Announcement: Art SHOW

Feminism at the Kotel?

Women in talitot at the Kotel? Women making religious demands in Israel? WOOOOO

On Friday, sheets of rain obscured the Old City’s ancient domes. But by 7 a.m. about 150 Jewish women had gathered at the Western Wall to pray and to challenge the constraints imposed on them by traditional Jewish Orthodoxy and a ruling by the Israeli Supreme Court.

Under their coats many of the women, supporters of a group of religious activists called Women of the Wall, wore a tallit, or fringed prayer shawl, a ritual garment traditionally worn only by men. Some wore their prayer shawls openly, an illegal act in this particular setting that can incur a fine or several months in jail.

Last month Nofrat Frenkel, 28, an Israeli medical student and a committed follower of Conservative Judaism, a modern, egalitarian strain, was the first woman in Israel to be arrested during prayers at the Western Wall, also known as the Kotel, for publicly wrapping herself in a tallit.

The police accused her of acting provocatively and in a way that upset public order. Ms. Frenkel said the investigation was still under way.

The Women of the Wall, who meet for prayers at the Kotel at the start of every Hebrew month, are at the vanguard of a feminist struggle in Orthodox Judaism and other more contemporary strains to adapt time-honored religious practice for the modern age. They came in droves on Friday, the first day of the Hebrew month of Tevet, to express their outrage over Ms. Frenkel’s case.

Power to the people! Love challenging patriarchy, whether or not you agree with their tactics. For the full article in the NYTimes click here.

Chanukah Relevance

This past week at my workplace, a colleague spent a good deal of time explaining to a tenant she works with that Christmas actually isn't a secular holiday. That conversation soon morphed into one where she argued that Chanukah is not one of the more important Jewish holidays but has risen in visibility and observance, especially in the US, as a kind of Jewish foil (or answer?) to Christmas.

On the one hand, I entirely agree with this interpretation. All Jewish scholars I've ever known have told me that celebrating the High Holy Days, Pesach, and Purim is infinitely more traditional than celebrating Chanukah. But on the other hand, I'm writing this post on a Megabus back to NYC because I went home for our annual family Chanukah party. Now, I don't think any Jew (at least that I know) would begrudge me for going home for a family party, even if it is for a holiday and a celebration that my ancestors might not recognize. But I think a part of me still wants to have some justification for my family's celebration other than that we've been pulled along into something that might be called straight-up assimilation.

With that said, I was really interested to find this article on jewschool.com. Whether you're longing to hear a defense of Chanukah or are skeptical you can be convinced this holiday has something importantly Jewish to offer, check it out: http://jewschool.com/2009/12/09/19298/chappy-chanukah-its-still-my-favorite-holiday/#more-19298.

Sephardic Music Festival!

Hey guys -- starting this Saturday night there's a Sephardic Music fest in NYC!

Here are the first two events:
December 12, 2009
• Opening Night
with Smadar Levi, Sarah Aroeste
& Galeet Dardashti's "The Naming"
@ 92Y Tribeca
200 Hudson Street, Tribeca NY
Doors 8pm | Show 9pm | $15Adv | $20Door

December 13, 2009
• Ladino Night
Rivka Amado & Elie Massias
@ Spanish and Portuguese synagogue
3 West 70th St. at Central Park West
7pm | $15 adv or $18 door | all ages
212-873-0300 x221

For the complete schedule see here.

health care reform whoooooo

Health care reform :
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/04/opinion/04krugman.html?hp

also read this:

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/12/14/091214fa_fact_gawande

Things We Like: Racial LGBTQ Equality

This sweet site, Racial Equity, has lots of interesting info and tools for people interested in LGBTQ equality and specifically equality across racial lines! Check it out!

Things I like: HOUSING JUSTICE!

Woo victory!

East Harlem Residents and Movement for Justice in El Barrio have managed to fight off Dawnay Day, a London-based real-estate corporation that tried to take over 47 apartment buildings from low-income and immigrant renters.

Dawnay Day’s profit-driven intentions were no secret. Phil Blakeley, Dawnay Day’s director, boasted publicly to The Times in London about his scheme on how he would maneuver through New York City’s real-estate loopholes to eventually lay claim to the rentals:

“A typical two-bedroom flat taking $150 per month in rent can see the rents rise 3 percent to 4 percent each year without doing anything. As soon as you take vacant possession, the rents will typically rise 17 percent when re-let without doing anything. But with renovation, a flat could well take $1,700 a month once re-let on the open market.”

For the full article as I saw it on Racewire read here.

Movement for Justice in El Barrio (MJB), an East Harlem-based organization of immigrants and low-income people of color, has been fighting gentrification in Manhattan’s “last frontier” for over three years now. Being majority Mexican and sharing an affinity for the zapatistas’ way of organizing, MJB decided less than a year after forming to join the Other Campaign as an essential component of their work for self-determination.

Things We Like

Sorry for posting about Honor Killings right after Things We Like, I honestly didn't see Hannah's post. I'll be at home this Shabbat but thought it was worth posting!

Anyway, something I like is fun free Shabbat!
EVENT: Friendly (FREE) Friday night service and meal
DATE: Fri Oct 23
TIME: 6:45 pm to 9:30 p.m.
PLACE: 317 E 50 St., Common Room of First Reformed Episcopal Church
COST: Free

Need more details? Go to the Ohel Ayalah website, www.ohelayalah.org.

Questions? Write to Rabbi Judith Hauptman at juhauptman@jtsa.edu.

things we like!

so i am taking the ball from hannah and running with it. some things to like:

-dragonflies
-tiger lilies
-fimo clay
-sun showers
-the smell of books
-fluffy pillows
-squelching mud between your toes
-the word "nugget"
-baked goods
-trampolines
-water slides
-oobleck
-shrinky dinks
-getting lost with friends

Honor Killings

We talked a bit about honor killings during orientation but I thought this interview was interesting.

I've been thinking a lot about gender inequality and how that affects my life as a white woman in the United States - I'm sure it does in some ways, but for the most part I feel pretty safe and powerful... How do the honor killings affect us as women, as American citizens, as folks with power and privilege...?