Feminism and General Zini

Shin Bet head, Major General David Zini (TOI)

Anyone who thinks that the culture war pitting progressive values against biblical values has not reached Israel would be sorely mistaken. I would even argue that the Israeli left often tries to outdo the left in Western democracies to show  just how non-biblical its values are. That may help explain why the very secular Tel Aviv is often described as the most gay-friendly city in the civilized world.

One of the movements that drives the culture war is feminism. Without getting into excessive detail, contemporary feminist values tend be progressive. And tend to look askance at any restrictions governing relations between men and women. Even if they are biblically based. Their primary concern is total equality between men and women. Regardless of what biblically based laws say. In that vein, physical differences between the sexes are often ignored or treated as nonexistent, regardless of the biological reality of human sexuality.

As this attitude plays out in our time, it has serious consequences for religious Jews who follow those biblically based laws. The bible recognizes the nature of human sexual attraction. And therefore dictates laws regarding behavior between the sexes. Upon which the Sages added additional safeguards in order to prevent lustful desires from overwhelming us. The idea is that the best way to avoid immoral conduct is to establish a system of behavior between the sexes that minimizes physical contact. The popular expression for this is Shomer Negiah - guarding against physical contact with the opposite sex.

There is, in fact, a dispute about how far one must go to avoid physical contact with the opposite sex  between two commentators on the Shulchan Aruch (Even HaEzer 21:1). The Chelkas Mechokek rules that any physical contact at all is forbidden, regardless of whether it is platonic or secular in nature. He considers intent or desire irrelevant and forbids all male-female physical contact.

The Beis Meir, by contrast, rules that as long as the physical contact is entirely platonic, it is entirely permitted. This dispute remains unresolved to this day, and depending on which Orthodox community one belongs to, one will find different approaches. Some stringent (Chasidim). Some lenient (Modern Orthodox and Torah Im Derech Eretz adherents). And some being stringent except when it might embarrass someone and then they are lenient (the Lithuanian Yeshiva world).

This is one area in the culture war where feminists and religious Jews collide. As they did in Israel... 

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