MO Woman

Haveil Havalim #56

I am always so appreciative of all the work put into Haveil Havalim, (the weekly round-up of Jewish and Israeli blogs) by Soccer Dad and others. Hosting this week is my way of saying THANKS!

I have divided my round-up into two major categories - blogs about Judaism and blogs about Israel. However, there are obviously many more nuanced sub-categories within these two groups, and I hope nobody feels misrepresented. I have also highlighted posts from some of my favorite blogs.

Before I begin I just want to say that I for one am glad that the Jewish and Israeli Blog Awards are finally over. Mazal Tov to all of the winners (which will be announced Feb. 9) and kol hakavod to the Jerusalem Post and Israelly Cool for all of their efforts.

Jewish Blogs:

Highlights from my Jewish blogs "daily reads":

1. Lamed compares the question of fallibility and the Avot to biographies about America's forefathers.
2. Out of Step Jew, a great resource on Modern Orthodoxy in Israel, on the influence of Levinas on Israelis.
3. Mayim Rabim announces the creation of Mikolot Mayim Rabim, new message boards.
4. Hirhurim includes two short posts relating to women and Judaism (I, II), and an interesting post about grammatical correctness in the Talmud.
5. Lerner's Jewish Bible Blog on the Gardens of Eden and Sodom.
6. Maven Yavin on questions to think about after viewing Trembling Before God and on one of Rav Soloveitchik's drashot.

Others Jewish blog posts which may be of interest:

A Simple Jew's exchange on the Tanya's view of Discontent. Because I'm in My Twenties... attempt at cartoons, Jack's Shack bonding with his young daughter, The Ignoble Experiment on a Jewish theme in classical music, Jewish Blogmeister on Superbowl and Kashrut, Chayyei Sarah and JDater's Anonymous on dating older men, a post about Orthodox teens and blogging on my blog MO Woman, Chaim Steinmetz on the Jewish view of the mining tragedy, AJHistory commemorates his cousin's second yarzheit, Bava Dilbert on wearing a kippah, Renegade Rebbetzin on her shul "dorks," Mirty on going to shul as a family, and Orthomom considers Kollel track for her kids. Finally, there was lively discussion about the Jewish Religion category over at the JIB awards (including accusations of ballot stuffing) at Godol Hador, Dov Bear and Cross Currents.

Israel Blogs:

Here are some highlights from my Israel blog daily reads:

1. Bloghead on Hamas' pre-election attempts to change its image.
2. On the Face describes a visit from an Iranian friend to Israel (here and here).
3. This moving post by My Obiter Dicta on a hard week in Israel.

There was a lot of difficult news here in Israel this week from the violence in Amona to the tragic death of Yosef Goodman. Blogs on Amona (in no particular order): Westbankblog, Greetings from the French Hill, Shiloh Musings, Israel Matzav, Life in Israel, My Obiter Dicta, Ben Chorin, Dutch Blog, Bloghead. On Yosef Goodman's tragic accident this week: Treppenwitz, his wife Zahava and Israelly Cool.

On Iran: JudeoPundit, Greetings from the French Hill. On reactions to the Danish cartoons: PhishAliyah, Lost in Bec's World, Bloghead. On Hamas' victory: SoccerDad, SerandEz, Adloyada and Musings of a Jewish Soul.

Solomonia on Sari Nusseibah's need for protection, The Ignoble Experiment on a Zionism class on campus, Daled Amos on Arafat and Che Guevera, aliya story from If you will it, Daniel Hershtal on getting the Anglo vote, Life in Israel on Tzedaka Spam, and Adloyada on Israeli graffiti.

To end on a positive note: Jerusalem Revealed shares great news!

Note: Next week's Haveil Hevelim will be hosted by AbbaGav.

Also note: To have a Carnival entry listed on the ÜberCarnival, it must include a link back to the ÜberCarnival home page. 

Infertility Awareness

Yeshiva University's Center for the Jewish Future's recent newsletter announces a new project which will develop a training program for rabbis to build expertise on issues relating to infertility in halakha:

As a follow-up to Rabbi Brander’s challenge, CJF’s Special Projects division has spearheaded a groundbreaking intensive training program in the field of infertility and Jewish law for a select group of rabbis. Training for these students will be implemented by a cadre of experts in the field of medicine and Jewish law drawn from faculty at CJF, RIETS, and YU’s Albert Einstein College of Medicine. The program will be coordinated by Rabbi Josh Joseph, director of the Special Projects division, and involving a curriculum developed and taught by Rabbi Menachem Burstein, director of Machon Puah of Jerusalem, an Israel-based institute dedicated to finding halakhic solutions to fertility matters, Rabbi Kenneth Brander and Rabbi Dr. Eddie Reichman, emergency medicine physician, and professor at YU’s Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

Birshut Ba'alat Habayit

Hirhurim discusses including permission from the ba'alat habayit in bentching.

Haveil Havalim Call

I have volunteered in a moment of insanity to host this coming week's Haveil Havalim #56. Submissions are welcome at mowoman at gmail dot com.

(For those of you who are not yet familiar, Haveil Havalim is the weekly round up of Jewish and Israeli blog postings, created by Soccer Dad and hosted by different bloggers each week.)

Haredi Feminism?

According to yet another interesting article in Ha'aretz about women in the Haredi community, 43 women are about to graduate from a new Haredi College for Women in Jerusalem.

It was created by Adina Bar Shalom, who happens to also be the daughter of Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef. Presumably the challenges for many of these women seeking higher education is doubley difficult due to the fact that they are both Haredi and Sephardic, two communities which generally have more traditional views regarding women's issues. According to the article:

The first class of ultra-Orthodox social workers is undoubtedly the ultimate achievement for Adina Bar Shalom. Lacking any academic education ("because I was a woman and from a Sephardic background, and in those days, what could be expected of me?"), she went through some personal changes several years ago. One day, she abandoned the world of elite sewing where she worked and taught, and decided to take part in moving the ultra-Orthodox sector toward higher education and professional training. Today she is fully associated with this process. According to Bar Shalom, her father did not hesitate to support her.

The College is described as an environment in which Haredi women will feel comfortable. There are also teachers and rabbis available for students to talk to about resolving any issues that may arise between their studies and their ideology.

Whether or not you want to call it feminism (and I use this word knowing the many negative connotations associated with it), here is an example of rabbis acknowledging the intellectual needs of women. If for me and my friends this need is satisfied by becoming doctors or lawyers or teachers of Talmud, for Haredi women it is having an opportunity to go to college.

Vote Torah (VeAvodah)

Out of Hakarat Hatov to organizations such as Bnei Akiva, Camp Moshava, AMIT Women and others through which I was educated, you may want to vote for the Religious Zionist slate in the upcoming WZO elections. Here are names of other organizations which will be impacted by the results:

Bnei Akiva, NCSY, Camp Moshava, Torah MiTzion Kollelim, Yavneh Olami student movement, RZA, Young Israel, Poalei Agudat Israel, Rabbinical Council of America, Yeshiva University, Touro College, the Orthodox Union and its Israel Center, Tehilla, Bat Ami, Yeshivot Hesder, AMIT women among others.

Orthodox Teens and Blogging

Rabbi Jeffrey Kobrin just asked the following on the LookJed email list (a fantastic resource for Orthodox Jewish educators):

Does anyone have any ideas for dealing with the repercussions of high school students who indiscriminately post their observations of school, life, their teachers, parents, and each other in blogs?

Beyond a review of the basic issues of lashon hara (one colleague noted that the effect of such blogs is perfectly analogous to the feather pillow being gutted and released to the winds), does anyone have any ideas how to address such an issue with teens, whether one-on-one or in group settings? How do we get beyond the student perception that we, their teachers, are merely behind the times?

Jeffrey Kobrin's question is itself evidence that he is very much in tune with what is presently popular among his students.

Teenagers are probably the fastest growing blogging group. The Pew Internet and American Life Project Report states:

Teens are often much more enthusiastic authors and readers of blogs than their adult counterparts. Teen bloggers, led by older girls, are a major part of this tech-savvy cohort.

Given that this is the case, teachers have a real opportunity to teach young bloggers about how to blog responsibly. This can be done by incorporating blogging into the school curriculum and by indirectly influencing how teens blog independently.

Here are some suggestions for ways to introduce blogs into the classroom:

• Blogs can be an amazing tool for English classes. Student's personal journals, poems or fiction can be posted on a class blog. Teachers can use blogs as a tool to help students improve their writing skills.
• Blogs can also be a way for teachers and students in different schools and regions to connect and work on joint projects.
• Students can also be encouraged to chronicle particular experiences. If they travel to Eastern Europe or Israel, blogging can be a way for students to express their feelings or share their experiences wth others.

As Rabbi Kobrin points out, the fact that a teacher even knows about blogging will be considered "cool" by their students.

Teachers can also talk to students about blogging beyond the classroom. Informal discussions about the positive and negative uses of blogs will clarify for students what is an appropriate or inappropriate way to blog.

(One of the great things about blogs is that they are interactive, and so I also encourage readers to post further suggestions about how to teach teens to blog responsibly here).

JIB Awards Round Two

Thanks to everyone who helped me reach round two of the Jewish and Israeli Blog Awards!

The Godol Hador (another blogger) discusses why those of us who have been nominated for the Best Jewish Religion Blog don't actually qualify exactly (mostly he's joking... I think). Here is what he says about MO Woman:

Now Modern Orthodox Woman could have qualified, but she has an untzniusdick picture of Barbie. Thats not Religion, that's Pritzus! Disqualified.

If you believe in the freedom to post "untzniusdick pictures of Barbie" on blogs, feel free to make your statement by voting for me.

Revirgination - A Response

Dr. Deena Zimmerman, Yoetzet Halacha, wrote the following in response to my questions about the halachic issues involved in the growing number of women interested in Revirgination:

The Wall Street Journal recently reported that there is a fast-growing new market of women seeking to have their hymens restored so that they will appear to be virgins again. We need to review a number of points in Jewish law to understand the halachic perspective on this procedure.

The halachic status of betulah (virgin) has implications for the monetary amount written into the marriage contract and for the ability to marry a kohen gadol. This status implies that a woman has never had intercourse; it is not a comment on her hymenal tissues. A woman born without a hymen, or whose hymen has been stretched by the natural processes of maturity (or by tampon use), is still a betulah. On the other hand, a woman who has had relations or anal sex but still has hymenal tissue in place, is not. (For further discussion see: Rav Yoezer Ariel. Taanat Betulim Bezman Hazeh. Assia 15 Kislev 5766.) Thus, a woman who undergoes this procedure will not regain her status as a betulah. Whether she would nevertheless, need to observe a period of niddah for potential dam betulim would appear to depend on opinions within the rishonim as to the purpose of this practice.

If the purpose of the surgery is for a woman who has had relations to try to prove that she has not, then it would be a clear violation of geneivat da'at, the halachic imperative not to mislead people (Shulchan Aruch Choshen Mishpat 228). As such it cannot be condoned. When the future husband is aware that his non-previously-married wife has in fact had intercourse in the past, there are ways to permit writing the word betulah in the ketubah (marriage contract) to avoid embarassment.

Undergoing surgery of any sort involves a risk to ones health. Unnecessary risk taking is not permitted under Jewish Law. Furthermore, self mutilation is prohibited (Rambam Hilchot Chovel u Mazik 5:1). Therefore, cosmetic surgery of any sort is permitted only when required to alleviate significant physical or emotional difficulties (see for example Rabbi J David Bleich. Judaism and Healing. Ktav Publishing House 1981). It does not seem that the reasons presented in this article would meet that criterion.

On a purely theoretical level, it would also seem that return to virginity is not to be strived for. Breaking of the hymen within the framework of marriage is viewed as a completion of the woman and the contract between the husband and wife, not a detraction (see for example, Encyclopedia Talmudit sv Beilat mitzvah).

Oprah on Elie Wiesel

Oprah's Book Club has made reading attractive, at a time when reading is becoming less and less popular. Her latest pick (Don't think I actually have time to watch Oprah, and as you know we don't have a TV. I read this in the NY Times.) is Elie Wiesel's Night, which she says, "should be required reading for all humanity."