EDITOR'S NOTEBOOK
Femininity And Orthodoxy
At A Key Crossroads
A
munal life. If it was primarily the men
s a young girl, when I would
who
taught and modeled the observance
awaken at my grandparents'
of
Jewish
ritual and law, it was mainly
house, I would love to lie in
the
women
who taught the spirit.
bed, listening to the deep,
If
it
was
my
father who put on tefillin
soothing voice of my grandfather, of
every
morning
and
went to shul regular-
blessed memory, learning Talmud.
ly,
it
was
my
mother
who taught me the
He was an Orthodox rabbi, and he
spirit
of
Shabbat
and
how to establish it.
would often have bar mitzvah
I
saw
women's
contribu-
boys coming to the house to
tions
as
equal
to,
if
different
review their Torah and
from,
the
men's.
I
also
saw
Haftorah portions. My uncle
each
side
valuing
the
other's
would often teach Torah trope
contributions.
or davening to students, and I
Furthermore, in my Jewish
would listen from the other
day
school classes, we were
room.
taught
about many women
I knew the melodic
who
were
significant through-
cadence of the learning of Tal-
out
the
ages.
mud, I knew how to lead
JANICE
We learned about the
Shacharit and Musaf; I could
STARKMAN
matriarchs
Sarah, Rivka,
chant Akdamot, and I knew
GOLDFEIN
Rahel
and
Leah.
We studied
Anim Zmirot as well as my
Special to
the
stories
of
Miriam,
Devo-
brother and my male cousins.
The Jewish News rah, Yael, Ruth, Esther and
I was Often told, "It's too bad
Bruria.
you're not a boy. You would
We
learned
about Chana Senesh,
be a good rabbi or hazzan."
Rahel
the
poet,
and Golda Meir, the
In all those years that was said to me,
prime
minister
of
Israel during my high
it never occurred to me to be resentful
school
years.
that I couldn't do what boys could. I
All were strong contributors to Jew-
never acknowledged that something was
ish
life and the life of the Jews, and to
denied to me just because I was female.
the
creation of the State of Israel.
In thinking about why I didn't feel
Throughout
high school, this was
cheated, I realize it was because my
enough,
and
I
very
comfortably identi-
grandmothers of blessed memory, my
fied
myself
as
a
member
of the Ortho-
mother and my aunts were all such
dox
movement.
But
by
1970,
when I
strong characters who contributed so
graduated
college,
the
women's
move-
much to both family and Jewish corn-
ment forced me to ask questions I had-
Janice Starkman Goldfein is a clini-
n't asked, and I wasn't sure how to
answer both the critics and myself I
cal social worker in private practice in
began to feel very conflicted and uneasy
Southfield.
There were many teachings of
Orthodoxy I knew I believed, and I
understood how these commitments
enriched my life, intellectually, emotion-
ally and spiritually. Yet I had difficulty
with the limitations on women, particu-
larly in restrictions on the study of
Gemarah, the lack of power a woman
had if her husband refused to grant a get
(Jewish divorce), and the role of women
in prayer and in the synagogue.
I became increasingly uncomfortable
identifying myself as Orthodox, and
when asked would describe myself as
"observant," an accurate yet neutral
description.
I coped with these internal dilemmas
by developing a sort of dissociative per-
sonality. There was my professional and
personal self, in which
I believed there were
no limitations on
women, except those
that were self-imposed.
There was my reli-
gious self, in which I
readily accepted the
restrictions on women
as the price I had to
pay in order to belong
to the community
whose life is organized
around Jewish ritual and values.
These two selves lived side by side,
knowing about each other, much as
some of the different selves in a multiple
personality do, each self serving a pur-
pose, not interfering with the other.
At the recent Second International
Conference on Feminism and Ortho-
Boxy, held in New York in mid-Febru-
ary, my two selves began integrating,
and I could once again feel comfortable
in identifying myself as a Modern
Orthodox woman. Two thousand
women, as well as many male attendees
and presenters, struggled with the what
it means to be Orthodox in the modern
world.
The conference was energizing, edu-
cational and empowering. There were
sessions devoted to study of talmudic
sources and rabbinic responsa, the
examination of the use of gender and
traditional text, the teshuvot of Rav
Moshe Feinstein, and an analysis of
halachic solutions to the agunah prob-
lem.
Other sessions focused on practical
matters, such as how
to start a women's
tefillah group, creative
additions to the
halachic marriage cer-
emony, and reclaim-
ing a mother's name
in ceremony.
It was not only
the content of the
issues and the ses-
sions that were sig-
nificant, it was the
opportunity to be among 2,000 oth-
ers who care about and are commit-
ted to the same issues. Most revitaliz-
ing was to be among those who view
Orthodoxy as vibrant, alive, and able to
change within a halachic context, hold-
more than a democracy" That is just
what Arafat and the Israeli govern-
ment say, "a secular democracy."
It is that which the editorial tries to
address, but fails because The Jewish
News has collapsed under the tremen-
dous pressure of the Republican and
Democratic elite that does not put the
reasonable policy into context.
undeniable problem of
the worn down Oak
Park mikvah that can no
longer support the
demands made on it.
The Orthodox, how-
ever, have made it per-
fectly clear that Conserv-
ative and Reform rabbis
will not be permitted to
perform conversions at the new mikvah.
In a letter to The Jewish News dated
March 2, the president of the UJF,
Mr. Robert Slatkin, responded to this
planned discrimination by stating that
the policy "continues a tradition that
has been followed for centuries by
observant Jews."
Exactly when did Orthodox
become synonymous with observant?
Until now I have considered myself
to be a fairly observant Jew: I daven in
shul virtually every
morning; study Torah
regularly; struggle to
keep kosher in a non-
kosher world; and do
my best to contribute
to Klal Yisrael. Does the
fact that I do so within
the Conservative Move-
. ment somehow make
me less observant than an Orthodox
Jew?
Mr. Slatkin goes on in his letter to
say that "the Jewish Federation of
Metropolitan Detroit and its partner,
the United Jewish Foundation, exist to
serve the needs of all members of our
community, representing all streams of
Judaism." What I fail to follow is how
tacitly supporting Orthodox discrimi-
nation against members of non-
UNEQUAL on page 29
because it denies Jerusalem as the capi-
tal of Israel. The proof is that eastern
Jerusalem also is claimed by the PLO as
the capital of Palestine. So there. Is not
dividing the city reasonable?
Presidents Bush and Clinton have
worked to get the Jewish vote and still
prevent Israel from extending its sov-
ereignty into the Judean-Samarian
hills. They give money to the "inno-
cent" Arafat and PLO so that they will
survive while the United States exerts
pressure on Israel to yield. The result?
The PLO governs most of Hebron,
Bet Lechem, Jericho and four other
cities in Israel, and the Jews rule less.
Jerusalem is next.
But God said, and reasonable polit-
ical scientists agree, that either the Jew
turn Israel and its territories into a
Jewish state or He will throw out the
Jews from the land that is "nothing
Michael Drissman
Executive director, Committee for the
Jewish Idea
Why Separate
Is Still Unequal
The United Jewish Foundation of
Metropolitan Detroit has decided to
lease 3/4 of an acre at the Oak Park
JCC to an Orthodox institution for
the laudable purpose of remedying the
A women's
approach to
constructive
dialogue.
CROSSROADS on page 29
3/20
1998
27