Phoenix women prefer traditional Jewish roles
LEISAH NAMM
Staff Writer
At the third International Conference on Feminism & Orthodoxy held in New York in February, Orthodox women discussed changes in women's roles in Judaism.
Issues discussed included women's seating in the sanctuary, bat mitzvah and female participation during services.
How important are these issues to women in Phoenix's Orthodox community?
Theresa Alyeshmerni, a member of Beth Joseph Congregation in Phoenix, doesn't care where the mechitzah (physical separation between men and women during services) is. She grew up in Minneapolis, where she belonged to a synagogue where women sat in a section in the back of the sanctuary, behind the men. At Beth Joseph, women sit in sections on both sides of the men.
"To me there's no real big difference," she says. "Where I'm sitting doesn't change my feelings about prayer. It's irrelevant to me where I sit."
She describes a new synagogue that was built in her hometown: They built the women's section in the balcony because it fit in with the design of the building. Some people may have looked at that as a way to demean women, but sometimes, decisions are made as a matter of function and convenience, she says. "It looked beautiful."
She thinks some people tend to look at Orthodox Judaism as "a way of keeping women away from being participatory." The Orthodox women she knows "don't feel like we're kept out or shut out of anything."
"I don't feel like I'm missing out because I'm not doing what men do," she says. "I can attain just as high of a level with God, even if I'm not wearing a tallis (prayer shawl)."
"I don't feel like I need to lead the service for my prayers to be better," she says. "The man leading the service isn't any more holy."
She disagrees with those who say Orthodox women play a passive role in Judaism. "I certainly don't feel passive at all. I'm very busy."
To celebrate their bat mitzvah at her synagogue, girls read a d'var Torah (word of Torah) in front of the congregation. "Some have parties, some have a Kiddish, it all depends on what the family wants," Alyeshmerni says.
At Young Israel of Phoenix, the mechitzah is in the middle and you can see over it, explains Jessica Weiss, founder of the synagogue's sisterhood program. Women can kiss the Torah with siddurim (prayer books) during services. Although girls don't read from the Torah, they prepare a speech and have a party to celebrate becoming a bat mitzvah.
Weiss thinks that many people have the wrong idea about Orthodox women. "A woman is not pushed into a role," she says. "I'm proud to be a woman."
Rebbetzin Tzipi Levertov, of Chabad of Phoenix, said she likes her role as a Jewish woman.
"I follow the traditions of the Jewish people. For so many generations our traditions were this way. I didn't have a bat mitzvah. I don't think I missed out on anything," she says.
The reason men are required to do so many more rituals is because they need to get in touch with their spirituality, Levertov says. The way women are created, with their cycles of life and with giving birth, they are more spiritual, she says.
"God created us differently; he gave functions to men and functions to women. Men cannot be women and women cannot be men," says Levertov. "We need to follow what God gave us and try to be happy. That is the downfall of the Jewish nation - we always want to be someone else."
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