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Don’t silence the voices of Orthodox women

\"There is more than one way to be a Jew,\" wrote Rabbi Laura Geller in the February 4th issue of The Jewish Journal.
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February 12, 2016

“There is more than one way to be a Jew,” wrote Rabbi Laura Geller in the February 4th issue of The Jewish Journal.

I cannot agree more. And that's why I need to speak up about a very anti-feminist trend in Kotel discourse.

Phyllis Chesler is a long-time critic of male privilege, and has championed the Women of the Wall (WOW) for years. Last week, Chesler, denigrated the Kotel compromise, by which women and men may now pray together in egalitarian services, but women behind the mechitza may not wear tallis and tefillin or lead Torah services. Writing in Tablet, she said, “…they are forgetting about our Orthodox sisters, perhaps because they are so angry at the Israeli Orthodox rabbinate and at their subordinated female loyalists.”

The problem with Chesler’s sketch is that it ignores the opinions of most of her “Orthodox sisters,” who by and large do not accept that women should – at least in public – wear tallis or tefillin or lead a Torah service.

WOW's own mission statements says, “Every time we meet to pray, we empower and encourage Jewish women to embrace religion freely, in their own way.” Yet, frequently, WOW supporters have worked to silence those women who disagree with them.

When observant women organized to combat WOW activities two and a half years ago, Chesler complained in The Times of Israel, “Instead of admitting that their rabbis sent thousands of girls to spit, curse, jeer, and blow whistles—the media describe these hooligans-upon-demand as pious girls and women, superior Jews, because they presumably mouth the psalms silently and obey their male rabbis.”

Who is trying to silence whom? These supposed “hooligans-upon-demand” – thousands of them – had come to the Kotel freely when asked to by the organization Women for the Wall (W4W). As members of National Religious and Haredi communities, Ronit Peskin and Leah Aharoni organized W4W to promote their own feminist views. They only consulted with rabbinic leadership after they decided to act and had begun to form a plan. And several observers – Levi Margolin, Daniel Levy, and Jonathan Rosenblum – noted that the heckling at those rosh chodesh events came from men, not W4W members.

I am an Orthodox woman. I couldn't care less whether women wear tallisim and tefillin or read Torah on the women's side of the Kotel plaza, assuming they don't make a big, noisy disturbance. Frankly, I find it illogical that individuals who ignore rabbis' opinions on tallis and tefillin listen to rabbinic sources about the need for a mechitza during prayer. If you deny the normative Orthodox practice in the first case, why insist on it in the second?

“Anyone with a modicum of learning in Jewish texts knows that halacha does not prohibit women doing these things (wearing tallis and tefillin),” wrote Shulamit Magnus – another WOW champion – in The Times of Israel in April 2013.

Some Modern Orthodox rabbis share this opinion, but the vast majority of Orthodox rabbis do not, nor do most Orthodox women. “That [H]aredi women…do not know this, speaks volumes about the subjugated place of women in that society,” Magnus says.

Does Magnus think that a talmida chachama like Rebbitzen Tzipporah Heller, who teaches thousands of students, has failed to learn halachah accurately? Or every other female teaching or studying in a day school, seminary, or on their own? The supposed “fact” – that Jewish law says women can wear tallis and tefillin in public and read from the Torah – is actually a minority opinion.

In her February 4th article, Rabbi Geller described why this issue is personal for her, a woman living in Los Angeles. I will do the same.

Last year, over what was supposed to be a festive meal, two relatives “informed” me that the Orthodox rabbinate subjugates women. On Facebook, men have told me point blank that I cannot be a woman because of the Centrist/Hareidi Orthodox views I articulate. In the comments sections of articles, I've been told I only hold my opinions because I'm uneducated and know no other way of life.

Frequently, the words thrown in my face echo catch-phrases used by Chesler, Magnus, and other WOW supporters. By promoting stereotypes, denying us agency in our own lives, and labeling women who disagree with them as “subordinated,” “silenced,” and “subjugated,” it is they who oppress women.

Many Orthodox women have friends, relatives, and colleagues who disagree with our interpretations of halachah, but given our mutual respect, we can dispute issues and yet remain friends. While women's use of tallis and tefillin and public reading of Torah is a hotly debated matter of Oral Law, the use of hurtful words (onaas hadevarim) and slander (hotzaat shem ra) are unequivocally forbidden by both Written and Oral Law. Further, they prevent unity and peace.

Yes, there are many different kinds of Jews. We should listen to the opinions of all of them – from the totally secular to the entirely Haredi.

That will truly empower women and bring real unity.

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