A nice surprise?

[Reyzl Kalifowicz-Waletzky <reyzl...>]

Robert,

Your comments are most unfair and very disappointing.  They are also 
insulting to everyone here, not just Shirona.  Anyone walking into this 
extremely rare situation - an egalitarian Orthodox congregation - an 
oxymoron if there ever was one, would be watching the men to see if they 
are uncomfortable.  One would want to know:

if the men felt imposed upon by flaming feminists who somehow got control 
because they were the majority;
if the men felt imposed upon by a rebellious, self-destructive rabbi;
if they were angry because power has been usurped from them;
if they felt guilty about abandoning halakha;
if they felt guilty about being ostracised by the rest of the Orthodox 
world;
if they were regretful about such radical move, etc., etc.

I have never even heard of such a synagogue existing anywhere in the world 
and I do follow these things.  I only know of a small (20-30 people) 
Brooklyn egalitarian havurah which is mostly Orthodox, and I imagine that 
there are other havuroth around the country who are egalitarian Orthodox. 
  But a havurah is not an official synagogue congregation with a building 
and a sisterhood.  If this Rabbi Moshe Adler is the same Rabbi Moshe Adler, 
formerly of Los Angeles and husband of feminist theologian Rachel Adler, 
then I understand how such a thing came about.

But Shirona does not deserve your comments.  Neither would any other 
reporter, male or female, describing such a rare experience.  Actually, 
this report told us that it's meshiakh's tsaytn [=time of the mashiakh].


Now, this is totally an aside comment.  I have been too busy with my sick 
knee and physical therapy to get to this.
I went on the web and listened to Shirona singing a few weeks ago and found 
her truly, truly wonderful.  I am usually disappointed with current 
liturgical recordings, because it usually sounds so derivative, e.g., I see 
no reason to set a tfila today to '60's folk rock, or hip-hop, or pop 
gospel (unless one was trying to do an interfaith event).  But Shirona was 
a most pleasant surprise.  What a lovely contribution to the Jewish world 
and Jewish recordings!  A yasher koyakh across the board, Shirona.  Once I 
listened to you I really got mad at the people who cancelled out on you. 
 It was totally their loss.  Too bad for the Orthodox brother in law who 
didn't know what he was missing.


Reyzl



-------------------------------------------------------------

>From: "Robert Cohen" <rlcm17 (at) hotmail(dot)com>
>Reply-To: jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org
>To: World music from a Jewish slant <jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org>
>Subject: Re: A nice surprise?
>Date: Sun, 29 Apr 2001 23:02:43
>
>>For me it was a spiritual and emotional experience - seeing "frum" women
>>taking an active and awe inspiring roll in the service, as equal to men
>>and
>>equal before G-d.  (I was watching the men during the portions where 
women
>>were leading, and they  seemed very comfortable. The husbands whose wives
>>were leading looked very proud.   It was all very natural...
>
>
>I have much respect and regard for Moshe Adler and am very interested to
>hear that he's overseeing a traditional but egalitarian service.  I would
>automatically incline to assume that he's coming from a thoughtful and
>serious place in doing so.
>
>Having said that:  Between the lines-or, actually, *in* the lines-of this
>posting are flashing yellow lights indicating some of the potential
>problems, perhaps, of such services.  *Why,* for example, was our
>correspondent "watching the men during the portions where women were
>leading"-or at any time, for that matter?  One of the reasons why many
>women that I've talked to about this, or whose thoughts I've read about
>from >other's writing and interviewing, *like* a separate space from men
is so >they *won't* be watched during davening-and I can't imagine that
the men >being watched here benefited from being watched-"spiritually
and >emotionally," as our correspondent puts it.  Nor do I imagine that
the >women >at the service would have experienced a deeper kavannah in
their davening >if >*they* were being watched.
>
>It's nice that the husbands of women leading the service "looked very
>proud"-though, again, nobody should have been noticing-but that suggests,
>again, *less* focus and intensity in prayer (or contemplation, study,
>etc.),
>which is what a synagogue service should be about.  This service comes 
off,
>at least in this account, as more of a show-and-tell entertainment
>production-that's where one is appropriately "proud" of one's
>spouse's/children's/friend's home run, aria, etc.  Parents, etc., can't
>help
>but kvell over their children's bar/bat mitzvah-uncles too.  But that
>should be the exception-and, indeed, in the synagogues, in my experience,
>where bar mitzvah is taken maximally seriously as a religious coming of 
age
>and not a pageant-with-party, even parents' kvelling is expressed in a 
very
>different way from at Little League.
>
>
>>Later I spent a good half hour talking with the Rabbi,  Moshe
>>Adler.  We should all be blessed with such Rabbis - open minded,
>>spiritual,
>>a man who is in touch with his own conscience - and has the guts to act 
on
>>his beliefs.  Even in the face of a hostile "peer environment".
>
>
>I have, as I said, nothing but regard for Moshe Adler.  But Shirona is,
>sadly, again so wrapped up in self-righteousness that she imagines that
>only
>those who agree with her are "in touch with [their] own conscience" or
>"[have] the guts to act on [their] beliefs."  It's a supremely arrogant 
and
>ugly notion-but Shirona seems incapable of recognizing that a rabbi who
>*doesn't* choose to go in this-i.e., her preferred-direction may be just
>as in touch with his conscience-and perhaps showing even more guts, since
>he has to defy, among other things, the limitless self-righteousness of
>some
>(but not all) Jewish (and non-Jewish, for that matter) feminists.
>
>
>I admire Rabbi Adler, among other reasons, because, in my limited
>experience, he *doesn't* convey this kind of arrogant
>self-righteousness-but, rather, an earnest humility (one of the
>requirements of which is the knowledge and belief that one may be wrong) 
in
>seeking to hear what G*d wants of him at any given moment and to serve G*d
>as best he can.
>
>It's an example worth emulating.
>
>--Robert Cohen
>
>
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