Judaism Versus Egalitarianism

As I keep saying I have always considered myself to be a feminist because of my views that men and women should be treated with equal respect and given equal opportunity to succeed in the world at large. Certainly when it comes to equal pay for equal work - which has not yet seen parity. 

But feminism as defined today laughs at that definition. Today it’s all or nothing. Feminists do not see any difference at all between men and women aside from the obvious biological differences. When other values systems clash with that notion, they are deemed misogynist. Even when that clash is with religious values. 

This is usually accompanied by accusations against our sages. I can’t even count the times I have heard them referring to the sages as paternalistic self serving men who based their religious decisions on the general misogyny of their time. Which they of course believe should be discarded by the wiser and better educated modern man. 

As I’ve said many times, Judaism is not defined in terms of men and women being identical. It is defined as doing the will of God as interpreted by the sages throughout the generations. People whose only concern was understanding the will of God, following it,  and protecting it from being violated by the Jewish people. 

Judaism is not about personal feelings of connectedness.  That is an extremely biased way of looking at it. What makes one person feel connected may not be the case for a another person. Personal feelings like that might be an important value. But it is not the determining value of what is or isn’t the best way to serve God.

So that Ms. Meisals experience at an egalitarian minyan in Berkeley’s Netivot Shalom synagogue on Rosh Hashanah does not in any way make it more Jewish just because it made her feel more connected. That service was merely a concession to what feminism demands of modern man. I believe that at least in part - her discovery of egalitarianism is what generated those feelings. But even if wasn’t and was genuine irrespective of egalitarianism - it wouldn’t matter since that Minyan was against Halacha and therefore by definition -  not what God wants. 

I get that there is somewhat of a FOMO (fear of missing out) on the part of Orthodox women in our day. Even among some on right. As was the case with Ms. Meisels who was raised in the insular world of Chasidim. I believe that is because of the times in which we now live. One can now access with ease ideologies that contradict those in which they were raised. In this case they have come to see men as the focus of Judaism in all of its glory -  while women get thrown a bone here and there. That can surely make them feel like second class citizens. (This description of Judaism can breed antisemitism as was the case in last January’s Women’s March.)

People that react that way to the roles defined for them by Halacha and centuties old tradition do not in my view fully understand what Judaism is all about. Even if they were raised in a completely insular environment where only Jewish values are taught. As was Ms. Meisels.

(What I will say is that there are some customs in communities like that which add unnecessarily to the feeling of exclusion felt by Ms. Meisels. Such as the refusal to publish pictures of women even if they are dressed in most stringent form of modesty.  But that is beyond the scope of the post.)

When an ideal foreign to Judaism permeates the general culture it is going to seep into even the most insular of communities. When that happens it’s difficult to see the religious idea about different roles for man and women as anything but misogynistic. Under those conditions rejecting inequality makes perfect sense.

Let us for a moment ask the question. Does Judaism have classes of people where one class is superior to another? Of course it does. I am actually denied certain roles in Judaism that I’m sure would give me an enhanced connectedness to God. A role that is given to another segment. It is only an accident of birth that makes me unable to assume that role. Like it or not I am denied that privilege. But that does not make me a lesser person in the eyes of God.

I do not feel slighted because I can never be called up to the Torah in the first slot reserved for a Kohen. Or even the second slot resereved fort a Levi. I do not feel sighted because a Kohen is vested with the capacity to bless the Jewish people with far more impact than I can. I have my obligations and they have theirs. (In anceint times the Kohen’s role was even more enhanced in that only he could perform the actual sacrifices in the Beis HaMikdash.)

It is telling that Ms. Meisal’s sees Hilchos Niddah in such disparaging terms –calling her status when she is a niddah ‘stained’. That indicates that she does not understand and thereby does not respect a Halacha clearly spelled out in the Torah. That can only come about under the influence of the feminist ideal that generated her article.

Why is modern day egalitarianism ‘staining’ the faith of so many women? I have to be believe it is a failure of Modern Orthodox education. They are not teaching  women why our God given roles are more important that the cultural belief that egalitarianism trumps all else. They are instead trying to accommodate it by nibbling at the edges of Halacha and tradition. Which breeds hostility to tradition.

If we are ever going to change the thinking of the  Modern Orthodox Jewish woman, the value of God given roles to each and every one of us has to be emphasized while  egalitarianism has to be put in its proper place. Which as a value has its limits when it comes to the values of the Torah. I do not beleive that is being done. Or at least not done enough.