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| Image of a 115 year old woman from "News on the Run" |
There is a kids pamphlet called "News on the Run". My second grader brings it home to practice reading. Like Scholastic News, but more basic. It seems to be a company in Lakewood, NJ.
The title of one article is "Oldest person in America: 115 years old".
More about this later. First a bit of background.
In my quixotic attempt to identify as a feminist, I have encountered tremendous pushback from people that identify as feminists today. I nevertheless still consider myself a feminist. The difference between my understanding of feminism and theirs has more to do with the liberal/left spirit of the times than it does in what I believe feminism should really mean. Which is what it meant way back in the day when virtually everyone defined it that way.
To briefly reiterate my longstanding definition of feminism – I believe that women must be treated equally with men in all areas where gender does not affect performance. Except when it comes into conflict with religious values. For example I believe in equal pay for equal work. If a woman is paid less than a man for doing the same job - that is discrimination and ought to be against the law.
Another aspect of what I believe feminist values should be is the idea of treating woman with the same dignity and respect as men are treated.
Another area I part company with them is when notions of equality override religious values and long held tradition. Which is also why I oppose women becoming rabbis even while I fully support their right to study any and every type of Torah study they choose. (This is a subject I have discussed many times but is beyond the scope of this post.)
One area of convergence between the two different versions of feminism is in how women are treated by the right wing of Orthodoxy. In this respect, I am with today’s feminists. Nowhere is this better expressed than it is in a Jewish News article by Orthodox Jewish feminist and co-founder of the Chochmat Nashim podcast, Shoshanna Keats-Jaskoll. Even though we have some very strong differences along the abovementioned lines, on this issue we are one. Here in relevant part is what she says in the broader context of religious extremism:
Enforcing gender segregation has been the number one tactic of the extremists. By portraying their actions as “religious freedom,” they call for “cultural sensitivity” and ask that their way of life be respected. An ironic request, as they expect the respect to go only one way: in their own direction.
The current demand by the religious parties to change Israeli law to allow forced gender segregation in the public sphere at publicly funded events is similarly not a benign request for respect. Without changing a thing, crowds can already sit separately if they want to. Segregation is allowed, it just can’t be forced. A significant difference.
Why does it matter? Because in every case when women have been forcibly segregated, they are given the inferior position.
On buses where segregation is enforced (illegally), women are restricted to the rear seats. Whether they have strollers, children, nausea or simply don’t want to sit there, is irrelevant. At segregated concerts women are often given the back or seats in the bleachers (fixed tiered benches) – and still charged the same amount.
In separate university courses and tracks female professors lose out on jobs because the men can teach both male and female students, while women are only allowed to teach women.
At the Western Wall, women have one-fifth of the space. Men have a far larger plaza, as well as spacious interior rooms and no, there are not higher numbers of male visitors to justify this inequity.
When segregation is allowed in places that are not religious, such as medical conferences, ceremonies, and hospitals, female professionals have been put behind a curtain and not allowed to speak.
In the ancient cemetery of Tzfat, a newly implemented segregated staircase leads men directly to the graves of holy tzadikim where they can lay prostrate on the monument while women are led to a wall behind the grave, cut off completely.
This trend by the right makes me angry. Not that I know what to do about it. Just wanted to point out where the largest and fastest growing segment of Orthodox Judaism is going. And it ain’t pretty.
Back to that ridiculously censored picture. My friend’s email also included the following comment:
In an earlier edition, they had images of Queen Elizabeth.
I found it quite humorous that they felt publishing a picture of a young Queen Elizabeth to be more appropriate than a picture of a 115 year old woman. And yet that seems to be the standard - as absurd as that may seem to simple common sense. I can’t explain it. I wonder how they would explain it.
There is another problem beside perpetuating the false notion that publishing pictures of women dressed fully in accordance with the strictest standards of modesty is considered immodest. When a supposedly mainstream religious day school distributes pamphlets that contain images like the one above – it induces laughter and ridicule about what secular Jews see as the religious values of observant Jews. This is NOT a way to win friends and influence people. It will not bring secular Jews close to Judaism when they see and laugh at what religious Jews consider a high value. Which in reality has nothing to do with Halacha
The ridiculous way in which they try to implement these false values (as in the above picture) will surely chase people far away from any chance at respecting our legitimate values. Even though it has no Halachic bearing on modesty itself as evidenced by the past publication of pictures of women by the same right wing that refuses to do so today.
How this looks to others doesn’t seem to occur to them. All they know is that women must be erased from public view as much as possible for purpose of modesty. This is the brave new world of the right. Any negative fallout be damned.