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| Students studying religious texts at CESJDS |
I had hoped to move on to a different subject today. But as Michael
Corleone once said, ‘Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in’.
Obviously the condemnation of Open Orthodoxy and its affiliate
organizations by the Agudah and the nearly simultaneous rejection by the RCA of
female rabbis has raised more than a few hackles. It’s almost as though there
has been little else of Jewish import discussed in the Jewish media and online since
then.
There is an open letter to the RCA published in the Forward
that I think needs to be addressed. It was written by 17 year old Rana Bickel,
a senior at the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School (CESJDS). She begins with a shocking ultimatum:
Do you want me to leave? Do you want 17-year-old girls who care about Judaism to leave Orthodoxy? Do you want them to leave Judaism altogether? Because that is what is going to happen if you don’t give us a seat at your table.
She goes on to describe herself as strictly observant and declares
her desire to devote her life to the Orthodox Jewish community. And she wonders
how she could possibly do that without being ordained.
Adding that if not for Yeshivat Maharat, there would not be
an outlet for female voices in the Orthodox world. Without which she feels lost
in a religion that is so dominated by men. Additionally she says the sight of
women at Yeshivat Maharat learning, davening, their devotion to Judaism, and
interacting with the world inspires her.
From there she argues that if the RCA accepts the fact that
women can learn the same material as men and on the same level as men, then why
can’t we have the title? And then there
is what I would call the money quote: “Only when I was introduced to feminism
did I start to question that.” By ‘that’
she means how she saw her role in Judaism up until that point.
The first thing I noticed about her letter is that the words
‘I want’ permeated it. And that it was feminism that motivated her.
I suspect that egalitarianism is high on the agenda at the Charles E. Smith
Jewish Day School is. (I guess serving God comes in at a very close
second.) This pluralistic school seems to fit in quite well with Open Orthodoxy.
I’m sure that Ms. Bickel is a sincere young lady. And that
she truly wants to serve God. But I can’t help but feel that serving God is secondary
to her goal of egalitarianism. She believes that if she doesn’t get to be a rabbi - a leader in the Jewish community – that she will somehow be denied her ultimate ability to best serve God. And denying women that option will result in motivated young women leaving not only
Orthodoxy but Judaism altogether.
Really? If not for Yeshivat Maharat there would not be an
outlet for female voices in the Orthodox world?! Is the commitment to Judaism by young women in her community so shallow that if they don’t get what they want, they will leave?!
These are not the words of women dedicated to God. One does not threaten to abandon one’s faith if they don’t get their way. This is pure unadulterated 21st century feminism talking. Feminism has taken the place of Orthodoxy. It is the new religion of the left. They have bought into the feminist argument that egalitarianism trumps all. That if Judaism prevents women’s equality with men even in the religious sphere, then Judaism is worthless.
This is apparently how Ms. Bickel sees it. Give me the rabbinate – or I
will leave – claiming that it is only Yeshivat Maharat that inspires her to remain
Orthodox. If not for them, the RCA’s attitude would have driven
her and her peers out of Orthodoxy – or even Judaism.
The problem is that succumbing to an ultimatum is not how Judaism
works. Judaism will get along just fine if she is not there. Nor will they
lose their young women if that ultimatum is not followed. The mainstream Charedi
and Centrist world is filled with women who reject what passes for feminism
today. And they comprise the vast majority of women in Orthodox Jewry. By
orders of magnitude.
This does not mean that I want Ms. Bickel to leave Orthodoxy
or Judaism, God forbid. That is the last thing I want. She seems to be a bright,
sincere young lady that wants to serve God in ways she sees fit. But threats
like hers will not change the values of tradition that have been passed on
generationally for centuries. Nor will it change the minds of virtually all the
rabbinic leaders of both the Charedi and Modern Orthodox world that - based on
tradition - have rejected the institution of female rabbis.
Feminism has indoctrinated Ms. Bickel to see fit only a Judaism
that approaches egalitarianism. Service to God comes only after that. The very
idea that in Judaism the role of a woman is different that the role of a man
does not seem to occur to her. To the extent that it does, she sees it as
sexist.
I don’t blame her for her views. I blame it on a Chinuch that places a higher value on
feminism than it does on Judaism.
