Thursday, April 17, 2008

A very important article, I think

One on One: By virtue of her sex | Jerusalem Post

Please take the time to read it.

3 comments:

Leora said...

So what do think of her?

-suitepotato- said...

While I am a convert, I would be in moral error if I did not answer honestly for if you love a religion enough to join it, you must love it enough to be honest.

I think she is largely correct. There is a defensive posture in the Orthodox world rather than a constructive openness. There's a tense schism in process between charedi and mo, a tense divide between facing the ongoing world and adopting seemingly senseless chumrot for no better reason than to shore up the defenses against any possible change.

G-d in His infinite wisdom put within each of us a sense of right and wrong. A sense of shame and guilt, a sense of pride and clarity. We know something is not right with regard to the issues she presents. We fearfully dance around those things.

My attraction to Judaism was cemented when I saw the warm hart possible in chasidism. The issues raised by the skeptidox are not unknown to me, not ignored. And they don't drive me away. I believe the spark remains to make forward progress to correct the dark fearful ways that sometimes are used in place of bravely confronting the problems.

To those men who do not treat a woman as merely a sex object to be lusted after avidly after her time of the month and mikveh visit, but treat them as a mate and partner and wife and best friend, I salute them.

To those men who do not leave their ex-wives as agunah and try to have their cake and eat it to with a new woman, I salute them.

To those who attempt to fly in the face of it to make the situation of women better by improving the collective take on halacha, to make it a positive force for us all, I salute them.

She's fighting a fight that needs to be fought to make us whole.

-suitepotato- said...

"warm hart possible"

Oops, Freudian slip. Sorry H.

Anyhow...

(whistles)