tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11850330.post3852560471242904819..comments2023-08-03T04:54:54.068-04:00Comments on Abacaxi Mamão: Orthodoxy, Feminism, and Me, 1997-2007Abacaxi Mamaohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06604184268628243496noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11850330.post-66565069120152748482007-06-12T14:43:00.000-04:002007-06-12T14:43:00.000-04:00I’m new at blogging and I was happy to read all yo...I’m new at blogging and I was happy to read all your comments. I felt like I could identify to all of you at once. I too agree that it is very hard to find oneself in this crazy society. It is easy to get lost amidst all the social/cultural/religious/political movements that emerge every day. <BR/><BR/>I think that the quest for identity is a lifetime journey. But in this search for identity, we shall not get lost. No matter who we are and what we believe in, we shall remember that we are Jewish women above all. This is our original and everlasting identity. This is why, when I prevaricate about my "true" self, I always go back to my roots, as a Jewish woman nekuda.<BR/><BR/>I wanted to share with you this amazing website that I recently discovered: www.fridaylight.org. It equally addresses all Jewish women and provides with great background about women and Judaism. After visiting this website, I lit my first Shabbat candle and found myself overwhelmed with serenity and harmony. Then I read other women experiences with Shabbat candle lighting and I realized how much this weekly mitzvah brings light not only into my home, but into the world at large. <BR/><BR/>I encourage you all to check out this website. It even offers many more services. <BR/><BR/>Thank you for sharing your stories, it’s good to feel connected.<BR/><BR/>Shavouah tov!Evahavahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09198528595095094113noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11850330.post-31894426986121781382007-03-26T20:11:00.000-04:002007-03-26T20:11:00.000-04:00Smoo,Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment....Smoo,<BR/>Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment. I think that Rabbi Mendel Shapiro writes about the new semi-egalitarian "partnership" minyanim, not about "women's tefilla groups," which don't include men at all. If he mentions them in the article, I don't think he really discusses their halakhic status.Abacaxi Mamaohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06604184268628243496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11850330.post-100616484220988102007-03-26T19:20:00.000-04:002007-03-26T19:20:00.000-04:00See my post at http://shmuzings.blogspot.com/2006/...See my post at http://shmuzings.blogspot.com/2006/03/halakhic-egalitarian-minyan.html<BR/><BR/>which summarizes simply (I hope) Rabbi Mendel Shapiro's halachik analysis of women's Tefilah group.<BR/><BR/>Enjoyed your post.smoohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16540322073693784985noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11850330.post-6920377125114660922007-03-20T13:18:00.000-04:002007-03-20T13:18:00.000-04:00mama o' the matrices,I hate to break this to you, ...mama o' the matrices,<BR/><BR/>I hate to break this to you, but the particular Orthodox school of which you speak is better than many others as far as women's issues go. That doesn't mean that there isn't still a lot of room for growth, of course. The only schools that I can think of that have actual women teaching actual Gemara are SAR (in Riverdale) and possibly Flatbush (in Brooklyn--I know they used to have someone, but don't know the current status of that). In fact, I only know of a few other high schools of any kind (Conservative, community, etc.), where women teach Gemara. So, if that's your criteria, you're kind of stuck. The school of which you speak in Boston (my alma mater) has many advantages over other Modern Orthodox schools, including having many women teach Torah to boys and having boys and girls study the exact same curriculum. Growing up cloistered as I was in Boston, I had no idea that there was even an issue of women studying Gemara seriously, which is part of why I had the problems that I did in Israel. Others who grew up, say, in New York, and knew that there were schools where girls didn't learn Gemara (or even attended the schools themselves) had, from a young age, internalized Gemara as a boy's thing. I was lucky never to have that.<BR/><BR/>If you had daughters, I would advise you to send them to Drisha in the summer to innoculate them with the notion that women are full and active participants in all areas of Jewish literary and scholarly life. Unfortunately, with boys, I'm not sure there's really any place at all that they can learn that while still in high school. Perhaps by attending community lectures at Maayan...Abacaxi Mamaohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06604184268628243496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11850330.post-42129734375400150792007-03-19T08:41:00.000-04:002007-03-19T08:41:00.000-04:00Sigh. Somehow the role of women in Judaism - a sub...Sigh. Somehow the role of women in Judaism - a subject on which the Man and I agree - became heated all over again in the question of schooling for the boys.<BR/><BR/>As it should, mind you. The question of a woman's role can't be simply confined to shul. As you point out, there's a mental counting of heads - are the female teachers teaching Chumash? Navi? Fine. But what about Gemara?<BR/><BR/>Finding an Orthodox education for my boys that teaches them also that women are equal religious partners? Not in Boston.ZMhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04469113104449353180noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11850330.post-83187447282549177182007-03-18T20:03:00.000-04:002007-03-18T20:03:00.000-04:00This post was well worth the time it took to writ...This post was well worth the time it took to write it, let alone to read it. You will really, really enjoy a new book by Ilana Blumberg called Houses of Study, about her relationship to talmud torah and other bookish engagements (such as English literature). She eloquently captures the frustrations of the now-obligatory year in Israel.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11850330.post-50704674049180993352007-03-16T17:02:00.000-04:002007-03-16T17:02:00.000-04:00Great post![Part of this was youthful angst, but p...Great post!<BR/><BR/><I>[Part of this was youthful angst, but part of it was definitely a rational disappointment in the institutions that had raised me up as a model of what Modern Orthodoxy was supposed to be and then cast me down when I asked for more Torah. Perhaps if I had been raised to expect less, I would have been less disappointed.]</I><BR/><BR/>This describes my disillusionment with the Reform movement as well. (Except it sounds like at least <B>one</B> sex was getting what they wanted where you came from.)<BR/><BR/><I>I think that this is sort of a stupid term, no offense intended to its originator, but I don't have anything better unless you think chatzi-egal is better. Some people I know call them that. Or quasi-egal, but the half-Hebrew, half-English term is more fun.</I><BR/><BR/>Call it whatever you want, as long as you don't call it "halachic egalitarian"!<BR/><BR/>(I've also heard these minyanim described as "I can't believe it's not egal", and when Darkhei Noam started and didn't have a name yet, someone referred to it as "the Ortho-Hadar", though that name may be less apt as the communities have taken different paths.)BZhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18242965196421853025noreply@blogger.com