JEWISH ORTHODOX FEMINIST
בס"ד
26 Elul
Yesterday I sat on our futon & made my first talit qatan - thanks to Danya - while watching "Half the Kingdom". Is that totally clich�d?
The following quote is from a speech Dr Norma Baumel Joseph presented at the world's first Jewish feminist conference (which planted the seeds for JOFA, Edah, International Coalition for Agunah Rights & Women of the Wall). I have made several attempts to write a statement of my own regarding my religio-political position within traditional Judaism, but Dr Joseph took the words right out of my mouth, 20 years ago:
I AM A JEW.
I am a believing & practicing Jew. & I choose to be an Orthodox Jew. I find challenge & conflict in my existence as a female Jew. Frequently I feel divided, as though parts of myself are in opposition: antithetical, contradictory, antagonistic, clashing, hostile. I wish to live as part of a community. I am often alone. The road has been difficult in ways I never expected. I knew the yeshivah world would not like me. I even knew I would be too feminist for the Jewish world. But when the feminist world finds me too Jewish, & when this Jewish feminist world finds me too religious...I find it too difficult.
Always an outsider, women have tried to re-direct me, or disempower me as frequently as men. & I reject it. & I reject their patronizing concept me as an Orthodox Jew. You don't know me because you can label me. You don't know my politics, nor my radical feminism, & you can not tell me that I'm not there yet.
Food for thought.
Shabbat Shalom.
posted by Soferet | 12:28:00 a.m.
![[ Registered ]](http://www.diarist.net/registry/button.gif){kind=small}
5 Comments:
Hi Aviel,
I appreciate this statement very much and i'm glad you shared it. I can write the exact same thing while replacing every occurance of "feminist" with "scientist" even though both would work. Even though I am not truly Orthodox YET, I have begun to feel the conflict. I'll ask you this: Is there a feminist/orthodox conflict within you? or is it an external conflict?
I don't get the cliche, Avielthough i'm sure it's obvious...{grin})
בס"ד
Hey there, Ev!
I feel both an internal & an external feminist/orthodox conflict within me. It's hard work, but I have faith that this process - sometimes a battle - is part of my path & will be worth the struggle in the long run.
Where are you at with your conflict?
Hi, Peter!
The cliche is that I was watching such a classic Jewish feminist film - possibly the first one (& your copy of it to boot) - while making myself what some would say a man's garb to perform a man's mitzvah & others would say is my acceptance of equality in being commanded to perform this mitzvah.
Did that make sense? I'm really tired :}
Yes, it does, Aviel.
בס"ד
Good :D
I'd better mail it back to you & Joyce, now that we've watched it...thank a lot for loaning it to us!
Post a Comment
<< Home