You have massive violence in the Yeshiva world by adult ‘rebbe’s against young boys, see hirhurim.blogs... he has a post there titled Deity something. He also has a post there about Kiddush Clubs, where alchoholism is rampant in the Synagouge.

The fellow who wrote that post was challenged why doesn’t he do something, he claims that his brother in law was beaten by a ‘rebbe’ and thrown down cement stairs. He has no response.

Then there is the similar violence against women (Spousal abuse) that is similarly rampant in all segments of the Orthodox world.

Perhaps it had to do w/ the lack of equality in the Synagouge, where the women are delegated to go ‘over there’ and not be seen or heard, until someone is needed to help set up the Kiddush.

Role? Since when is there one singular role for anyone? Even in a government, army or household? I have never been in an army, but I have some experience in Gov’t, work and householding, and I have to tell you there is a myriad of different jobs that have to be done to make things work well. No simple separation of jobs based on gender will match the complications of the reality of lived experince. In other words, we all have to take out the trash, make the coffee, file taxes, go to work, manage finances, give charity and smile when we don’t really want to and if we are lucky kiss people we love goodnight – sometimes.

So to in Judaism: there is a lot of work to be done to “fix the world”, and if everyone pitched in (in a way that they can feel good about) it would make the job a lot easier. As my Jewlicious mother in law, Denah, says, “many hands make for light work”.

Esther, you are right. We all need to claim the texts more fully. Joey h, are you saying that sexy women get burned at the stake for being sexy…I thought it was for being Jewish (see inquisition history).

I never have so acutely felt yir’at shamayim (awe of the divine) as I did when I led Kabbalat Shabbat at camp one summer or that first time I read from the Torah to honor my best friends at their aufruf. In fact, I felt it so acutely that I’ve seldom repeated those experiences, because it was so frightening to me–I was afraid I would make mistakes, even though I had practiced for hours. I was afraid I’d pick a bad key and people wouldn’t be able to follow along. I was afraid of all the things that the boys had learned to do by the time they were 13. And that just made me feel more insecure.

And, although there’s nothing wrong with a little yir’at shamayim here and there, with 14 years of yeshiva education, to be that afraid of the Torah and liturgy? Not right. That’s not a question of having equal roles in the synagogue, or in the community at large, it’s about having a more equal access to the texts that are my birthright as a Jew.

Accept what you are best at, and do it to the best of your abilities, and everything else will fall into place.

Father Joe has concluded another sermon for the day.

I’m a traditional thinker but isn’t the role the female holds in religion much like the stake-burnings she used to have to endure in Mass.??? Essentially a girl would walk by a puritan male and he would feel the effects of an early form of viagra (something his own ugly wife could not do for him) so he would proclaim she were the devil or witch and they would burn her at the stake.

On this one I feel bad for you women.

Though this does not take away from the fact that there are many who complain about the woman’s role in relgion, but they themselves do not even partake in the simplest but highly important of mitzvahs – lighting shabbat candles or whatever a woman should do.

Many women fight for the right to also be counted in a minyan, but they will not take the step further to be in a synagogue every morning where their desire to do this mitzvah really counts.

Hypocrisy on both sides is a no-no.