This past Shabbos I was in a shul I have davened in only once before. There's a different Rabbi from the last time I was there, and so the announcement were different from what I remembered.
Each "Mazal Tov" was announced (I will use a generic name name for example purposes) as "Reb Chaim Schwartz and his family." Even for the family who had had a baby, this was the way it was announced. I cannot fathom what the reason could be that it could not be announced as "Reb Chaim and Mrs. Schwartz and their family"
What's the big deal you ask? Why does it matter if the woman's name isn't mentioned? Well, for one thing, by announcing it the way it was announced, the wife is equated with the children. The man and his wife are not equals, or partners. There is the man, and as my sister says "those people he lives with."
Second it is degrading to women who are sitting there to be lumped in as an afterthought. We cannot mention women, because apparently the mere mention and mere thought that there is a female will send men into the depths impurity.
But the real reason, and I am not being sarcastic with this one, is that women today are out in the world. They are working and providing for their families, and the younger women are often the sole breadwinners, providing all financial sustainability for their brood. They are smart and hard working, and need to be to keep their jobs. They are respected and they are appreciated and validated by co-workers, bosses and clients. And then they come back to their own communities where they are ignored. This is not a safe or healthy scenario. Women are human beings, most humans enjoy and even thrive on validation, appreciation, and respect. If they cannot find it in our circles, where will they go to look for it?
Ignoring women won't make them go away, it won't make them more Tziniyus, it won't make them love Torah, or bring them closer to Hashem.
If that's true, then what's the point?
1 comment:
I cannot believe there is no comment unless you just said it all and very succinctly. Unfortunately the ones of responsibility has again changed. Men are supposed to work on themselves and their thoughts in the presence of women. I am concerned that the present day response of ignore, avoid, no stature, put them in the back of the bus cover them in what almost resembles shrouds is not going and is not working We are victimizing women for that which men are supposed to be responsible Actually in every area of a womans life
but with all the pictures of women eliminated soon the question will be "what is a woman"
Post a Comment