Jezebel 
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New York, 5:58 AM
Wed Nov 25
57 posts in the last 24 hours
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11/19/09
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But being arrested? Bullshit. The Israeli Supreme Court ruled many years ago that women are legally entitled to wear tallitot. The problem is with the religious fanatics who the Israeli goverment allows to run the holy sites.
11/19/09
Are there some places I can read nice things about this communty and kind of balance out all the negative things I read about them?
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A few Ultra-Orthodox movements like the Lubas encourage women to be strong, independent, well-educated...wives and mothers. Not scholars, not community leaders, not religious leaders, not political leaders. Just wives and mothers. Hasidic women can be strong and smart, provided they stay in their place and be subservient to their husbands and fathers.
11/19/09
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#tips
11/19/09
I could read Torah from the bimah of a Lubavich congregation? Or I could be on the bimah and read haftorah or a drash or something that's not actually Torah? I didn't think any of the haredim would allow women to read Torah.
11/19/09
#tips
11/19/09
I am an ultra orthodox woman, and I do not support arresting a woman based on her wearing a tallis. I have many, many wonderful stories I can share with you, about how my community has done incredible things to help people.
I work for Bikur Cholim, and organization that pays for people's medical bills. And they don't discriminate between orthodox and non-orthodox, but they were founded by the orthodox. A woman came in with a brain tumor, no insurance. ALL EXPENSES PAID. No questions asked.
People in my community have lost their houses, their ability to buy food, their ability to sustain medical insurance. Bam. Orthodox Jews started a charity (PM me for the details) that paid people's rent, bought back people's houses, gave people meals every week, and pays for your insurance premiums.
And that's just for starters.
11/19/09
I guess that's why I'm an ultra-orthodox woman with a Ph.D in the hard sciences, married and using birth control, which my Rabbi has no problem with. I guess that's also why I'm on the board of a major charity - you know, being socially inferior and all. Good to know!
11/19/09
11/19/09
As an aside, I'm sorry you've been harrassed by people at the wall. You should be able to wear your tallit where you want. It's frustrating to encounter anti-women sentiments, which are unfortunately present in every religion and ethnic group. I'm happy that this post went up in Jezebel, to hopefully further tolerance of women's rights, but not to bash a segment of a population.
#tips
11/19/09
I even had haredi women throw stones at me for wearing jeans and a turtleneck in West Jerusalem (and no, I wasn't in Me'ah Shearim, I was walking out of the Machane Yehuda). If they're going to treat me with that kind of overt hostility and their rabbis are going tell me I'm spiritually inferior, I'm going to bash them. Woman-haters and harassers don't get a free pass just because they're the same religion as me.
#tips
11/19/09
Please tell me which orthodox community you live in that gives you first hand knowledge of what goes on in them.
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#tips
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11/19/09
Well, Boro Park is fraction of the Orthodox community. There's one on the southern shore of Long Island, towns all over New Jersey, Connecticut, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami etc etc. filled with Orthodox Jews who are nothing like the Jews who live in one town in Brooklyn. They are by far the minority within the Orthodox minority.
11/19/09
And if you read back in this thread, you'll realize I'm talking about the Haredim/Ultra-Orthodox specifically, not the Orthodox. Haredi in the US live mostly in the NYC area, and the Satmars in Borough Park are one of the largest and most prominent Haredi communities in the world.
#tips
11/19/09
At least I can tell you that I'm Orthodox, Ive studied in yeshivot in America and Israel, yalmuka, tefillin etc... and if i saw women in tellesim at the Kotel I wouldnt care less. Do what makes you happy. I would cringe if I saw someone yelling at the Women of the Wall members.
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I had a teacher in high school who was Orthodox and kept very strictly to the rules, etc. He was very nice but an impossible teacher. He basically just ignored the girls.
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Stuff like this is a large part of why I am not religious. The organized hypocrisy just gets me.
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That Orthodox man's quote about men's and women's respective responsibilities told me basically: "It's the woman's job to do all the hard stuff. Men get to read and discuss what they read."
It reminds me of Proverbs 31 -- this woman is strong and capable and basically running a household and business while her husband sits around with other men at the city gates all day. And yet she's still lesser than men are somehow and doesn't deserve direct access to the word of god?
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IMO, as someone who's lived in both countries, it's actually easier to be a secular Jew in Israel than in the U.S., because being Jewish is considered a default rather than something you constantly have to reassert or risk fading into the Gentile background.
11/19/09
I'm involved right now in a nightly Torah learning program. Also, there's the highly popular "Partners in Torah", (google for more info) where women across states and even countries get to learn Torah with each other over the phone. Feel free to sign up! You might be surprised how many people DO NOT subscribe to the "torah is for the men".
11/19/09
#tips
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#tips
11/02/09
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I read the comments below and didn't get that at all. I think people were mainly noting how cute and put together all these girls look. #newyorkcitymarathon
11/02/09
11/02/09
ADORBS. #newyorkcitymarathon
11/02/09
[jezebel.com] #newyorkcitymarathon
11/02/09
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10/30/09
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10/30/09
You know what? Anti-Semitism hasn't. #synagogueshooting
10/30/09
10/30/09
"I don't really understand this (quite widespread) investment in understanding Jewish people as the perpetual victims. The last 60 years have constituted quite a turn-around in this situation, and I think it's about time we all recognize it. "
Said here on a Jezebel post- I can only imagine if it was said about any other minority, the uproar it would cause.
My feelings about Israel is complicated as well, but every time I reminded that I'm hated because of my religion I am so thankful and realize how important it is, to have a homeland. #synagogueshooting
10/30/09