[HANASHIR:8290] Re: Healing

[DurlKare <DurlKare...>]

In a message dated 2/20/01 9:27:00 PM Central Standard Time, 
shirona (at) bellatlantic(dot)net writes:

<< Is it OK that one sex has the power to make all the rules that bind both 
sexes, and that the other sex has no say in that process.  For me it is that 
simple, and the answer is either yes or no. >>

I have to say, Shirona, that you are bringing this down to too simplistic a 
question.  NOTHING is either yes or no.  I am surprised by your making this 
comment.  

List, please excuse the non-musical content of this rambling!

Here in the South, progress is much slower than some other parts of the 
country, but I have watched as two female rabbis have come to this town to 
help lead two good sized Reform congregations, and they are really  making a 
difference in our community because of the programs they have started and the 
knowledge they bring us.  The Orthodox rabbis might not TOTALLY accept them 
as rabbis, but respect is growing, based on the excellence of their actions 
and words.  I think it would be somewhat naive to expect total acceptance, 
and it is much more reasonable to accept the first step of respect.  

CHANGE is happening in our society (Jewish and otherwise) quite rapidly.  As 
someone who studied women's suffrage in college, I want to remind you that we 
only got the vote in this country in 1920, and that it is only OUR generation 
that saw a full-time career in anything we chose as a viable option in our 
lives; it is now acceptable to be a full-time working mother, a single 
mother, a never-married mother...women have many, many choices that were 
societally unacceptable just a short time ago.  I think if you look back at 
the time in which the Torah was written/given/whatever you believe, you will 
see that the attitudes toward women in matters such as marriage, divorce, 
etc. were incredibly new and liberal for their time.  I don't think that they 
were created to keep women down or to hurt them, but to protect that most 
valuable entity: the Jewish family.  As times have changed, many Jewish 
practices have changed or adapted, especially in some of the movements.  I 
think it is not helpful to decry a  group of people who choose to stick to 
the old ways of doing things because they feel that is the right way to live. 
 I think if you want people to respect your ways of thinking, you have to 
come from a place of strength in yourself, and not a place of protesting.  

-Karen Daniel

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