As I alluded to in my second blog, some people dislike being separated from the other gender during prayer. Although many women embrace the separation from men during prayer, other women believe that the separation makes women inferior to men. In a typical synagogue, women sit above men or behind them, which puts men closer to the rabbi (leader of Jewish synagogue and prayer services) and to what the rabbi or cantor is saying. By being farther from the leader of prayers, women can not see what is going on. Orthodox Jewish women also feel that they are isolated from other people, even though they are surrounded by other women in the same position. The feeling of isolation comes from not being able to sit with the people one loves (if he is a man) and not feeling comfortable being separated by gender. In our American society, we are not used to being separated because we are male or female, but in Orthodox Judaism, this type of separation is widely accepted and believed to be beneficial in prayer so that people can get closer to G-d. I think that Orthodox women accept the gender separation and do not think about the separation after attending many prayer services because after some amount of time, they become accustomed to the separation.
The idea that women are inferior to men speaks to the cultural idea of gender and how people of different genders are supposed to behave. In the American culture, men are superior to women and have a greater status than women. The same holds true for Judaism. Men are superior to women and are the only people who hold important roles in an Orthodox Jewish society. In Judaism, women are not inferior to men; rather men and women are equal, but men have more duties to perform as a Jew than women do. According to Jewish laws and commandments, it the job of Orthodox Jewish women to care for their children and their house, which is similar to the traditional role women in American culture. In the American culture, women are housewives and men are the workers who make money to support his family. I believe that women are certainly inferior to men in our American culture because of the lack of equality between men and women in jobs, salary differences, in the ways women are supposed to behave, and in the jobs women are expected to have. However, in Orthodox Judaism, it is clear that women have less of a role than women. While I do not think this right and I believe that women should have equal rights to men, many Orthodox synagogues still separate men from women during prayer. There is not much that I can do to change the situation, but I think eventually, most Orthodox synagogues will become egalitarian where men and women are not separated.
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Amy–
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading this entry because you gave a voice to many Jewish women in regards to this topic. I, too, could relate to this topic personally. In the 4th grade, my Hebrew school class went to our teachers Jewish Orthodox wedding in Queens, New York. Before the wedding began, we visited one of the oldest synagogues in this area, and watched men and women pray and doven with more passion then I had ever seen! The women were located on the balcony, while the men took up the entire floor area. Not only was, it moving to witness the gender separation, but also the intensity of prayer engagement was just as powerful.
It is clear that upholding early tradition is still strongly enforced. Orthodox Jews want no other form of Judaism other than the original. I understand this, which is why I understand gender separation because in those times sexism was relatively heavy. The roles of women were very limited, like you mentioned. For those women who embrace separation, I would say they have internalized their roles as women due to psychological conditioning. However, I do not feel Orthodox Judaism would be true to its claim if women and men were not separated. Unfortunately, orthodoxy holds no room for progressivism.
I agree with you that the women probably do feel isolated and oppressed by their cultural role. I remember learning how recently married Lubavitch women had to shave their heads and wear a wig and a hat in public because only their husbands could see their exposed head. This stunned me, but the women are cultured and normalized to these conditions that they have inherited. I admire the strength of these women, but also agree with you and wish they could be a part of a more egalitarian environment. Orthodoxy is a way of life that I definitely would struggle in, but it’s a valuable way of life, nonetheless.