In response to this week's question, I think that Jewish women try to have the same relationship to the Torah as Jewish men do, but are often prevented or looked down upon by men for doing so, as shown in Half the Kingdom. I do no believe that studying the Torah is the only way these women can relate to scripture. However, although JBK referenced making challah, cooking kosher meals, and teaching children Bible stories and domestic traditions as other ways of relating to Torah, I think after listening to all of the women’s stories and how emotional they got when they were able to read and touch the Torah for the first time, it is evident that these other ways of relating to Torah simply aren’t enough for these women. I thought this need to relate to the Torah was accurately conveyed in the movie by one woman’s comment about how we should not be holding on to 2,000 year old traditions that are discriminatory. I believe these women just want to be on equal footing with the men in their society, and although they are relating to the Torah with these other practices, the actual act of being given the right to study it seems to be a source of empowerment for them. In response to whether or not the devotion to Torah study is out of touch with reality, I believe for people who are not part of that religion it seems like it would be out of touch with reality, but for them it is normal. They may see a lot of things that we do as being out of touch with reality. For them, the Torah is their reality, meaning that as long as it continues to be studied, readers will always be left with a derogatory view of women. I agreed with one of the women from Half the Kingdom who offered a possible solution to this situation by saying that we can’t hang onto these male texts. We need to find womens texts to study from and write new texts. Until this happens, Jewish women will constantly be fighting for equal rights.
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2 comments:
Good observations, Meredith. But you speak about the women and men whose lives center around these sacred texts almost as if they're a different species. Granted, you are careful about not judging their commitments and passions as being any less valid than those of "us" who are into other things. But I wonder - can you imagine why thinking modern women like those in the movie, who in certain ways are not that different from you (except that they're older) chose to make these old religious texts such a central part of their life, even at the cost having others resent them for it, or at the risk of appearing like real weirdos?
Is there any commitment you have (if not to a text or religious tradition, to something else) that you feel really strongly about and which puts you in an analogous position vis a vis your peers? If so, that experience is probably something like what the Jewish women and men in the movies engaged in Torah experience. I guess I'm trying to nudge you a bit closer to the "structured empathy" we talked about in the World Religions class. Is there anything in your register of experiences and feelings that you think might in some way be analogous to the experiences, feelings, and commitments of the people in the movie?
In response, I personally think that when your beliefs are so radically different from others, that they CAN in fact seem like a different species if you don't understand where they're coming from. I suppose that these modern thinking women chose to make these old religious texts such a central part of their life because their religion tells them to do so. The Torah is supposed to be a central part of their life and they are choosing to abide by this despite extreme criticism by Jewish men. Although their religion tells them to abide by the Torah, I still do not think it is out of the question to have female written texts become a staple of Jewish reading material as well. These women seem to be risking everything for their beliefs, and although I would not personally do that in regards to any religion I understand their reasons for doing so.
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