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September 2007

Equal Rights (2007)

Women & Judaism Religion & State
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Egalitarianism: Halacha and Tradition (2007)

Intro: Ari Berman/Green/Jack Rudin... Lecture – controversial – no one will be happy. Bullet-proof vest – stones/tomatoes. I ask you to hold your prejudices in check, & understand this = complicated subject, no simple answer. Definition: EGM from French: égalité; is belief all equal, no hierarchy. EGM begins w Emancipation even < Fr Rev (1789) to Congress of Berlin (1878) & then to 1933 (Rise Nazism); EGM originates Europe; rejected by Catholic, some Protestant & most of Islam. In USA, EGM – Civil Rights Revol & also → moral relativism; personal autonomy (both unacceptable to Hal). Alexis de Tocqueville (1857) attributed idea of Equality to Jsm (monotheism). BUT W. Europe: Elitists – Democracy (via EGM) = enemy excellence; reject idea equality as work of Js, so: hateful. Islam too rejects democracy/EGM universality, foreign to Isl trad. (Explains today’s militant Islamic assault vs America, Isr). “The Great Satan.” So (2003) Pres Malaysia to 57 Islamic leaders: “We = against a ppl who think; survived 2000 yrs pogroms by not hitting back but by thinking; invented Communism/Socialism/human rights/Democracy” – basically repeating Hitler’s views. AMER EGM – opportunities Js rel Js to participate in Am society; Ideal צלם אלקים – EGM has been good for Js – not only Orth, but all who identify as Js; even Chinese impressed. Dan Elazar: EGM in synagogue – little interest to Israelis. Need for individual choice = incomprehensible. EGM Roots in Tor? Yes, but not dominant all else. Will explain. Arguments For EGM in Jsm: אתם נצבים היום כולכם לפני ה׳ אלקיכם ראשיכם שבטיכם זקניכם ושטריכם כל איש ישראל – טפכם נשיכם וגרך אשר בקרב מחניך מחטב עציך עד שואב מימיך. ברכות דף יז/א מרגלא בפומייהו דרבנן דיבנה: אני בריה וחברי בריה; אני מלאכתי בעיר והוא מלאכתו בשדה; אני משכים למלאכתי והוא משכים למלאכתו; כשם שהוא אינו מתגדר במלאכתי כך אני איני מתגדר במלאכתו; ושמא תאמר אני מרבה והוא ממעיט – שנינו אחד המרבה ואחד הממעיט ובלבד שיכוין לבו לשמים. משנה סנהדרין פרק ד: לפיכך נברא אדם …
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Speech

How Equal Should Women Be? (1959)

I am qualified to speak on this subject because of the happy circumstance that there are as many women as men in my ancestry. Freud maintained that in the natural psychological makeup of the human race there is inherently a striving or battle between male and female. In addition, in any society, especially a competitive society, there will always be a tendency for friction between the sexes. Ancient societies were generally directed and dominated by one of the sexes. Some of them were matriarchal, dominated by the women or mother. Most societies of ancient days were patriarchal. Our own society was originally patriarchal. It is now in a state of transition. The whole problem of “How equal should women be?” is peculiar to modern society, emerging, as it is, from a completely patriarchal culture to a new kind of civilization – perhaps partially matriarchal. The whole concept of women’s rights is no more than about fifty years old. The problem was brought into sharp focus in World War I, when the men were away on the battlefield fighting, and women were called upon to serve their places in industry and offices, as a sort of second best. No one really thought that they would prove anywhere near as capable as men. They were, however, surprised by the fact that in many of these temporary positions, the women proved to be superior to the male. From that day on, American women have been getting more and more rights. Today there are two and a half million more women voters than men voters. One third of the American labor force – about twenty-two million – are women. We are today, insofar as the position of women in society, in a state of flux. And the stress and strain of the transition period is having its definite effect upon all members of our civilization. If you will excuse the metaphor, the pattern of the American woman’s position in society has been set – but the basting thread has not yet been taken out. Alterations still must and will be made.The problem today in A…
Women & Judaism

Outline

Quotes for Egalitarianism Talk (2005)

Quotes for egalitarianism talk: 1) Egalitarianism has proven to be a challenge to Orthodox Jews, but also for non-Orthodox Jews who identify themselves as Jews and are therefore must grapple with their role as Jews in Western society. Perhaps one can say that for non-Orthodox Jews, “navigating the boundaries between one’s religious/communal/ethnic identity, and one’s participation in society, is even more vexing and complex. 2) Jewish particularism is in conflict with the pressures of emancipation, a was so for most of the past two-hundred years. 3) Moses Mendelssohn was probably the most important and earliest person to articulate the problem of the conflict between Judaism and modernity. He himself realized that contemporary notions of egalitariasnim and non-judgementalism had to be rejected if traditional Judaism was to survive intact. Thus Mendelssohn reinforced the immutable authority of Halakhah. 4) Great Gedolim of the 19th Century maintained that the danger to Jewish survival from hostile anti-Semitism, is accompanied by fear that too much acceptance and too much love will be accompanied by a demand that we abandon our exclusivity and simply assimilate. Thus, Rabbi Yosef Baer Soloveitchik (1820-1892) and the Netziv. These Gedolim were not opposed to the spirit of emancipation and tolerance brought about in the enlightenment, but they were concerned mostly not with the Gentiles but with the Jews who would try to reciprocate the kindness of the Gentile world by dropping out from Judaism. (The above two items come from the article by Edward Breuer, “Jews and Judaism in an Egalitarian Society," in the Orthodox Forum volume entitled “Formulating Responses in an Egalitarian Age.") Note: The Netziv lived from 1817 to 1893.
Women & Judaism