fair and balanced view from outside the Orthodox community while still respecting it.
She has said in the past that she is only recently in life started to research her roots and even though she is not observant she seems to appreciate where we of the Torah world are coming from. For that I wish to salute her and hope that she continues to give her valuable perspective on issues that I and anyone else present.
Her latest contribution here was to my last post on Frumkeit in which she speaks specifically to the issue of how a woman feels when a euphemism is substituted for her name. It is an honest view uncluttered by a pre-exiting religious perspective and speaks volumes to me about that issue. So once again, quietann, I salute you and value your perspective more than you know. Her comment is very informing as to how customs of the Torah world are perceived by those who are not quite in it, yet respect it. Here is her comment. It is a lesson for all of us:
“I also find it really sad that a culture exists where the only "polite" way to think of a woman is as "So and so's wife." We women have NAMES. I am afraid I just don't understand how referring to a woman by her NAME is a violation of tzunius…”
Neither do I. And neither did one of the greattest figures of the 19th and20th century, Rabbi Chaim Soloveichik. It simply isn’t a stricture at all and it is instead pure nonsense. Don’t let a few misinformed people misguide you about the truth of Judaism. These are not stringencies, but a mad chase toward non-existent strictures for the sole purpose of showing off how religious one is. And it is not the Torah way.
