Category — Gender Sensitivity

In his story in this week’s Forward, Jay Michaelson conflates the terms “post-denominational� (traditional Jews who believe in “halachic progress�) and “Flexidox� (Jews who are essentially Orthodox but not particularly devout, or rather, notably lax).

Michaelson declares,

“Flexidoxy is a kind of anti-label, a postmodern category that simultaneously mirrors and subverts the usual structures of Jewish ideology. It is both very old and very new, questioning the denominational structure of mainstream Judaism.�

No. It is not new at all. What is new is “post-denominational.â€? Michaelson is attempting to conflate these terms. Flexidoxy is a much more personal laxity in observance, not a politically organized one like “post-denominational.”

So why is Michaelson conflating these terms?

Michaelson claims that there is a significant group “who prays at an Orthodox synagogue, but supports equal synagogue roles for women and the ordination of gay rabbis.�

This is wishful thinking. For the most part, they don’t pray at Orthodox minyans. Not if they care about these issues. If they do care about such issues, they pray at Conservadox, post-denominational, and Indy minyans. At Hadar, at KOE, at the Mission Minyan in San Francisco.

But they don’t. Not like Michaelson wants them to. Because they are Flexidox, not “post-denominational.�