Friday, July 19, 2024

Judaism’s Burka: The Silenced Woman (April, 26 2016)

 

Last Sunday, the “Women of the Wall” prayer group, which has advanced Judaism significantly beyond its misogynistic roots over the past few decades, hoped to stage a first-ever Women’s Priestly Blessing at the Western Wall in Jerusalem. Regrettably, the effort was stymied by Israel’s attorney general, and the group reluctantly abided by that decision in order to avoid a potentially violent encounter with Ultra-Orthodox protesters. While the cause of women’s rights has made tremendous strides recently in Israel, the suppression of female voices continues unabated.

The culprit here is a controversial Talmudic concept known as Kol Isha(“A Woman’s Voice”), which like many religious restrictions has taken on a life of its own, expanding in scope over the centuries, as female voices have continued to be suppressed and demonized.

There are reasons for reducing a woman’s public role that once upon a time might have made some sense within a pre-modern patriarchal society. ButKol isha was never one of them. It was always insidious, inviting suppression and, inevitably, harassment and physical abuse — as has happened all too often to the Women of the Wall. Once a women becomes an object of scorn, or an object of temptation, or even an object of love — she has become, irrefutably, an object.

The Kol Isha controversy stems from a rabbinic discussion where the sage Samuel calls the voice of a woman ervah, meaning “indecent,” “shameful,” or “lustful,” in asserting that the Sh’ma, Judaism’s central prayer, must not be utterred while a woman is singing. For, as the passage states, “the voice of a woman is indecent” (kol be-ishah ervah); it would be an improper distraction from concentration on holy things.

The idea that an un-muffled female voice can lead men into a state of uncontrollable lust is insulting to both women and men alike. Are we guys that incapable of keeping our zippers zipped that we have to demand that women keep their lips zipped too?

Natalie Bergner writes on the Women of the Wall website that this Talmudic prohibition flies in the face of biblical precedent; she cites the sensual love poetry of the Song of Songs, and the explicit command from God for Abraham to “listen to the voice of Sarah.”

But the first wide-ranging prohibition of a woman’s singing voice didn’t occur until modern times. In the journal Conservative JudaismEmily Teitz writes that Jewish women were in fact heard publicly throughout the Middle Ages, as teachers, entertainers and professional dirge singers, even within the synagogue itself. Rabbi David Golinkin’s responsum on the subjectsuggests that in the Talmud, Samuel may not have been referring to a woman’s singing voice at all.

Golinkin adds:

The current blanket prohibition accepted by Ultra-Orthodox rabbis was first suggested and rejected by Rabbi Joshua Falk (d. 1614) and was only given as a legal ruling by Rabbi Moshe Sofer… in the early nineteenth century. However, this opinion is not in agreement with the simple meaning of the dictum by Samuel and with all of the opinions of the Rishonim (renowned rabbinic authorities of the Middle Ages).

The fact that such restrictions have become more pronounced over the past few decades mirrors the increased oppression of women in some quarters of the Muslim and Christian worlds. As feminism has taken hold, the reaction to feminism has been equally strong, pulling society both ways, to the left and to the right.

With female cantors and rabbis proliferating in the non-Orthodox world, and now becoming a reality even among the modern Orthodox, there is no turning back on this issue. My conscience will not allow me to participate in ceremonies that give undue deference to Kol Isha — for instance, purely secular celebrations of Israel where a woman’s voice should be heard loud and clear. How absurd it is to hear the songs of Naomi Shemer or the verse of Hanna Senesh having to be sung by a man.

As a committed pluralist, I need to accept that when I am praying with an Orthodox minyan, traditional restrictions regarding women will be upheld, mostly for reasons other than Kol Isha.

But we can’t allow Kol Isha restrictions to take on a life of their own, as religious restrictions so often do. Jewish tradition has no inherent problem with women. The problem isn’t Judaism . And discrimination against women, like all discrimination, is a slippery slope, one that leads to objectification and violence. We need to reverse this disturbing trend.

Last year, when Israel’s new government was sworn in, one Ultra-Orthodox newspaper tried to airbrush women out of the picture completely. One wonders how that paper will handle the possibility of a female American president. What will happen when she visits the Western Wall? What will happen when she, heaven forbid, speaks — or worse yet, sings? Will the voice of that woman be heard?

Jeremiah (33:10) prophesied of a time when “the joyous voice of the bridegroom and bride would once again in the streets of Jerusalem.” Evidently that time has not yet come at the Western Wall.

Kol Isha is coming dangerously close to becoming the Jewish burka, a symbol of the subjugation and humiliation of half our population. We need to reverse this trend, in Israel and in Jewish communities everywhere. The Jewish burka must be eliminated. It is time to silence Kol Isha.

No comments: