I did not have any connection to Rav Aharon Lichtenstein, zt"l, who passed away recently, except hearing of him from afar. Being that I am from Chicago and had some connection to the Soloveitchik family, Rav Lichtenstein was somebody I sort of would hear about every now and then and was always interested, but never connected. I do have a lot of friends who were connected in various ways, and have heard and seen many stories of his life this past week.
I just saw the following short story online, and thought it particularly poignant, and I think it follows perfectly with much of what I heard of him this past week - how he made everybody feel important, there was no such thing as a stupid question, he did not stand on airs, no pomp and circumstance...
When a High School educator in Chicago asked Rav Lichtenstein several years ago to autograph a baseball, he put his pen to the baseball and wrote: "Aharon Lichtenstein, who strives for stardom in another league"
Rav Lichtenstein could have balked (pun itended) and said why a baseball? I'll sign a sefer for you. He could have said no, not appropriate. He could have taken it as an insult and considered it demeaning - what do I have to do with a baseball??!!
But someone asked, and he did what he could for that person, while teaching a lesson, without being demeaning or insulting to the other person, without standing on his own kavod.
This is an interesting post, critical of the coalition negotiations and deals, because it is not the same old criticism of "haredi extortionists" or dati "sectarian interests" or the same old arguments. It is a unique perspective critical of how the Likud has positioned itself.
מה שמאכזב בהסכם בין הליכוד ל'יהדות התורה' הוא לגלות שוב מחדש שלליכוד, מפלגת שלטון עם 30 מנדטים, אין שום אג'נדה בנושאי דת...
Posted by Elyashiv Raichner on Thursday, April 30, 2015
translation:
what is disappointing in the deal between the Likud and UTJ is to expose once again that the Likud, the ruling party with 30 mandates, has no agenda regarding Shul and State.
They do not care to come to an important decision in the realm of conversion, and then go back on it moments later.
They don't really care about whether the judges on the rabbinical courts will have a haredi outlook or a dati outlook, and don't care if there are women sitting on the committee for appointing those judges.
They do not care if marriage registration in Israel will be user-friendly and approachable or not.
They do not care how the kashrut apparatus operates, and whether or not the city rabbis will be zionists or not.
They simply do not care.
Suddenly all their dati MKs of the Likud have disappeared. All those MKs who during the elections went working to obtain the votes of the knitted kipa community, and sold them stories of the Likud being the true home of the dati leumi public, even in issues of Shul and State.
Has anybody heard from Tzippi Hotoveli? Zeev Elkin? Yuli Edelstein? Jacky Levi? Avraham Negosa? Suddenly their kippa, berret and wigs have disappeared.
Each time anew it becomes clear that neither they nor their traditional and secular friends in the party have any opinion on the issues of Shul and State.
The 30 mandates they were given, yet they still act like the contractors of others.
Historically, wars were often used as a means of spurring a stagnant economy. Going to war meant production of weapons and ammunition and armaments and all sorts of other things required for the army. Obviously they were also used to achieve political goals, settle feuds and disputes, for personal reasons, to plunder other cities or countries and whatnot, but an important factor was always the effect it would have on the economy.
Recent reports have shown the effect of last summer's war in Gaza, Defensive Edge, has had on the State of Israel.
One report shows that as a result of the war, donations to Barzilai Hospital in Ashqelon have hit record highs.
According to the report, in 2014 Barzilai Hospital brought in 26 million NIS in donation, far surpassing Hadassah (4.7) and Sheba (8.1).
מי כעמך ישראל!!
According to the second report, there is a baby boom going on in Ashdod and the surrounding areas. 9 months after Defensive Edge, they are setting records for births in the area of Ashdod and Ashqelon. During a time of distress, with people spending more time than usual closed up int ehir homes, nature takes its course...
In a unique form of protest, some activists played soccer (football) in the hallways of the Supreme Court building.
Har Habayit activists, upset at the way the police have ignored the Arabs playing soccer on Har Habayit, among other things they are upset about in relation to the way Jews are treated on Har Habayit.
In the past the Supreme Court has ruled that it is prohibited to play ball on Har Habayit, yet the police ignore the ruling and ignore the Arabs who do continue to play ball despite the ruling.
So, these activists went into the Supreme Court building and held up signs calling to put an end to the soccer games on Temple Mount and played ball in the lobby and hallways to emphasize the point.
After a little bit of time, security guards put an end to the game, taking the ball away, and banishing the activists from the complex.
The activists got a nice dig into the police anyway recommending the Chief Police send his Temple Mount stationed officers to be understudies of the security guards in the Supreme Court building and learn from them how to deal with complex situations that happen daily on Har Habayit.
source: Srugim
Granted, it was a cute dig, but the police would not learn how to deal with complex and dangerous situations, as what happened in the Supreme Court building was not very complex or dangerous. They might learn how to stop people from playing ball, but not much more than that.
I appreciate unique and original thought. Good job.
if you are wondering why Israel rushes to help in disasters around the world...
"Israel Inside: How a Small Nation Makes a Big Difference" is a documentary exploring the positive characteristics of Israeli society that have shaped this young country. This short clip looks at how the modern state of Israel reflects the ancient Jewish concept of "Tikun Olam" (repairing the world).
I used to listen to Avshalom Kor on the radio all the time. I think he is great. He somehow turns a boring topic - language and grammar - into something interesting.
Kor, speaking to students about the Hebrew language, commented that Olmert's greatest crime was not the corruption he was involved in - that's just money, and money wrongly taken can be returned. The real crime, Kor said, is that in the generation of the renewal of Jews in Israel the fact that Olmert built a neighborhood in Jerusalem and named it "Holyland", instead of a proper Hebrew name, is the greatest of his crimes.
source: Srugim
I say book him on that too.
Funnily enough, Kor also said that whenever he hears a Member of Knesset talking on the radio and making grammar mistakes he sends a text message letting him know of the mistake. Kor is a grammar ninja!
the ICRC failed to protect civilians and, most notably, the Jews persecuted and murdered by the Nazi regime. It failed as a humanitarian organization because it lost its moral compass
-- International Committee of Red Cross President Peter Maurer
the understatement of the century, in my opinion...
The news in Israel has gotten so boring recently. I guess we should all be thankful for that. no news is good news.
The coalition building continues, with each party trying to squeeze as much as possible out of Netanyahu, and holding out with threats until what looks like the coming last minute. Every couple of hours there are new headlines about crises in negotiations with a party that until now looked ready to sign, and then headlines come out contradicting the previous headlines. It is all spin, and nothing is to be believed, until it is all over. The headlines and statements issued are there to put pressure on the Likud, Netanyahu, other parties, and none of it is to be believed.
Nepal is devastating. The place is in utter shambles. The count of deaths has risen dramatically, while the search and rescue teams continue their work. Israel is busy evacuating Israelis at the same time it has teams helping with search and rescue, while other countries have basically abandoned their people in Nepal and only sent small teams with a bit of aid and assistance.
It is all the same, all the time, all over again. I look at the news and see nothing interesting. The most interesting news item happens to be the decision taken by MLB to play the Chicago White Sox vs Baltimore Orioles game in an empty stadium, not open to the public.
We need to get the government back up and running so that they can start producing crazy news again!
I'm so sick of this system of horsetrading, where the small parties hold the Likud hostage to the point that the large party gets mostly scraps and has to sweat for so long that I would really like to see a unity government that will deal with electoral reform. Electoral reform will not be on the agenda of any small party, as the necessary reform would only hurt, at least in their perception, them, so it can only be done through a unity government.
The reform I think I'd like to see is now a combination of sorts. I've said before that we should move to a system more similar to a presidential system like the United States has. I understand some of the concerns. I think instead now that it should be some sort of hybrid.
There should be candidates who declare that they are running for Prime Minister. Anybody can compete (within regulations - age, nationality, number of signatures of support, whatever).
Separately, parties can run for Knesset.
The relationship between the winner of the prime ministerial race and the results of the Knesset race need not be an issue - there should not be a government coalition. No more horse trading, no more appointments just to form a government. The Prime Minister should have the power, and the Knesset should function as lawmakers, similar to Parliament and Congress in other countries. The PM can appoint people from other parties to his cabinet and to ministerial positions, should he so desire, and he might want to as parts of deal for support in knesset to get laws and public policy passed, but it will not affect the formation of a government, as there will be no such thing.
Checks and balances should be put in place, so power is not abused.
זה לא הוגן לקרוא לחרדים "סחטנים". זכותם לתבוע, כמו כל סיעה. הביקורת צריכה להיות על מי שנענה לאותן תביעות הנוגדות את טובת עם ישראל וזהותו.
— יובל שרלו (@yuval021) April 28, 2015
translation:
it is not appropriate to call the Haredim "extortionists". they have a right to make demands, just like every party does. The criticism should be on those who accept those demands which oppose the good of Am Yisrael and its identity.
the Shas movement carried the flag of social effort during the elections for the 2 million people who are transparent. Without implementing 0 VAT on basic goods and being appointed to offices that have the tools to work on social issues in order to implement the social policies we comitted to, we will not return to the negotiations table.
-- MK Aryeh Deri
I guess Deri has decided he does not want the Religious Affairs Ministry because it is not a social office. I am sure Habayit Hayehudi will be happy to hear this
As we get closer and closer to Lag bOmer, we are going to be hearing more and more complaints and grumbling about the kids (usually) who are collecting wood for the bonfires. The complaints are generally about the kids "stealing" wood - whether from construction sites or from people's property or from other kids who collected wood.
(note: I put the word "stealing" in quotation marks not because it is not really theft, in many of the cases, as it very well might be... but because they usually aren't intentionally stealing, while technically they sometimes (or oftentimes) are.)
So, while some of the wood is just taken from private property or whatnot, some of it is kids taking wood from other kids. Those situations lead to disputes - who had the wood first? did the first kids keep it in a safe place showing "ownership" or did they leave it out in public and possibly "hefker"? etc.
Every year you'll see groups of kids arguing over piles of wood.
I read something really cool yesterday going on in the community of Psagot to resolve such disputes, while also being an educational tool.
It seems that in Psagot the rav of the yishuv, Rav Yosef Veitzen (sp?), has established a special beis din to resolve the disputes among kids over wood. The local kids hae accepted the new beis din as the arbitor of their disputes and agreed to follow any decisions rendered.
The article (offline) described some of the cases already adjudicated:
in one case, 4th grade boys and 4th grade girls were arguing about some wood. The boys took the wood from the girls pile, and they admitted to that, but they claimed that the wood was originally theirs. The boys representatives argued that:
a. the girls did not protest when the boys took the wood, ostensibly admitting it belonged to the boys
b. this wood was not in or near the girls pile of wood, but was in another place.
c. the wood was not kept in the marked area, meaning it was not under the official designation as being prepared for the girls bonfire.
The girls representative admitted to the above but claimed that the girl shlepping the wood had hurt her hand and put the wood down in a different place, with the intention to move it later to the official pile.
The rav, after weighing the issues, reportedly decided that he would go with the kids to the disputed wood, and if the girls could positively identify the wood as being theirs, he would award it to them. The girls were unable to decisively identify any of the wood, except for one large branch. The rav awarded that one branch to the girls.
The story was not over there.
The girls returned later that day to the rav claiming that the boys had again taken the wood, that one piece, from them.
The rav threatened that he takes it very seriously that the psak is not being respected, and if the wood would not be returned within a certain time frame, he would consider fining the boys.
What a great idea! educational, peaceful, and effective.
When Kim Kardashian and Kanye West recently came to Israel for a brief visit, the celebrity gossip columns were all abuzz.
Somehow the visit even made the Haredi press, though of course they did not show the image of Kim Kardashian herself. Even Kikar HaShabbat website, which has recently been showing pictures of women, did not show Kardashian.
TIME magazine found it noteworthy to mention. Speaking to an editor of Kikar, TIME was told that Kardashian is a "pornographic symbol, and that contradicts the Ultra Orthodox values".
Being that that is the case, they probably should just not have mentioned her visit at all and left it for the gossip columns to discuss.
Funnily enough, they mention that her image in the picture was covered with a receipt.
they must have had to use a pretty big receipt!
Kikar should have just left out her visit entirely, and those upset should just be happy she got any mention at all.
Israeli Supermodel Bar Refaeli is Trending an Amazing New Hashtag, #לשוןהרעלאמדבראליי, 'Lashon Hora (Evil Tongue), Doesn't Speak To Me''
Posted by Humans of Judaism on Sunday, April 26, 2015
yes, thaat is Bar Rafaeli, the Israeli supermodel, participating in a campaign against Lashon Ha'Ra
The Global Happiness Index rated Israel in 11th place.....this result is the direct outcome of a long line of efforts that we led. The reasons for Israeli happiness include a decline in unemployment - 5.6%m among the lowest in the Western world, increasing the minimum wage, high growth of Israel relative to Western countries, continued decline in poverty levels, connecting the periphery towns to the center of the country and many reforms that we have led for the prosperity of Israeli people... I am happy to see that our efforts have borne fruits in the personal feelings of Israeli citizens, who are proud of their country. As I have promised, we will continue in this way of bringing down the cost of living and solving the housing crisis.
-- PM Benjamin Netanyahu, commenting on publication of the Global Happiness Index and Israel's high placement within
I like how he takes credit for Israeli's happiness (though government reforms that work surely has something to do with it, unless you get stuck waiting in line at Misrad Hapnim offices)..
interesting how Israelis complain so much, and around the world can be seen as rude and often angry, yet are actually so happy.
there was a horrible attack in Mea Shearim - an army officer went to visit his soldiers, and was attacked by some of the locals.
As horrible as the attack was, and I hope this problem is dealt with at the highest levels, did you catch what happened? This officer was visiting his soldiers in Mea Shearim. His soldiers live in Mea Shearim!
Even Haredim in the heart of one of the most extreme Haredi, anti-army, neighborhoods in the country, are going into the army. Maybe not enough yet, but it is happening.
מעלה את התמונה הזו עם דמעות בעינייםאתמול בשעה שמונה בערב הייתי על הטיסה מתל אביב למדריד.כל הישראלים בשעה שמונה בדיוק נ...
Posted by Daniel Davidzon on Wednesday, April 22, 2015
The fellow writes that he has uploaded the picture with tears in his eyes..
yesterday (Yom Hazikaron), at 8pm on a flight from Tel Aviv to Madrid, all the Israelis stood up exactly at 8pm and stood for a minute of silence, without even being able to hear the siren.
It was not pleasant, and it was not comfortable, but that did not stop us from giving respect to those who fell while protecting us. Love and respect that is only in Israel!
The Israeli is not just ugly (RG: this refers to a series of videos tagged with the name "Hayisraeli Hamechuar - the ugly Israeli - that depict Israelis screaming and being rude to get something they want, like chocolate, a dress in a store, or other things)
the chumrah is that the cows ate during Pesach "sefichin" - produce that is prohibited during shmitta - and therefore drinking milk from regular dairy cows is a problem. The sign offers anyone who wants to obtain milk from cows that have only eaten produce planted before this past Rosh Hashana and was harvested properly, should call...
I don't know why they don't just give the cows yevul nochri...
aren't the cows eating grass and hay anyway? what produce do they eat? I had n idea that cows are being given sefichin to eat, and I have no idea if that is a problem or not, let alone a problem with the milk that cow produces...
Shmuel Albeck talks about finding out later that he had been the one to start Israel's War of Independence as part of The Founders: The Story of the 1948 Generation, a jointly produced project of Toldot Yisrael and the History Channel.
Today we take on a bit of a different project: the national anthem. Interestingly, it's not from one of our 5 native countries. This evening marks the beginning of Yom Ha'atzmaut, Israeli Independence Day, so we decided to honor Israel with this original rendition of their anthem. It would be a great goal for us to record all national anthems of the world! Happy 67th birthday, Israel!
Arranged by Simon Åkesson Audio mixing by Evan Sanders Video by Andrew Kesler
We are 6 vocalists from 5 different countries. We create these projects through Internet collaboration. Check out our (kinda crazy) backstory: http://bit.ly/accentepk
Magen (Israel) + Jewish Community Watch (USA) will be joining up next week for two public evenings of awareness and education about child sexual abuse.
Sunday - Ahavat Zion, Beit Shemesh
Monday - Yeshurun, Jerusalem.
Combat soldiers are the stories of suckers who did not have the courage to avoid army service. Anybody stupid enough to sacrifice himself for the State has to pay the price of his stupidity.
-- Amir Chetzroni
idiot. This idiot found a way to go from being relatively unknown to being one of the most famous people in the country, in just a few short weeks. And he chose to do it by consistently being an idiot.
Someone in Geula was upset about the annual Neturei Karta protest at the Kikar Shabbos intersection at the time of the memorial siren for Yom Hazikaron. In response, that person, seemingly unidentified, blasted Hatikva out a window somewhere.
Wow! When this post was written and posted about the madness of not including womens pictures in publications, I don't think anybody even took into account ramifications of danger to life that can be caused by not publishing the image of a woman.
It would never have crossed my mind that in a situation of danger to life the publication/community would still not print a picture. I did not even imagine a scenario where that might happen.
That is something that is a sakana, and anybody who can possibly find her, see her walking down the street, being abducted God forbid, or whatever, should be able to quickly identify her and alert the authorities. I would never even think otherwise.
Yet Bechadrei printed this missing person's report without including a picture of the missing woman!
That is insane!
Can you imagine the milk carton with the face blurred out for tzniyus reasons, making the missing person practically unidentifiable?
From the description alone, 35 year old woman, thin with a head covering and sport shoes, black skirt and white blouse, 1.4 meters tall, that is practically every and any 35 year old woman in the country! How can anybody possibly identify this poor missing woman from that description with no picture?
This is insane!
By the way, Kikar included a copy of the woman's teudat zehut picture:
oy, Shas, Shas, Shas. We are already getting a preview of what Shas does when in government. They get rid of people not connected to them, in the ministries they control, and put in their own people. Isn't that what being in government is all about?
In Bet Shemesh, Rav Shimon Biton has been serving as Chief Rabbi for many years. He is well-liked among the city's residents, regardless of religious status and affiliation. (personally I have no direct connection to Rav Biton, though I have heard him speak a few times).
Yet because Rav Biton, a sefardi and haredi rav, is not affiliated with Shas, Shas has decided they want to force him out of his position so they can appoint a Shas-affiliated rabbi in his place.
They are trying to use an old law from 1975 that says a rav over 80 cannot continue in his position. The rule, it seems, has only limited new rabbis from being appointed if they were already over 80, but rabbonim already in their posts from before the law were (pun intended) grandfathered in. Rav Biton has been in his position since a time before the law took effect, though it only became official after..
They want to appoint Rav Shlomo ben Ezra, whom I do not know but am sure he is probably a wonderful person and rabbi, though in the Kikar article it seems some people think he is not qualified for this specific position. Rabbi Ben Ezra just happens to be affiliated with Shas.
Kikar Shabbat, a Haredi news site, has come up with a new way of generating advertising revenue, and it is by accusing some readers of theft.
When surfing to the Kikar Shabbat website yesterday I received an unusual popup message. It said that the system has detected that I am using ad-blocker software to block their advertisements. The notice adds that I am trying to surf the Kikar website while transgressing an issur d'oraita.
That is pretty serious stuff.
On the one hand the entire Internet is assur, on the other hand using the Internet without seeing Kikar ads is also assur. damned if you do, damned if you don't!
The message offered two options to the surfer - one button offered instructions for disabling the ad-blocker. The other button stated "I want to continue to steal".
I clicked on both buttons out of curiosity. Clicking on the "cancel ad blocker" button took me to a page with instructions how to exclude their site. Clicking on the "I want to steal" button yesterday took me to a page to fill out a form for interest in vocational courses and Nahal Haredi. Today they changed it and it takes me to a page explaining why it is theft, and then brings sources for how serious a transgression theft is.
Pretty serious stuff.
it seems using filters is assur. I guess they are promoting unfiltered internet. I wonder which gadol this charedi-oriented website asked about this...
As of this coming Sunday, you will no longer be able to use Pango to pay for your parking in many cities around Israel. You'll have to go back to the old fashioned method of buying the parking tickets from machines or kiosks and attach them to the window of your car.
The Supreme Court rejected the request of Pango to extend its contract with the municipal governments.
The list of cities in which Pango will no longer work include Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa, Petach Tikva, Bnei Braq, Eilat, Givat Shmuel, Nazareth, Nahariya, Rosh Haayin, Ness Ziona, Carmiel and others.
If Pango does not succeed in signing new contracts directly with each city individually, Pango will no longer work in those cities. In some of those cities you will still be able to use CelloPark, Pango's competitor, but not in all the cities.
The problem that has led to this is a gap in the period between the expiry of the previous contract and the publication of the results of the new tender. Because of some legal issues, the previous contract had been shortened, creating this gap.
Shimon Peres cleared out of the President's office a few months ago. Just because he is over 90 years old, does not mean he has to now sit at home and enjoy living off his pension.
Shimon Peres got a job. Peres even put out a video showing his job hunt experiences a little while back - to remind you:
So, Shimon Peres got a job.
TheMarker reports that Shimon Peres has gotten a new job, and it is not in the political arena. Peres will be working as a presenter for Bank Hapoalim. He will be earning 30,000nis per month in his new position.
Some are criticizing the move. I don't see what the big deal is. Is a former president only allowed to go on speaking tours and play golf? This is a respectable job and it does not, in my opinion, reflect poorly on the position of the presidency.
Under Netanyahu's rule as Prime Minister and Finance Minister, even elderly people can get jobs. Unemployment just came down another bit.
Rabbi Shmuel Rabinotch, the rav of the Kotel, said yesterday that in light of what happened in the morning, with the Women of the Wall taking the Torah and treating it like a random object, anybody who was present at the Kotel at the time should fast as if it had fallen to the floor.
I am curious as to the source of this necessity to fast. If you know, please comment.
I am also not sure why what they did was considered treating it like a random object. People pass the Torah to others fairly regular in our regular services. The person removes the Torah from the aron kodesh and passes it to the chazzan. On simchas torah people holding the Torah during the dancing pass it to the next person assigned to holding it.
Why is one person passing the Torah to the women yesterday any different than the normal passing of the Torah from person to person?
These questions do not take any stand on whether or not the Women of the Wall should be reading from the Torah at the Kotel or not. I just don't understand Rav Rabinovitch's ruling.
A group of us, being concerned about the future of this city and sympathetic to the womenwho are harmed by this practice, produced a flyer to raise awareness of the damage of this policy.
This post is a response to certainfeedback that we have received. The overwhelming reaction to our efforts has been positive. Charedi and Dati women contacted us and have spoken about the difficulties they are having due to this phenomenon.
For example: female speakers are prohibited from publicizing their pictures, newspapers alter photographs and history by erasing women, phonebooks list only the husband’s name, families are honored but only the men accept the awards, etc. This causes the women to feel increasingly marginalized. It also severely hampers kiruv efforts.
Some feedback was not positive. Responders who oppose our view that erasing females is wrong, told us that we “do not understand”. We have been called everything from ‘misguided’, to ‘dead wrong’. One local resident actually referred to us as ‘Satan’.
The usual explanations come in one of the following forms (from actual letters):
If it bothers you, just don’t buy them, its really that simple.
Women are so sexualized in the world that we must do the opposite:
A woman’s worth, her beauty is internal.
Achdus! Why must you start up?
Its always been this way
We are telling our daughters that their externals are not important.
Preserving women’s privacy does not prevent them from having a major influence in our lives.
It’s our right
If it bothers you, just don’t buy them, its really that simple.
Well, no its not. Because these circulars are delivered to our homes and then our families are exposed to this distorted, offensive worldview- a view where women are objects and men are uncontrollable.
We are forced to throw away these circulars without opening them and yet, we are counted as numbers to the poor advertisers who actually pay because they think we are reading them. (Is this not dishonest by the way?)
It is offensive to us to see publications that discriminate against women. We do not want them delivered to our doors. Yet we are given no choice.
Moreover, you fail to consider the women who are put at significant disadvantage to their male counterparts. Open the RBS Views and you will see smiling male doctors, male real estate agents, male store owners, male health practitioners, but you will not see one woman. There is a reason that people put their pictures in ads. It elicits trust and recognition. By not allowing women to advertise with their pictures you are directly harming their parnasah. Is that ok?
We should also mention here that it is illegal.
It is illegal to discriminate according to one’s sex.
We realize this will not matter to some, but we feel it is worth mentioning.
If a magazine feels it cannot print women, it must also not print men. Having one without the other is blatant discrimination.
“Women are so sexualized in the world that we must do the opposite”:
Let's put this clearly. We have a Torah. God created male and female. God gave us laws. We are meant to live Torah, choose life and not sway right or left. The middle ground is the holy ground- so says the Rambam. Far from being reactive and simply swinging far away from the world. We should be the guiding light. We must show that women are not to be exploited, not through nudity and not by erasing them.
“A woman’s worth, her beauty is internal.She is precious and her image should be guarded and reserved for her and her husband alone.”
This amounts to telling a woman where she should and should not be. We will counter by saying that we are not jewels to be put into and taken out of a drawer when you so choose. Women are p e o p l e who have been trusted by God to know right from wrong. We have been given sachel and mitzvot to act appropriately and with honor-- and most of us do.
And we want to tell you a secret.
When and if there is a woman who is less modest than you believe she should be, it is your commandment to look away. Yours. And the pasuk that people like to throw about “Kol Kevudah Bat Melech Pnima” and claim that it means that her worth is internal and that she must remain behind the scenes. That pasuk-- from tehillim, is used by Chazal to exempt a woman from activities requiring her appearance in public. It does not prohibit her from such activities. If she chooses, she can abstain. The key of course here is that it is her choice. It was not meant to manipulate a woman into staying out of sight.
Achdus! Why must you start up?
Well, this is a very difficult thing to discuss as this word is thrown into the faces of those people who tirelessly work to make things better. Achdus does not mean keeping silent when people are being hurt. It does not mean avoiding discussing problems in a community. Judaism has always been about encouraged arguing L’shem Shamayim and it shouldn’t stop now. But why, when people say, “Hey, this is damaging and its getting out of control” are we the ones being accused of sowing discord?
We have seen a chumash, the Torah itself -- edited for content in a girls school. They took out the stories of Lot and his daughters and that of Tamar and Yehuda-- the subjects they think God should have left out. We have seen Megillat Esthers, with no image of Esther- the same with female free hagadot etc. and picture books for children with no drawings of girls or women.
When you remove women and girls, you are altering the way Hashem made the world and you are removing the balance Hashem intended. You are also removing personal responsibility which is a core value of Judaism.
Allowing people to bully others -- and many of these publications are bullied into this policy -- is not Achdus. Enabling the discrimination of women business owners is not achdus. Teaching little girls that they must be hidden and little boys that they are lust filled creatures who cannot be trusted, is not achdus.
And if we are going to speak of achdus, why do our sensitivities not come into the equation? What about the bullied publications and store owners?
It’s always been this way.
No. No, it hasn’t. It is part of the growing extremism. Please watch this:
As I woman, I feel that preserving women’s privacy does not prevent them from having a major influence in our lives.
This is simply untrue. This is not a privacy issue. No one is publicizing women who do not want to be publicized. What is happening is censorship of women who do want their name, face, product out there for parnasah purposes. Moreover, it is a censorship of an entire gender that is being normalized and it is a fallacy of logic to not see where it leads. When women are made pasul they are taken less seriously, have less of a voice, and will be seen as less worthy. It is a natural and inevitable conclusion. As mentioned above, it is not only faces that are being censored. Even anonymous photos of stockinged legs, or skirts are not being allowed in these publications.
“We are telling our daughters to be modest and that their contribution to the community has nothing to do with their outward appearance.
No, you are telling them that their appearance is a PROBLEM that it causes sin and is offensive and thus they must be hidden. What you are saying is that even a modest, respectable woman is a problem and that men cannot be trusted not to lust and so YOU girls, must hide and YOU boys, are lust filled creatures who cannot normally interact with a female because she is not a person, a spark of God you can respect, you can only see her as a sexual thing (YES that is what you are saying) and so we cannot allow you to have normal interactions.
And this. This is our very favorite:
“Must everybody do as you do? Don’t we also have the right to free speech?”
Apparently, sir, the irony lost on you that your free speech silences all women.
What you call a ‘right’ not to see women means removing their right to be seen.
And so, when you claim that it is a community’s right to hide, to shame, to put a girl in the back of the bus, you are not only physically erasing her but you are silencing her as well.
Friends, erasing women and girls from books and magazines is not a holy thing. It is a thing that comes from one of two places. It comes from misogyny, from thinking it is your right to tell a woman where she belongs. Or, it comes from a place of over sexualization, a place where men and women cannot interact normally because men cannot see a woman as more than her parts.
Is this who we are?
We desperately hope not. It certainly isn't who we are meant to be.
Signed,
Concerned Jews who want to stop the madness,,
Shoshanna Jaskoll, Gary Swickley, Mark Granat, Michael Lipkin, Eve Finkelstein, Yehuda Fulda, Chuck Davidson, Alisa Coleman, Nili Philipp, Naava Swirsky, Rena Hollander, Miriam Weed, Etana Hecht, Yaakov Har-Oz, Leah Berman, Gillian Kay, Sandy Cash, Daniel Goldman, Naomi Silverman, Miriam Friedman Zussman, Irena Gossels, Len Gossels, Alana Assaraf, Ashley Coleman, Shifra Friedman, Bracha Epstein, Jessica Golomb, Helen Abelesz , Sorcha Mildiner, Marta Berman, Lenny Solomon, Steve Ganot, Brenda Ganot, Ruth Wellins, Faige Spolter, Avraham Nacher, Rafi Goldmeier, Naomi Kruger Arram, Rifki Orzech, Susann Codish and more
Please note: As a rule, we do not engage with anonymous commentators.
To add your name to the letter, send an email to Weareallbeitshemesh@gmail.com
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