replying to Shirona (again)

[Judith R Cohen <judithc...>]

Shirona asks clearly:
> 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.
I thought I'd answered clearly, but if not, here goes: for me at least,
no, it's very far from OK. 
Some years ago, an Orthodox Moroccan Sephardi colleague of mine accepted
a teaching job in a place with hardly any Jews (hardly any people
altogether for that matter) and moved there with his young family. He
managed to get a minyan going, the families pooled resources and brought
in a Hebrew and Jewish studies teacher from Israel; the service is now a
fascinating mix of Ashkenazi and Moroccan Sephardi melodies (that's the
music-related part of this message.) Eventually, his teenaged daughter,
after her Bat Mitzva, said to him that either he could change his ideas
about women being full participants in the service, equally with men,
and she would be very happy to participate fully, or he could stick to
his upbringing and she would no longer attend synagogue until she was an
adult and could choose one more in keeping with her convictions. "After
all," she asked him, "if you've brought me up as a Jew, why can't I
practice my Judaism fully, and contribute fully to this tiny community?"
So he did, and she did, and the community is much the stronger for it -
and this is the message she will in turn transmit to her own
children.... just an anecdote, make of it what you will. (some great
tunes at that minyan, though!) (and the COhens are Catholic and the
McGrath's are Jewish....) Judith

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