I have not been blogging much lately. I am re-writing a book, giving lectures and that keeps me focused on these projects. However, occasionally one must stray from the well-trodden road, which becomes boring after a while and indulge in flights of critique.
And so, on Thursday, January 5, 2012 an article by Joshua Mitnick caught my attention. (No, I am not critiquing Mr. Mitnick, I am lauding him.) The article was entitled Israeli Women Fight Bus Segregation by Ultra-Orthodox. My eyes popped! Am I reading this right? Women in Israel fighting segregation? I have been to Israel—twice—and have enjoyed myself enormously. Nowhere did I notice segregation!
So imagine my horror and surprise when, upon reading Mr. Mitnick’s article, I find that the Ultra-Orthodox Jews, those with the large, black hats, the beards and the peyes, the curled side burns, have, for years been given the privilege of special public busses catering to the needs of the Hasidic Jews. On those designated buses, women must retreat to the back of the bus like American black citizens of yore.
Ye Gods! Is this real? Yes it is, and no one would know about this indignity in our country if Mr. Mitnick, a blessing on his head, had not brought this outrage to our attention. Women in Israel are incensed with this treatment, which has become more frequent as more of the very fertile Orthodox community is branching out ever more into the secular community. Women have been spat on and were subjugated to outrageous critiques and attacks.
An eight-year-old girl was harassed by ultra-Orthodox men in Jerusalem. She was spat at and called a prostitute for wearing immodest apparel. This act, shown on TV, brought thousand into the streets in protest, and women have defied the Haredi rabbis, sitting on the buses wherever they please.
Once again this drama illuminates Orthodoxy in all religions for us. One in all, whether Muslim, Judaic, Christian, Hindu or Buddhist they are united in their wish and belief that women are inferior and can be treated as second—or third-class—citizens or slaves.
In all of the Orthodox belief-systems women are often the only means of support for a family and most of their rights to freely choose education, dress, behavior and place in the family order are curtailed. I have been restrained in Buddhist countries to visit places deemed male appropriate only, for the simple reason—the reason given me—that women menstruate and, therefore, are unclean. To which I always replied, without your mother’s menstruation you would not be on this earth. I have been treated like a wanton in Pakistan because I did not cover my hair or face. Imagine, a woman’s hair is the most erotic thing and must be covered in Islamic countries. Islam still keeps most of its women in an inferior, slave-like position.
So, why is Orthodoxy so toxic to women? Because the antecedents for the entire belief-system of all orthodox religions, is rooted in cultures dating back 2000 years and more. Orthodox religion has never been reformed to fit the strides and discoveries man-kind has made in science, social science, psychology and a new understanding of religion. And for that, women will have to fight for their rights wherever they encounter this discrimination.
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