THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Friday, June 24, 1983 11 The Continuing Debate on Judaism and Women's Rights By TRUDE WEISS-ROSMARIN LOS ANGELES — The controversy over admitting women as students for the Conservative rabbinate and/or members of the Con- servative Rabbinical As- sembly pales in importance as long as Jewish women are being denied basic civil rights on the authority of Halakha — talmudic- rabbinic law. According to Halakha, women can neither vote nor be voted for, although there is no objection if they choose to form their own women's groups and/or a women's minyan. This has been an issue in many Orthodox synagogues where women ask to be represented on the board of directors and as- pire, as do women in Con- servative and Reform con- gregations, to serve as offi- cers. In England, Chief Rabbi Immanuel Jakobovits de- creed, some years ago, that women can neither vote for officers nor be elected as officers of Orthodox congre- gations. Another basic civil right denied to Jewish women by Halakha is to serve as witnesses in court trials and/or to affix their signatures to legal documents, such as ketubot (marriage cer- tificates), certificates of conversion to Judaism, and other documents pertaining to,,personal law, such as a get (di- vorce). This is the real issue why two recent conventions of the Rab- binical Assembly de- voted so much time de- bating whether to admit women to the Conserva- five rabbinate. Even those Conservative rabbis who spearhead the movement for the admis- sion of women to the Rab- binical Department of the Jewish Theological Semi- nary hem and haw with re- spect to enfranchising women as valid legal wit- nesses. They are not ready to set aside and ignore isha pasool l'edaot — "a woman is unfit to serve as a wit- ness." They suggest that in the eventuality of women serv- ing as Conservative rabbis, they should call upon a male colleague to stand in\ for them as a "signer" of docu- ments. The extent to which Jewish women are deprived of the civil right of taking legal charge of their own persons is also evident from the fact that the bride does not affix her signature to the ketuba. And under the hupa (marriage canopy) she • is silent. The groom places the ring on her finger and declares, harey at_ mekudeshet li — "You are being set aside (medudeshet means this, and not `sanctified') for me. This, of course ; is in consonance with the legal definition of Jewish marriage as an act ofac- quisition, in accordance with the text of the Mis- hna, isha nikneit (a wife is acquired . . . by three ac- tions). What bothers and angers me is not that-women are being barred from serving as Conservative rabbis but that we are still dis- enfranchised. At the same time, I am mindful of the fact that the 'civil rights women have in most civilized countries are very recent innovations. For example, in our United • U.S. Urged to Act in Concert With Israel on Lebanon MONTICELLO, N.Y. (JTA) — Naphtali Lavie, the Israeli consul general in New York, challenged the Reagan Administration here to undertake initia- tives in concert with Israel to achieve a binding peace in Lebanon. He also said the United States must "act rather than react" to developments in the Middle East. Addressing some 500 delegates attending the opening session of the diamond jubilee convention of Bnai Zion last week, Lavie underscored the "cost effectiveness" of U.S. foreign aid to Israel by cit- ing Israel's role as a "deter- rent force" to Soviet expan- sion in the Middle East. Addressing some 500 delegates attending the opening session of the diamond jubilee conven- tion of Bnai Zion last week, Lavie underscored the "cost effectiveness" of U.S. foreign aid to Is- rael by citing Israel's role as a "deterrent force" to Soviet expansion in the Middle East. He contrasted this to the unwillingness of any of the so-called "moder- ate" Arab states to pro- vide bases for the de- ployment of American forces after they had re- ceived large quantities of sophisticated American weaponry. Lavie termed the "in- transigence" of extreme elements of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the radical Arab states as the "chief obstacle to peace." He called on the Adminis- tration to spurn Saudi Ara- bian attempts at "petro dol- lar blackmail" and to focus efforts on removing Syrian and PLO forces from Leba- non so that the Israel- Lebanon accord, signed May 17, could be im- plemented. States the 19th Amendment giving the women the right to vote was adopted only 63 years ago, in 1920. As for the Equal Rights Amend- ment (ERA), it did not mus- ter enough support. When all has been said for the progress women have made as persons in their own right, we are still "The Second Sex," as Simone de Beauvoir put it about 40 years ago. Also, many of our American customs are still in conformance with the age-old notion that women cannot be legal agents. For example, at weddings it is customary for the father "to give the bride away," that is, to deliver her from the custody of one male into that of another male. Of course, this is a "symbolic" act but, then, we do live by symbols and symbols are at the root of our actions. But what to do so as to enfranchise Jewish women in the context of Halakha? I think there are many passages in the Torah that speak of Ha-am (the people) and which lend themselves to the exegesis that women are part of the people of Israel. At Sinai, kol ha-am -- (the entire people, Exodus 20:18) witnessed the Revelation and the Ten Command- ments were enjoined upon all who stood at the foot of the mountain, and upon all their descen- dants. - Zelophehad's When daughters complained to Moses, Eleazer the priest and the heads of the corn- munity at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting that the laws of inheritance were un- fair because only sons could inherit and thus a man who died- 'without leaving sons lost his, land and "his name," God's decision was: "The plea of Zelophehad's daughters is just . . . trans- fer their father's share to them" (Numbers 27:1). The plea of today's Jewish treme stretching of may serve as Halakhic wit- women for basic civil rights Halakha to enfranchise nesses and vote and be voted is just. It requires no ex- Jewish women so that they for in Orthodox synagogues. - - .*Asineuricta.mommewamriegar FANTASTIC! NEW P.V.C. 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AMSTERDAM (JTA) — Nazi-hunter Simon Wei- senthal believes that the mass media could help bring war criminals to jus- tice despite the fact that many of them are now na- tionals of countries far from the scene of their crimes. _ June Weinberg, Executive DirectOr Rabbi Robert Abramson, Headmaster 851-2394 - 32200 Middlebelt - Farmington Hills, Michigan 48018 Hillel Day School of Metropolitan Detroit admits Jewish students of any race. color. national or ethnic origin. Its admission and scholarship programs are non-discriminatory. No child will be denied an education at Hillel because'of parents inability to pay the full charges. Tuition allowances will continue to be granted based on individual needs.