Tikkun Olam

 A few tidbits and pieces of information from surfing the Web.  Perhaps they'll peek your interest... Just read about a young Hareidi woman who insisted on serving in the IDF .  She apparently impressed others with the courage of her convictions, and was a role model for others, some of whom became interested in being more observant.  And to top that off--read the article--someone said about this girl that she should have died instead.  What is Judaism coming to??!   Sharia law, that's what.  We must nip it in the bud. Have researched the issue of " Kol Isha " (the voice of a woman), and here is something interesting relating to this so-called 'halacha.'  The opinions have moved very far to the right from even when I was growing up.  I totally disagree with the machmir (stringent) view, as you can well imagine.  The 'rabbanim' have sexualized everything about women-- everything , to the point where we must wonder why G-d created us ...

My loyal readers know how I feel about Judaism (love it), and how I feel about the Haredi* distortion of Judaism with their sexist attitudes (hate it).  I have written often (a sampling being here , here , and in my previous post from yesterday) about the radicalization of halacha (Jewish law), and the terrible situations on some Israeli buses, with the verbal, emotional and sometimes even physical abuse of women who dare not to sit "in their place" at the back of the bus.  Shades of anti Black-American segregation from the sixties... I had also complained (that's what an armchair activist does, complain) that I had not heard any voices speaking up from the Orthodox, or better--Ultra-Orthodox sector about these abuses.  Had not heard, until now (hat tip to Primum Non Nocere for alerting us to this article). Rav Haim Amsalem , a Haredi (or Chareidi, if you will) Rabbi, has now expressed his view of the fanatic, perverted discrimination against women that is going on in...

I have written previously about Haredi segregated buses , and the abuse that is sometimes perpetrated against women who inadvertently sit in the front of the bus, instead of the rear where they belong, according to the Haredi view of the halacha (Jewish law) of modesty.  Some Haredi men will go so far as to verbally and emotionally abuse a woman who has sat in the front of the bus, if she refuses to move to the back. Apparently some women are fighting back.  They have petitioned the Israeli Supreme Court to ban gender-segregation on public buses.  Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz is supposed to issue the government's verdict.  Let's hope he uses his שכל , and shows by his decision that Israel values mitzvot bein adam le-havero more than the humra-of-the-week .

I am remiss: I meant to write about this months ago, and other issues got in the way. But this is such an important topic that I am writing about it now. The issue of a woman's role in scholarship and Judaic ritual leadership, which has been 'whispered' about just under the surface for a while now, was raised aloud again and brought to the forefront recently. This has happened particularly by the big news made by Rabbi Avi Weiss with his "Open Orthodoxy" idea, opening the door for women to have a leadership and public role in Jewish ritual observance , and also by Rabbi Yuval Sherlo , head of the Petach Tikva Hesder Yeshiva, when he created his "halachic document" enabling women to increase their participation in synagogue services, and by various other articles and blogs on the subject. Here are some excerpts: from The Forward : Rabbi Avi Weiss, a leading advocate for a more liberal Orthodoxy, and Sara Hurwitz, a protégé of Weiss, are now taking inquir...