Dónde están las mujeres
July 17, 2008
Ethics | Social Action
(4 comments)
By dcc
This week the Saudi government sponsored an interfaith meeting in Madrid, Spain. Rabbi Scott Sperling, director of the Mid-Atlantic Council of the Union and representative of the Commission on Interreligious Affairs, is there for the Reform Movement. Ari Alexander, co-founder of Children of Abraham, is also attending. He is live blogging at Mixed Multitudes about the event. He was shocked to see so few female participants at the conference. In a week were where we read Parashat Pinchas, a seminal work of feminism in the Torah, his point resonates even louder for me.
It is all too easy for men to say nothing about the lack of women in a room, Alexander writes. As a young man working in a world with far more women than men, but where there are very few women in positions of power, not saying anything is not an option. We must say something when there is a clear issue of discrimination. It is also the responsibility of all involved--both those in the majority and those being discriminated against--to work against these trends.
Take a look at Alexander's post. It is worth the read.
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This is a refreshing topic, given all that we've been hit with on the other side of the coin -- where are the men in synsgogue leadership, where are the boys in NFTY. Reading both dcc and Alexander tends to lend some credence to what I haven't wanted to think -- that Reform egalitarianism, creating opportunities for women, is directly responsible for the disappearance of men, or at least the diminution of their presence.
But Alexander's post raises another issue. I'm referring to the reference to women rabbis not being included, in order not to scare away the Orthodox rabbinate. I don't know the answer, but the question is real: How much do we compromize our own principles out of deference to the principles of others?
In our community, the congregations across the denominational spectrum used to gather for Yom HaShoah. One year when the Orthodox congregation vetoed having the Reform cantor -- female -- sing, the Conservative cantor -- male -- said he wouldn't sing either, and the program proceeded without music.
And is there, or should there be, a difference in the concessions we'll make to Muslims as compared to concessions we'll make to Orthodox Jews?