Sarah Casman - Blog Post #1

Touring the Old City felt unreal.  It was as if the culmination of my lifetime in religious school had been leading to the moment where I could physically be in the place of my studies.  I am referring to the Kotel or, in English, the Western Wall.  Our tour guide Danny Hermen explained that the wall, situated on the western edge of the Temple Mount, was the remains of the Second Jewish Temple.  This remnant is one of the holiest sites for Jews across the world and it was quite a sight.

What struck me most about the experience was the sexual inequality.  Much over half of the wall is designated for the men to pray.  While we went through security, I got a good overhead view to directly compare both sides of the gender-dividing wall.  While the women were crammed in front of the wall, vying for a spot to pray, the men were spaced out.  There were Bar Mitzvot taking place on the men’s sides with singing and dancing and the women had to stand on chairs to get a view of their family member’s simchot.  Also, the men had tallit (prayer shawls) and tfillin to further their spiritual connection in prayer – the women had neither.

I witnessed similar inequalities in the ultra-orthodox neighborhood of Mea Shearim.  The women had to cover their bodies in order not to show any chest, back, shoulders, leg, upper arm, etc.  The strict modesty rules that women follow even include their hair.  In Donna Rosenthal’s book “The Israelis,” she explains that these rules refer to a Jewish law that states a “woman’s hair is lust-provoking” (174).  In other words, women are responsible for covering their bodies so as not to incite lust from the men and distract them from studying the Talmud.  Even when we took extreme precautions to cover ourselves when we walked through the neighborhood, a Haredi man wanted us to leave because we still weren’t modest enough.

When we watched part of the movie “I’m a 2007 Haredi” the same gender roles were discussed.  A woman trying on a new wig was debating about the length and another man felt that she needed to consult her husband before making her final decision.  This scene depicts the marital relationships that are normal in Haredim communities: the man as the decision-maker and leader of the family and the woman as the dependent.  Interestingly though, the film explained that these roles are, slowly but surely, changing.  The fact that women are starting to wear shorter hemlines and getting law degrees proves that some of the ultra-orthodox are modernizing.  Although many Haredim do not see this as a positive change because it goes against their philosophy of trying “to preserve centuries-old East European Jewish traditions” (Rosenthal 174), I personally am very happy to witness a step in the direction of some gender equality for this community.