Category — Gender Sensitivity

As suspected, the hole in the sheet urban legend appears to essentially be true, and practiced among the Gerrer Chassidim.

From now on, I suppose, the Gerrer Chassidism will be known as The Hole In The Sheet chassidim.

Dana Goldstein asks,

Why is it that even as Jews have assimilated and rejected many religious practices, such as strict Kashrut, we continue, as a community, to cling to circumcision?

Does Dana accept any other male-only ritual? Or just the one that involves penis slicing? Like most other Liberal Jewish feminists?

Keep in mind, these are the responses of a woman whose “endorsed” section includes such oh-so-gender-sensitive publications as Feminist Law Professors, Feministe, and Feministing.

Goldstein gives some typical responses.

But there’s also a deep emotional tie to circumcision; a feeling of pride that Jews are physically marked as such — that a Jewish man can never totally escape his Jewishness, because it is inscribed on his body through circumcision. During the Holocaust, this was one way in which Jews were identified by the Nazis. We Jews are rightfully attached to that history. One of my friends, who is studying to become a rabbi, recently told me he considers circumcision the single most important Jewish religious obligation.

Her answers don’t reflect the true answer. The true answer is quite simple.

Jews continue to “cling” to circumcision in such large numbers because the kid can’t refuse. That is the only reason. There is no other reason. If Jewish circumcision were done at age 18 or 21, the circumcision rate for Jews would drop dramatically.

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.�