The Road to the 19th Knesset

Fellow Jerusalmite Esser Agorot has posted Haveil Havalim #382 - The Dual Elections Edition  in honor of the interest generated by the US elections and the Israel elections to be held Tuesday, January 22, 2013.
In Israel voters go behind a partition and choose a piece of paper with the letters of the party they wish to vote for and put that in an official envelope which they were given.  When all the votes are counted the seats in the Knesset are divided among the parties proportionally.  If your party received 10% of the votes then you would get 12 Knesset seats.
But how do you know which 12 party members get the seats?  Each party submits a list of 120 names of would-be Knesset members.  Then in the order they are on that list, they take seats in the Knesset so in our example names 1-12 on the list become Knesset members.  If one of these 12 should happen to resign (or falls as in \bottles of beer on the wall') then the 13th name takes her place.  So the order on the lists submitted to the election board really matters.

The Likud party has primaries and anyone who becomes a member of the party can vote (after 16 months membership).  My favorite candidate on the Likud's list is Tzipi Hotovely.  At age 33 she is finishing up her first term in the Knesset with an impressive record as the Chairwoman of the Knesset Committee on the Status of Women as well as  some other important committee membership.  She is firmly planted in the nationalist wing of the party of the current Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.  She is an eloquent proponent of many important family issues as well an advocate for strengthening Jewish  settlements all over the country.
This week I answered a call to help out in her office as the primaries in the Likud are November 22.  I got there and joined a group of young people in stuffing envelopes (!) with flyers extolling her achievements in the 18th Knesset to be sent out to Likud members who will be voting in the primaries.
That brought back memories of the last time I stuffed envelopes in an election campaign.  It was 1966 and Bobby Kennedy was running for Senator from New York.  I went to a midtown New York City office with some friends and we were put to work stuffing envelopes with campaign material.
It was in that same election that I spent a Friday afternoon with some high school friends accompanying the candidate from one department store parking lot to another supermarket parking lot where he took to the platform and made a short speech to the cheering crowd and shook hands with anyone willing to step up.  Our 'job' was to go on the bus and arrive at each venue before Kennedy and hand out campaign material and lead the cheering when he showed up.  We were a very enthusiastic group of teenagers and did our job with gusto.
I was having a good time and thinking how nifty democracy is.  Then someone from the campaign came on the bus and said that since we had done such a great job we were all invited to have a fish dinner with Kennedy his staff at a nearby restaurant.  Remember it was 1966 and Kennedy was a Catholic and it was Friday.  It would be very exciting and really something to remember.  But it was Friday and I had to get home to light Shabbat candles with my mother.   It was a sunny breezy fall afternoon and I remember as if it were this morning the thought that went through my head a I got off the bus and headed in the opposite direction to my family and home.  No matter how integrated I might feel, in the end I would always be an outsider.

Feminism

What really defines me? 

I'm working on a new banner since some of the photos in the present one are really outdated. (Some change faster than others!) I also noticed that the subtitle really needed to be updated. So I fixed that too. I chose seven words for what's really important in my life. 

I put feminism first. 

Little girls, growing girls, adolescent girls, women need to be able to view themselves positively and grow up expecting to be treated fairly in the workplace, in law, politics and leadership, in educational opportunities and in the workforce. We need to be comfortable with our femininity and our boundaries need to be respected. 

That means I'm for: 

• Equal pay for equal work and the corollary that women not be penalized or discriminated against because of child care issues. If we don't have a really good system of day care then we need to compensate for that with extended maternity/paternity leave or some other creative solution. Most of us can't be in two places at once. 
• Positive encouragement of women in leadership roles in business and government. I will not vote for a party which doesn't have women in prominent leadership roles. I want to see more women involved in running thing at all levels. 

And I am against: 

• Excluding women from any profession, employment or educational opportunity based on the fact they are women. I once inquired about a government sponsored course in computer maintenance and told by the clerk that he didn't think it was good for me since I might need to lift heavy computers. It didn't work out for other reasons. But really ?
• Using Misusing women (and children) in advertising. I am annoyed by the pollution of our public spaces and thoroughfares with suggestive and sometimes downright offensive portrayal of women and children. It troubles me when I see women and girls dressing in what I can only describe as degrading. 

What I'd like to see:

Women and men cooperating in making our world (for me that means starting right here in Israel) a safer and more stable place to live. One where women can be what and where they like and not be threatened or viewed as a threat. 

What I don't like to see: 

Man-bashing. It's counterproductive and gives us all a bad name. 

This post will (b'ezrat hashem, bli neder) be followed by others elaborating on the other defining words. 

Preparing for Tishrei

 I always feel empowered when I am surrounded crowds of Jews in Israel. How much more exciting can it get than two thousand Jewish women converging on the site where the woman who taught us all what prayer is all about. The  T'filat Hannah at Shilo featuring the Rabbanit Yemima Mizrahi was an excellent prelude to Rosh Hashana which is after all about reaffirming God as our king, doing tshuva (repentance, but the English lacks flavor) for our sins, recalling our past and praying for our future. The chapter of Hannah's prayer is read as the haftara on Rosh Hashana.
Rabbanit Yemima is an interesting phenomenon and this was my first direct encounter with her stand-up sermonizing. She is knowledgeable and well versed in sources and in between her jokes and impersonations she has deep and serious messages. She keeps the crowd interested and the time passes quickly. It was a moving experience and I was overcome by emotion by the time she had finished speaking and we had come to a moment of silent prayer. She challenged us to take the opportunity to single out three things on which to focus our prayers; one personal, one for another individual close to us and the third for Jewish people. It was an exercise in soul searching which I am still mulling over. Batya tells me that Rabbanit Yemima also gives talks in English but I wasn't able to find an example of this.


There are many fine programs here in Israel and everyone has something special going on leading up to the high holidays. My personal favorite shiur is a podcast from Yeshivat Har Etzion's KMTT (ki mitzion tezei torah) series given in April 2007 by Dr. Yael Ziegler which you can listen to here. Rabbanit Ziegler addresses what we associate with the Yom Kippur ceremony done in the Temple by the Cohen Gadol (high priest) of sending one goat away and sacrificing the second goat on the altar. In less than half an hour she teaches us how this ceremony, while associated with Yom Kippur is really a paradigm for the different kinds of tshuva required by different situations. She brings ideas from Rabbi Soloveitchik, Rav Kook, Rav Bruer and Talmudic sources tying it all to our patriarch Abraham's experiences with his two sons. On the first day of Rosh Hashana we read about how he must distance Yishmael from his household and on the second day we read of his taking Yitzhak to be bound before God as a sacrifice on Mt. Moriah. This parallels the two goats, one driven away and the other brought before God. [The word קרבן translated as sacrifice in English actually reflects the Hebrew root krv which means closeness.] These two actions can be related two ways of viewing tshuva. One is by distancing the bad deeds and inclinations from ourselves and the other by harnessing the energies and using them to become closer to God and to the person we want to be. Each way is appropriate in certain situations and probably totally out of place in others.


You should really listen to Rabbanit Ziegler because she says it much better than I do. You can find more of Dr. Ziegler at Matan an institute for women's Torah studies in Jerusalem, where she teaches.

And if you're still with me here's something to help me wish you all a happy and sweet new year!

Preparing for the New Year!

Like my sisters and brothers around the world I am busy getting ready for the upcoming Rosh Hashana holiday. This year the New Year begins on Wednesday night and on Thursday and Friday we gather in our synagogues to hear the shofar blown. Then without any further ado we go right into Shabbat. All this heralds a marathon of eats and on Rosh Hashana we go all out with symbolic foods signifying all the good things we wish for ourselves and our community in the coming year. For a thoughtful discussion of these symbolic foods you should read this post by The Rebbitzin's Husband . You might also be interested in this post of Leora's about the symbolic foods. 

While we're on the subject of cooking for this amazing holiday let me remind you to take a look at the Tishrei edition of the Kosher Cooking Carnival at Cooking Outside the Box a delightful blog with lots of interesting ideas while the Elul edition of the Kosher Cooking Carnival is up over at Me-ander . 

Batya Medad

Rabbanit Yemima intoduced by Tzofia Dorot

 And speaking of Batya, my favorite Shilo resident, I had a lovely experience at Tel Shilo  where both she and I attended the Tfilat Hannah and heard the inspirational Rabbanit Yemima Mizrahi. I hope to write separately about this moving experience.  She was followed by concert given by Leah Shabbat and Tal Bril.
The event was organized by Ancient Shilo which runs tours of the archaeological dig at the site where the Tabernacle stood. Besides Batya I also ran into a very good looking reservist who was called up especially to guard us and the approximately two thousand other women and young girls who attended this event. This particular reservist also worked as a guide at this site when he lived in the nearby settlement Eli. He also happens to be my son. How thoughtful of the army. 

Reservist Shayke Tzohar 

A Meaningful Fast

It would have been nicer if we didn't have to fast on Tisha B'Av this year. But since we did not merit the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem we fasted and mourned the destruction of the first two temples.
This year I had some very meaningful experiences which I'd like to share.
On the night of Tisha B'Av we gather in our synagogues for the ma'ariv (evening) prayer and read the scroll of Eicha (Lamentations). This year I participated in a special reading done by women. It was followed by a program which included reading the Kinot (poems of mourning) with a view to better understanding them. The program moved on to learning other literature relevant to the destruction interspersed with our singing solemn songs a capella. It was a very moving experience.
In the morning I went to my regular synagogue where we had the usual morning service followed by reading the Kinot with historic and contextual explanations by our own Rabbi Aryeh Frimer. That was followed by a lesson about the legend recounted in the Talmud of Kamtza and Bar Kamtza given by another member of our congregation.
Marking Tisha B'Av is not easy for us today. On the simplest level we are talking about events which took place thousands of years ago. It's hard to keep up the sense of loss over so many years. Of course, it wasn't just a building that was destroyed, it was the entire way of life of the Jewish people in their land and their religious observance. It was the start of the exile which has still not come to an end. Over the years Tisha B'Av has become the day for mourning many other serious tragedies which have befallen the Jews all the way from the Crusades through the Holocaust. So while it is not difficult to relate to mourning historically it is a challenge to make it personal.
Experiences like the ones I had this year make the day much more meaningful. And here lies another paradox. Jewish mourning rules do not permit learning Torah because we love it and it brings us comfort. For this reason on Tisha B'Av we are permitted to study only 'bad' things (i.e. about the destruction) or nothing at all. So if I have a sense of satisfaction because I have come closer to understanding the tragedy that is Tisha B'Av is that good or bad?
My hope and prayer is that next year I won't have to deal with these questions.

International Wormen's Day - We Could Be Doing A Lot Better!

Hannah Katsman brought a few quotes from  an interview with Tzipi Hotovely in HaAretz over at A Mother in Israel along with a reaction by Elana Stzockman. 

The interview is the of the genre we've been seeing for the past few days leading up ti Internation Women's Day. You know, that day when at work they give you a rose and the  the newspapers and radio (probably TV too) are busy hurling statistics at us. So we've heard this week that over more than a century of  Zionist civilization women in Israel are living longer than men but earning less (here). It's painfully obvious that although women have had the vote from just about the start of the Zionist movement there are still only 23 women in our 120 member Knesset. And on the managerial fron: of 4,820 positions on corporate directorates in Israel 590 are women (more statistics here in Hebrew).
So, Ha'Aretz asks the 32 year old Rehovot resident Knesset member Tzipi Hotovely if she has come up against a glass ceiling. Well, they may have found the one of the very few women around who hasn't (yet) hit the glass ceiling. The young legislator also says that when she has a family of her own it will be necessary to set different priorities where her career is concerned. This really enrages Stzockman who calls Hotovely naive and condescending and ignores a lot of important bills she and others have introduced to ensure quality daycare and more reasonable maternity benefits. I would send her over to read Avirama Golan's brilliant description of a 33 year old pregnant woman getting ready to join the ranks of those "combining a career and family" in Israel:

"This nasty phrase is the front for an entire system of social codes, all of which demand the young woman be an exemplary mother who will nurse her baby, take him to all the developmental groups, and swimming and yoga classes; that she be an excellent cook and a sweet wife; but also that she keep her trim figure by taking exercise classes, and give off an aura of sexiness (but not too much, of course ) and charm - and all of this without losing the momentum of her success at work." 

and concludes 

"Instead of a holiday, could we perhaps just have a little rest?" 

 We have a long way to go. We need to make it possible for women with young children to work outside their homes and earn more than it costs to keep their children in daycare. We need to recognize that professions like teaching and social work deserve compensation that equals hi-tech, advertising and engineering, and that keeping society educated and stable is at least as important as keeping the electricity flowing.

"New" Halachic Ruling by Rav Ovadia Yosef on Women Saying Kaddish

The grandson of Rav Ovadia Yosef, who was the Chief Rabbi of Israel from 1983-1993, maintains a website where he records halachic rulings (psak) that he learns from him grandfather at the Yeshiva 'Yachveh De'ah' in Jerusalem. It was pointed out to me that there is a ruling involving a woman sitting shiva whose parent died and there is no son to say kaddish. Rav Ovadia rules (here in Hebrew) that she may say kaddish when ten men are assembled for prayer or learning (the times when a man would be saying kaddish in this situation).
(You can read about this psak - with a short excerpt translated at the Vos Is Neias site.)
Although the practice of women saying kaddish is referred to historically it still is not universally accepted practice. It is interesting that the custom is becoming accepted in many synagogues as well. (Rav Ovadia specifically does not allow the practice in synagogue - but only in a private home.) Rabbi Hershel Schachter of Yeshiva University in a very encompassing lecture available at the YU Torah Online site  "Halacha and Modern Family" states that the merit of saying kaddish in memory of a parent is specific to the children of that parent.Rabbi Schachter tells us that the deceased is judged not only by his own deeds but by the legacy s/he leaves behind in the world. The deceased direct descendants therefore show their devotion to mitzvot by saying kaddish and doing other mitzvot in their memory over the period of mourning. The yahrtzeit is considered a date when not only the judgement of soul of the deceased is reviewed in heaven but also the actions of their children and grandchildren are scrutinized. He brings up the practice of asking someone who is not a relative say kaddish in the case say where there are no sons to do so. He says that some women are not comfortable saying kaddish in shul so they might ask someone else to say kaddish for their parent. But the direction that he is taking is definitely that in terms of the effect on the parents soul in heaven it is well served if she herself says the kaddish. In the shul where I go, women do say kaddish (along with the men) and it is satisfying to see that this is becoming more widely accepted.
In poking around on Rav Ovadia's halacha site I found this psak in English this time relating to women saying the HaGomel blessing upon being saved from some catastrophe or recovering from an illness. He maintains that the women can and should recite this blessing in the synagogue with ten men answering amen.

Song Worth 1,000 words!

I've got to admit that US President Obama and his Secretary of State Clinton's  reaction to the 'student unrest' in Egypt came across to us ex-pats here in Rehovot (representative sample of 2, me & David) as being only randomly tangential with reality. It was a flower children view of 'protest' conjuring up Pete Seeger-esque scenes. Sandy Cash, who is maybe a tad young to remember the sixties has captured the spirit of our response in this lovely ditty she posted on Youtube.
Apropos Sandy here's a personal favorite of mine.(non-political) Enjoy!

Two Rabbis, A Rebbitizin, A Rabba and Rabbanit and one more Rabbanit

http://www.kesher.org/centennial/events/WomenFutureofJudaism.shtml

Orthodoxy at a Turning Point: A National Conversation

Panel #2: Women and the Future of Judaism

Moderated by Rebbetzin Sharon Freundel

Distinguished Guest Panel:

Rabbi Dr. Aryeh Frimer, Rabbanit Chana Henkin, Rabba Sara Hurwitz, Rabbi Daniel Sperber

I'd like to recommend watching or listening to this discussion (and the two that proceeded it are definitely worth listening to as well here)
The discussion explores the how the expanding educational opportunities for women in the Orthodox world effect the role of women in the community and in the synagogue. I could have listened to these people for another few hours but the discussion was well planned and the moderator (the Rebbitizin) did a very good job of keeping it going. It also helps that the panelists are articulate and committed to their points of view as well as sincere. Although they do not agree this was not a debate and the general tone was that they are all trying their best to be loyal to the Orthodox traditions while acknowledging the changes that are taking place. Rabbi Aryeh Frimmer, as he himself points out "has been in this business since 1972" and has written major articles and given hundreds of lectures on the subject. He has seen himself go from the being among the only Rabbis seriously discussing change to the right-winger on this panel.
It's easy to loose track of what has happened in this area since the seventies. A discussion like this one was  impossible in those years because the questions just hadn't even been addressed. But many of the issues that Rabbi Frimmer addressed over those years have become in his words "non-issues". Take for example the fact that in many Orthodox synagogues women are saying kaddish.
Look at higher Torah studies for women. Rabbanit Henkin's program training Yoatzot Halacha would have been out of the question as recently as 50 years ago. Not only are these women learning Talmud on a high level but they are applying what they learn and women are listening to them. All this was accomplished by steady hard work and serious learning by dedicated students and teachers with a commitment to Torah and a constructive attitude.
Rabbi Sperber's position is more far-reaching and has not become as accepted yet. Although he advocates giving women a more active role in the ritual we have yet to see the Orthodox mainstream adopting this. Rebbi Frimmer is against it on halachic grounds and Rabbanit Henkin gives the impression that now is not the time for it although she is not outright against it. My feeling is it just won't happen, not for a while anyway.
Rabba Sara Hurwitz is the youngest member of the group and this actually put her at a bit of a disadvantage. Rabba Hurwitz is serving in a communal position in an Orthodox synagogue in New York City after being ordained by Rabbi Avi Weiss. There has been a lot of controversy over this step and I confess that I am not convinced. I do not understand what her role is meant to be or what theYeshivat Maharat of which she is the dean is actually intending to do. It seems the idea is to develop Orthodox feminine leadership. Now, that is a good thing, but I don't understand their model. Perhaps it is unfair to compare her with the other three panelists because this is just the beginning but her presentation here didn't convince me that this a constructive path to be following.
All in all, this is an important discussion and it is encouraging to see that we have such learned and talented women and men in our generation. Rabbanit Henkin hit the nail on the head when she pointed out that our goal should be to enhance the observance of Torah and take advantage of the talents of women. Amen!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

historical footnote

As to the title "Rabba" I really can't see the point. There seems to be a lot of energy going to waste on this subject. I'd just like to make an aside here. Some of you may know that I have been helping to transcribe The Montefiore Censuses which are the best 19th century records of the Jews who lived in Eretz Israel. (The Turks didn't really keep records.) The list that I just finished working on is the Kollel Vohlyn listing for 1866. These are Hassidim from what is now the Ukraine who settled in Jerusalem. There are folks on this list from Bratislav  an Berditchev among other Hassidic towns. The census was done so that Sir Moses Montefiore could get an idea of how many people there were and how much financial help they needed. The lists are interesting in that besides names there is some information about age and vocations. Almost none of the men on my list were listed with a title. One was listed as Rabbi. There is a list of widows  and on that list is Hannah Rachel of Ludmir otherwise known as the "Maid of Ludmir" who functioned as a Hassidic Rebbe. She had her own synagogue where her Hassidic followers prayed and she prayed in a adjoining room. On Shabbat afternoon she would speak from her room giving them divrei Torah. What is amazing is that she is the only other person on the list to have a title listed and that title is Rabbanit!

Rabbanit Rachel Hannah, from Ludmhr, age 60, 3 years in Eretz Israel

Creativity in the face of challenge

Raise Your Spirits Theatre is a community theater group in Gush Etzion founded by Sharon Katz and Toby Klein Greenwald. The group puts on shows which involve many women in the planning, production and performance. Any profits are channeled toward helping victims of terror, families in need, emergency medical equipment and other needs.                                                                                   

"In 2001, amidst an atmosphere of grief and terror,a group of women in Gush Etzion joined together to the raise spirits of their community and all of Israel. Rather than succumb to the depression caused by daily terror attacks, they decided to start a project that would give them a positive outlet and something wonderful to look forward to. They decided to put on a show. The rest, as they say, is history. (from their website)"

Orthodox Jewish women don't have a lot outlets for their creativity if they are talented in the performing arts. But in the last generation there have been some serious efforts to encourage more opportunities. Emunah Teachers College in Jerusalem has a drama department and Orot Israel College in Elkana has a dance department. The graduates of these programs have been working in girls schools around the country setting up classes and in some cases departments where the girls of the religious Zionist community can learn, practice and perform.
The Raise Your Spirits group is different. This group is a group of everywomen or at least a nice cross-section of ages and interests. Some families even had three generations participating.
The book of Judges שופטים is the story of the early years after the Jews entered the Land of Israel and is about their struggle to conquer and rule the land. After Joshua's time there was a lack of central leadership and ups and downs regarding faith and unity among the people of Israel. Many see parallels to our situation today.
The Song of Devora is an upbeat story of charismatic leadership, faith and inspiration. The writers Toby Klein Greenwald and Yael Valier reach out and ignite our imaginations and the music by Mitch Clyman makes you want to get up and dance. Speaking of dance Sara Orenstein is an honors graduate of the Orot Israel dance and education program and did a fantastic job.
The performance is a patchwork of scenes which set the background to the story and then introduce each character center stage all leading to the great confrontation. The performers, some have professional training but most are just regular folks, carry this off beautifully. All through the show, besides performing admirably they show us that they are not just individual performers but a cohesive unit and most of all they seem to be having a really good time.
After all the finales we were asked to stand for Hatikvah and Ani Ma'amin. The auditorium at the community center in Gush Etzion became a very intimate place as the dozens of players and production helpers who were on stage face the scores of women in the audience and sang together. In those moments you could feel the unity and faith that is the common denominator for all of us there. It was very very special and I hope to see more of these moments.

Rosh Chodesh Kislev

Women's Prayers at Tel Shiloh

Sunday, November 7 · 9:30am - 10:30am

There will also be a Dvar Torah

תפילת נשים

ראש חודש כסלו

תל שילה

יום א' ל' חשון

7-11 9:30

יהיה דבר תורה, בע"ה

Rosh Chodesh is a special day for women. Our sages tell us that at the time of the sin of the golden calf the women did not actively participate. 

ונתן להם הקב"ה שכרן בעולם הזה - שהן משמרות ראשי חודשים יותר מן האנשים 

ונתן להן שכר לעולם הבא - שהן עתידות להתחדש כמו ראשי חודשים  פרקי דרבי אליעזר

God gave them their reward in this world - they mark Rosh Chodesh more than the men.
And he gave them their reward in the world to come - they will renew themselves as does the new moon.

Pirkei  D'rabbe Eliezer

Join us on Sunday at Tel Shiloh where we will be singing our Hallel together and sharing divrei Torah 

What Women CAN do!

RivkA bat Yeshaya of Coffee and Chemo was a longtime member of the Shirat Sara a women's tefilla group which meets regularly in Jerusalem. This is a post on a subject I began writing a few times since Simchat Tora and now I dedicate it to her memory. 

It has been established that men and women should be separated during the rituals and worship.

Gender separation is a defining characteristic of the Orthodox synagogue, especially as this became a hotly contested issue in the US in the middle of the Twentieth Century. The Talmudic source is Sukkah 51b  which tells of the Simchat Beit Hasho’eva in Temple times. While men and women were in separate sections, this proved inadequate to maintain decorum during this festive occasion, and it was decided to build a balcony for the women. It is fairly remarkable that the authorities of the time changed the design of the Temple, since it was designed by the Architect of architects, but that shows how serious the issue was. In an open letter Rabbi Soloveitchik described the fundamental importance of gender separation in synagogue. He said that separation is biblically required, while the mechitza is rabbinic.(more discussion here)

(As a child I remember commercials for "the family that prays together, stays together" which it turns out was a commercial for Catholics - who knew?) Clearly this did not apply to Orthodox Jews. Even in shuls where there was mixed seating the women were just there, alongside but not participating.

In the 70's that began to change..In the Reform movement Hebrew Union College admitted a woman to its rabbinical ordinations program. Some Conservative synagogues began giving aliyot to couples (the woman accompanied the man when he blessed the Torah). In the Orthodox community we began examining the possibilities.

One avenue was to separate and set up a minyan  (quorum of 10 required for public prayer) for women. On closer examination we found that ten women (or 100 or 1,000) don't make a minyan. But still maybe there were ways we could remain within Orthodoxy and still have more participation.

Reading Megillat Esther (Book of Esther) turns out to be something that women have an equal obligation and according to most can read the megilla and recite its blessings. (See "Women's Megilla Reading" by Rabbi Aryeh A. Frimmer here.) These readings are especially delightful for me and I attend them whenever I can. Here in Rehovot we have one in the morning at our synagogue and I know of several other places  where women read the Megilla. This has become a very widespread practice in certain circles in Israel. RivkA organized , participated in and taught her daughter to read Megillat Esther.

Sara Friedlander Ben-Arza, a poet, editor and lecuter in the field of  chasidut, midrash, piyut and music wrote an eloquent article in the Succot edition of Hebrew newspaper 'Makor Rishon' about the Shirat Sara women's prayer group of which she is a member. (Unfortunately the article is not online.) The group was organized to celebrate the Shabbat Kallah (Shabbat before the wedding) of a woman around 16 years ago and later was named in memory Sara Rachel Duker one of the participants who was later killed in a Jerusalem bus bombing. The group meets at intervals of five to six weeks. The women sit in a semi-circle and sing the prayers together. They sing the parts they would be saying if they were praying individually but not the parts that require a minyan which would turn the service into t'fila b'tzibur (public prayer). The Torah portion is read from the Torah scroll. As each woman is called up they recite a verse in lieu of the Torah blessing and another one at the conclusion of the section. The service includes lessons in Torah and Jewish law as well. Sara Ben-Arza points out that the young girls who attend these services are growing up with the expectation that they to will take their place next to their mothers and make this a tradition. See RivkA's proud post about her daughter's Bat Mitzvah here.

I participated in a service at Shirat Sara and it was a wonderful experience. It is not a mimicking of a 'real' service but something else. It is uniquely feminine and you can feel the effort, preparation and love that goes into making this so special.  Ben-Arza's article describes how the group deals with the halachic issues. This search for alternatives then brings the women a deeper study and understanding of the prayers and the solutions are just that much more meaningful because of this confrontation.

I like the Shirat Sara model. If I lived in Jerusalem I would be there often. There is a lot of preparation that goes into the Torah readings and it will be a long time before we have enough women who can deal with that kind of preparation on a wide basis. Here in Rehovot there have been a few Bat Mitzvah celebrations where the young lady prepared the Torah reading and her friends and family came and a service was held. It is, of course exciting and uplifting to participate in these services as well. But it does not come close to a group that meets at regular intervals.

But there is a tension between the two worlds that the women live in. The group doesn't meet every week because they want to stay connected to their community and family. This way most of the time they are part of the general community and on these special weeks they are part of their own special women's community. One of the wormen put it this way:: "On the other Shabatot I pray in a regular synagogue. There I am not an integral part of the community prayer experience. In that setting which halahically is tefilla b'tzibur (public prayer) I feel as if I am praying as an individual. But at the women's prayer service  which is not technically deemed t'fila b'tzibur  I feel the experience of participating. In the women's service I am the community. My absence would be noticed."

With the passing of RivkA these remarks take on another meaning. RivkA personified the modern Orthodox Jewess taking the tradition building on it to include our womanly connection. Her absence will most certainly be noticed.

RivkA bat Yeshaya
רבקה בת ישעיה
יהי זכרה ברוך

Stay OUT of my hair!

A Mother In Israel linked to this opinion in the Jerusalem Post and both are about 'objectifying women'. The gist of it is that the treatment of women in the public space is taken to extremes by two separate and diametrically opposed forces in Israel's society. On the one hand the charedim  would like women to just disappear, stay out of their face, so to speak. On the other side is the unabashed unrestrained exploitation of women, young girls and children in advertising on billboards, buildings, bus stops and other venues that can not be ignored. Like it or not, we are confronted by skinny come-hither females in provocative poses meant to grab our attention and focus it on some commercial product. Often I have nothing against the product, but the message about and to women and girls that comes through is objectionable and often disgusting.

Jews on the street in Tzfat

So instead of being able to just be out on the street and go about my business I am forced to be conscious of both these forces, the ones that exploit femininity and the ones who would just want it to go away. Aaargh!
The other day I was walking with my husband in a little southern town we frequently visit when we were approached by a leader of a Hassidic group associated with outreach who began asking us where we were from because we were speaking English to each other. After some chatty back and forth with David the guy asked him if he could ask him a 'personal' question. The question was if 'your wife' (I was standing there) had ever worn a sheitl (wig) and continued with the admonition that he encourage me to do so as my present hair covering is insufficient and 'everyone' knows that all the 'gedolim' (great rabbis) agree that the wig is the most modest hair covering. At that point I walked away leaving David to argue that many many contemporary rabbis do not consider wigs modest at all, blah, blah, blah and the black suit/hat guy blah, blah, blah back at him.
You'd think a person could just walk down the street and mind their own business?
You would be wrong. .

Reaching for the Stars or Slippery Slope?

This is one of a series of posts I have been wanting to write for a long time!
If you think 'Orthodox Jewish Feminist' is an oxymoron you are in good company. Still, I'd like to make the case for an Orthodox Jewish acceptance of Torah and mitzvot which takes into account the changing role of women in the modern world.
The feminism of the 21st century is not the hysterical outcry of the 1970's with its bra-burning and motherhood rejection and man-hating/baiting. What we are looking for today is the recognition that woman can be judged on their merits and not limited in their opportunities because of their gender. A woman should be able to develop her true potential and be paid equal pay for equal work. This view is widely accepted in academia now and in there is growing acceptance of women in the business world as well. It's about being able to be in a room and be taken seriously and not treated as a decoration. It's about recognizing that sexual harassment in the workplace is not acceptable behavior.

Orthodox Judaism, on the face of it, seems to be sending us a very different message. Adult Jewish women are exempt from many mitzvot (time bound positive commandments such as tfilin and tzizit) and as result of the different level of obligation we are not counted for a minyan and can't be called to bless the Torah. Separation between the sexes is required during services and so in addition to not actively participating the women sit in the balcony or behind a wall or curtain. Dress codes require us to cover up arms, legs, collarbones and for married women even our hair. Formal Jewish education (in a school) for girls is less than a century old.
So, what can we do if some of this makes us feel that there is an imbalance between the way we see ourselves in the modern context and the way we want to express our commitment to Judaism and halacha. Some women just 'leave it to the men' keeping all the negative commandments which include keeping Shabbat, kashrut and leaving the synagogue and Torah study to the men. Many Orthodox Jewish women who take this path  have rich professional lives but remain on the sidelines of Torah study and public prayer.
One very positive change that has taken place over the past generation is the acceptance and encouragement of higher Jewish learning for women in an Orthodox setting. The well loved and respected Nehama Leibowitz  brought the study of the written Torah to great heights and is revered in the Orthodox community both here in Israel and in the diaspora. But her base was in the University and although she brought the values of the beit midrash to the university it did not make the university an option for the study of Torah.
Today we have women's institutions like Matan, Nishmat, Middreshet Lindenbaum where women study and teach Torah on the highest levels. These midrashot have produced a cadre of learned women who have become, in addition to excellent teachers, toanot (counsels who can represent clients in divorce cases heard before rabbincal courts) and yoatzot (advisors regarding hilchot nidda - mikveh family purity and women's health issues). The women who initiate and maintain these illustrious institutions are learned Orthodox Jewish women. They have no formal title which reflects their learning achievements and they are not recognized by any religious distinction.
You can find a lot of discussion back and forth about the move made by Rabbi Avi Weiss of Riverdale NY in granting smicha (ordination?) to a woman and calling her first MaHaRat and then Rabba and what that will do the future of Orthodox Judaism. (See about 20 posts and innumerable comments on Hirhurim; Rabbi Riskin here; Rabbi Herschel Schachter here and many many more.) In Israel, for now anyway, we have not come to this and I don't think it will happen soon. For one thing a rabbi here doesn't have the same communal position (for better and some might say for worse) as a shul rabbi in the US. Having the title just doesn't lead to the same career opportunities.
Make no mistake about it when Rabbanit Malka Piotorkovsky, Rabbanit Oshra Koren, Rabbanit Channa Henkin, Rabbanit Malka Bina and so many others teach us we call them Rabbanit  not because of their husband's titles but because of their own achievements. These women have become our spiritual leaders.

Women, Rabbis, History - 5771 is going to be an interesting year!

Reform Rabbi Frume Sarah has done a lovely job of Havail Havalim #285 called Back to the Beginning.
And yes, this has been a week of so many beginnings that I had to pick a few to begin this week and few will have to wait till next week. Oh well, happy 'after the chagim' to everyone!

My 5771 beginnings: 
Monday evening we returned to our regular women's gemara class at my synagogue led by our amazing teacher Nahum who demystifies (did I just invent that word?) the world of the Talmud and helps us as we slowly but hopefully steadily improve our Aramaic and learn to analyze the gemara's logic.We are learning Brachot. (This dvar Torah is from the siyyum of the first chapter.)

Tuesday morning I went to the first class of the year at the new women's beit midrash (literally: study house) appropriately named Bina Yetaira (literally: greater wisdom*). The class is given by Rabbanit Malka Piotrkovsky is entitled "The wisdom of the sages - selected studies of educational philosophical halachic issues taken from oral Torah sources". The first topic was women and Rosh Chodesh (the new month). Rosh Chodesh is considered a special day for women and we followed the discussion about how the women marked this day and why. We read from the Talmud, midrash and halachic sources. Her teaching style is very interactive and there was never a dull moment.  There were about 50 women there from many different cultural backgrounds and some of them shared the special Rosh Chodesh customs of their mothers and grandmothers. There are many women in Rehovot who are interested in expanding their knowledge of Jewish sources and it is gratifying to see that the demand is being taken seriously. Kudos to the Amit women's organization and the Rehovot municipality  for sponsoring this program.  It was an amazing learning experience and I look forward to participating in this class.

Tuesday evening (in between I did go to work) I went to see the first play in this year's series subscription that I share with my friend Yael (6 plays that are fixed and 1 which you get to chose out of 4 possibilities). I like the subscription idea for several reasons. One is that it's cheaper than buying individual tickets. The second is that it exposes you to plays you might not choose yourself either because they are by new or obscure writers or because you just are not familiar with them and besides I would never be organized enough to find out about and buy tickets to seven plays in one year. The play was Arthur Miller's A View From The Bridge. I will write more about that soon.
Wednesday morning found me at orientation for the transcription and digitization of Sir Moses Montifiore's censuses of Jewish communities in the land of Israel and Egypt and Sidon. I already participated in this project for the censuses of 1855 and 1849 and we are now doing 1866 and 1875. I find it exciting to deal with these real life lists of people who returned to Zion and see where they came from and what they were doing. On Sunday night I missed a celebration of the launch of the online census searchable database in which we volunteers were given certificates honoring our part in the project. I was given my certificate this morning. And here is my name in the credits on the site (my 15 minutes of fame?).

*The Torah says (Braishis 2:22) that G-d created Eve from the body of Adam. The term used is "vayiven", from the verb bonoh, "and He built". The rabbis had an oral tradition that this verb "vayiven" has an additional level of interpretation, from the root "binah". "Binah yeseirah" was given to women more so than to men. Women mature intellectually at an earlier age than men; therefore girls should become bat mitzvah at age twelve, while boys only attain their intellectual maturity at age thirteen (Talmud Niddah 45b) (from here).

WWW = Wonderful Women on the Web

rutimizrachi  of Ki Yachol Nuchal! has put together a Carnival of jbloggers who have banded together and formed Kehila the brainchild of Eric at The Israel Situation. She has put together a lovely collection of blog posts decorated by lovely pictures of food  fruits and flowers. 

Batya at me-ander has posted the 58th (tfu, tfu, tfu) Kosher Cooking Carnival  which she calls "Carnival for the Hungry" because she wrote it on Tzom Gedalya. It should be appropriate for Saturday night when we finish our fast of Yom Kippur. 

And speaking of Yom Kippur Adventures in Mamaland found this here a sign of the times that shouldn't need any explanation. 

Here's wishing everyone a G'mar Chatima Tova and a meaningful fast

גמר חתימה טובה

Women and Prayers

On Rosh Hashana one of the readings we have is of the very invention of prayer as a Jewish form. This is the story of the childless Hannah who sits outside the Tabernacle at Shiloh (the temporary forerunner of the Temple later built on Mt. Moriah in Jerusalem) and prays to G-d to let her have a child of her own. She vows to return him to the Tabernacle at age three to serve G-d, if only she could bear a child. Hannah not only invented prayer but the sages learn the rules of prayer from this first chapter of the book of Samuel. 

Without the development of prayer as a means of coming before G-d and establishing a communicative relationship God, Judaism would have been at a loss to replace the sacrifices in the Temple as a unifying expression of devotion to G-d  after the destruction of the Temple. While the Torah gives us very specific instructions for bringing sacrifices in the Temple it was left to Hannah and after her the sages who applied her model to define and refine the act of praying. 

This evening I attended a presentation by three very talented women using the model of mothers' prayers to inspire us to a more meaningful experience during these days between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. Rabbanit Pnina Neuwirth gave an inspiring talk about the prayers we encounter in the bible including Hannah and Rachel's prayers for fertility and the various views of what constitutes prayer and why G-d needs to hear our prayers. The amazing singer Hagit Kfir accompanied by her daughter Hila on the guitar sang which emphasized and illustrated (can you say that about a song?) the points that Neuwirth made.

The clip below is of Hagit Kfir singing with another woman Adi Arad singing Ana Bekoach. The melody is by Ovadia Hamama . 

The words in transliteration and English translation can be found here. The prayer is recited just before the L'cha Dodi prayer which welcomes the Sabbath on Friday night and on the high holidays. It's theme is beseeching G-d to hear our prayers and help us. The prayer is very old and written with a great deal of mystical allusion.

Here is a short clip showing Hagit Kfir and Rabbanit Neuwirth in a similar presentation.


Gmar Chatima Tova  גמר חתימה טובה 
May we all be inscribed in the book of life. 

From Generation to Generation

Happy Birthday Mom!!! 
April 9, 1925 was the night of the (first) seder and also the night my mother was born! 


This year David and I were privileged to be at the first seder led by our son  in Mitzpe Ramon. It was an evening of great joy and satisfaction because more than any other holiday Pesach (Passover) stresses the importance of passing on our traditions from one generation to the next. I watched as my son worked hard at making the seder an enjoyable lesson as well as a showcase for his kids to show off what they had prepared in school and kindergarten. How well I remember the first time I recited 'ma nishtana' (in Hebrew and Yiddish, so actually I was the only one who didn't really understand what I was saying). So, now I have participated in seders led by my grandfathers and  my father and prepared by my mother, seders of our own doing here in Israel and now we have the joy of seeing our traditions passed on and enhanced by our own children. It is a great 'nachess' moment. 


My mother's generation, born in the freedom of the US was faced with the challenge  carrying on the traditions of their parents (see here) and taking advantage of the opportunities that America offered. I am proud that my mom was able to do both, and do them both well! Growing up in the difficult years of the great depression she took family responsibility seriously and worked and studied hard all her life. She was determined that we keep our traditions and learn as much about them as possible. She and my father whose 10th yahtzeit we marked erev Pesach were determined that both my brother and I get the best Jewish education. I am very grateful that they didn't listen to the 'wisdom' that it important to give the day school education to the boy, but the girl didn't really need...


In my mom's honor I would like to answer TrilCat's niece's Bat Mitzva project survey

Sabbath Candle Survey

• 
  

  When did you start lighting candles for the Sabbath?

  I think when I was about three, I started making the blessing over the candles with my mom. We always lit the candles together and sang the bracha out loud. 
• 
  

  What made you start lighting them?

  She noticed that I would mimic her by putting something on my head and covering my eyes. She began to sing the bracha out loud (to the tune used for lighting the chanuka candles). 
• 
  

  Do you light candles every week? If so, what makes you keep lighting them each week?

  Yes, I light candles every week. It is my earliest connection with Judaism and the one I identify with most. 
• 
  

  Do you have any special traditions related to lighting the candles (e.g., my husband always gets them ready, I cover my hair, etc.)? If so, what?

  I always put a scarf on when I lit candles, even as a little girl. My mother told me that candle lighting time was a special moment for connecting to God and should be used for important wishes.
• 
  

  How do you feel after you have lit the candles?

  I usually feel tired and happy to have reached Shabbat once again.
• 
  

  Are you the first generation in your family that lights candles for the Sabbath?

  No, I am part of a long chain of Jewish women who lit and light candles for Shabbat. 
• 
  

  Do you have any memories to share from previous generations?

  My father's mother did not cover her eyes when she lit candles she blocked her sight of the flames by  spreading her fingers the way the cohen (priest) does for the blessings. Her father was a cohen.
• 
  

  Is it important for you that your daughters light candles for the Sabbath?

  Of course.
• 
  

  How meaningful do you feel it is to you to light candles for the Sabbath and why?

  All mitzvot are meaningful because they represent the way we practice and apply the laws we have from the Torah. Lighting the candles mark the end of the preparations for the Shabbat the culmination of the six days we have worked and the beginning of the day when we remember and mark Hashem's resting, looking around, taking stock and pride in what he created and hope to be worthy of it all. 

Shabbat Shalom!