What's Wrong With Me???
After all that, I spend my entire work-designated period tonight tearing up the arguments of people who think "Modern Orthodox" is a curse word. All because Aviel had to link to Miriam's main blog instead of a specific post, so I ran across this post instead of the one she was referring to about Gali Girls (which I'd already heard about from Sarah).
And now I see that Shanna thought the post worthy of notice as well. I guess that makes me feel a bit better...until I start panicking again...
posted by Alisha @ 12:28 AM
5 comments
5 Comments:
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er...um...he did it!
Your comments were insightful and well-put, Alisha. While this whole issue is somewhat more abstract for me, I've talked ot a few of my close friends about it, and I appreciate how women can legitimately feel that something is missing, and ought to be changed. I don't know how things ought to be changed, or how fast, or where, but change is fairly likely. (This isn't an opinion about what should happen, one way or the other, only what is happening.) It could be constructive change, or it could be divisive change, and will likely be some mix of both.
In any case, I think the first step in some sort of positive direction is sensitivity on the part of talmidei chachamim /rebbeim /poskim/ gedolei hador. It is far too often overlooked how different a person's reaction can be to the same answer given in a much more compassionate way. Don't get me wrong. I am not saying that our rabbinic leaders should learn how to sweet-talk concerned women and send them on their merry way. I am saying that a rabbi, or any leader, religious or otherwise, showing his capacity for empathy - in this issue and in others - is an important and often overlooked goal. However I think that there is some encouraging evidence of this in Rabbis Sperber and Henkin , among others. We'll have to wait and see.
One question, and this kept on coming up as I read (ok, only some of the 98) posts on Bloghead : Why are people so intent on being called "Orthodox?" A lot of this discussion seems to revolve around "what we can do, and how far we can go, without losing the label Orthodox." I feel that more and more, these labels are becoming more and more meaningless, or more and more sub-divided, and that they're starting to lose usefulness, while retaining their divisive power. I know kids who identify as Conservative, who I would say are, in some very important ways more religious (though I hesitate to use that word as well) than others who call themselves Orthodox. A lot of people seem to be running around trying to reclaim these labels for themselves, or to apply them to others. Why?
Oh, and to answer the question posed in the title of this post:
What wrong with you is that you care. If you were indifferent and apathetic, life might be a lot easier, albeit lonelier. Personally I prefer the whole caring thing, but take your pick.
Ilan, thank you.
But you're a little bit wrong. Sometimes life is lonelier when you care.
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