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| Women's March in January of this year (ABC News) |
As I keep saying I have always considered myself to be a
feminist because of my views that men and women should be treated with equal
respect and given equal opportunity to succeed in the world at large. Certainly
when it comes to equal pay for equal work - which has not yet seen parity.
But feminism as defined today laughs
at that definition. Today it’s all or nothing. Feminists do not see any difference
at all between men and women aside from the obvious biological differences. When
other values systems clash with that notion, they are deemed misogynist. Even when
that clash is with religious values.
This is usually accompanied by accusations against our
sages. I can’t even count the times I have heard them referring to the sages as paternalistic self serving men who based their religious decisions on the general misogyny of their time. Which they of course believe should be discarded by the wiser and better educated modern man.
As I’ve said many times, Judaism is not defined in terms
of men and women being identical. It is defined as doing the will of God as interpreted
by the sages throughout the generations. People whose only concern was understanding the will of God, following it, and protecting it from being violated by the Jewish people.
Judaism is not about personal feelings of connectedness. That is an extremely biased way of
looking at it. What makes one person feel connected may not be the case for
a another person. Personal feelings like that might be an important value. But it is not the determining value of what is
or isn’t the best way to serve God.
So that Ms. Meisals experience at an egalitarian minyan in Berkeley’s Netivot Shalom synagogue on Rosh Hashanah does not in any way make it more Jewish just because it made her
feel more connected. That service was merely a concession to what feminism
demands of modern man. I believe that at least in part - her discovery of
egalitarianism is what generated those feelings. But even if wasn’t and was genuine irrespective of egalitarianism - it wouldn’t matter since that Minyan was against Halacha and therefore by definition - not what God wants.
I get that there is somewhat of a FOMO (fear of missing out) on the part of Orthodox
women in our day. Even among some on right. As was the case with Ms. Meisels who was raised in the insular world of Chasidim. I believe that is because of the times in which we now live. One can now access with ease ideologies that contradict those in which they were raised. In this case they have come to see men as the focus of Judaism in all of
its glory - while women get thrown a bone here and there. That can surely make
them feel like second class citizens. (This description of Judaism can breed antisemitism as was the case in last January’s Women’s March.)
People that react that way to the
roles defined for them by Halacha and centuties old tradition do not in my view
fully understand what Judaism is all about. Even if they were raised in a
completely insular environment where only Jewish values are taught. As was Ms. Meisels.
(What I will say is that there are some customs in communities like that which add unnecessarily to the feeling of exclusion felt by Ms. Meisels. Such as the refusal to
publish pictures of women even if they are dressed in most stringent form of modesty. But that is beyond the scope of the post.)
When an ideal foreign to Judaism permeates the general culture it is going to seep
into even the most insular of communities. When that happens it’s difficult to see the religious idea about different roles for man and women as anything but misogynistic. Under those conditions rejecting inequality makes perfect sense.
Let us for a moment ask the question. Does Judaism have
classes of people where one class is superior to another? Of
course it does. I am actually denied certain roles in Judaism that I’m sure would give me an enhanced connectedness to God. A role that is given to another
segment. It is only an ‘accident of birth’ that makes me unable to assume that role. Like
it or not I am denied that privilege. But that does not make me a lesser person in the eyes of God.
I do not feel slighted because I can never be called up to
the Torah in the first slot reserved for a Kohen. Or even the second slot resereved fort a Levi.
I do not feel slighted because a Kohen is vested with the capacity to bless the Jewish
people with far more impact than I can have. I have my obligations and they have
theirs. (In ancient times the Kohen’s role was even more enhanced
in that only he could perform the actual sacrifices in the Beis HaMikdash.)
It is telling that Ms. Meisal’s sees Hilchos Niddah in such
disparaging terms –calling her status when she is a niddah ‘stained’. That
indicates that she does not understand and thereby does not respect a Halacha
clearly spelled out in the Torah. That can only come about under the influence of the feminist ideal that generated her article.
Why is modern day egalitarianism ‘staining’ the faith of so
many women? I have to be believe it is a failure of Modern
Orthodox education. They are not teaching women why our God given roles are more important that the cultural belief that egalitarianism trumps
all else. They are instead trying to accommodate it by nibbling at the edges of Halacha and tradition.
Which breeds hostility to tradition.
If we are ever going to change the thinking of the Modern Orthodox Jewish woman, the value of
God given roles to each and every one of us has to be emphasized while egalitarianism has to be put in its proper place.
Which as a value has its limits when it comes to the values of the Torah. I do not beleive that is being done. Or at least not done enough.
