After a day in Gary, Indiana (no it didn't smell like when you pass through on the expressway), working for Barack Obama, which for me means working for the benefit of my country, I rushed home to be a member of a minyan at my neighbor/friend's house. We sat until the last minute we could and still pray the mincha (afternoon) service because we didn't have a group of ten Jewish men. It was painful because we had adult, dedicated, believing women in the room, and I was more valuable to them because of my penis and its missing foreskin. How absurd and disrespectful. I understand that they believe that women are not bound to mitzvot like men, thus they don't have to make time for every prayer service, but if they're in the room and willing, how could an agnostic like me be more valuable than one of the women of valor in their midst?
Also, their were jokes about bringing the Muslim neighbor which were not met be rebuke (myself included). And there was the standard comments about Obama after people noticed my buttons. "He's gonna ruin this country." "He's bad for Israel." "He's a Muslim."
All my life, I have been diligent about doing the right thing, especially socially. I am weird this way. I really feel compelled to do good by my nation, the poor, my neighbors...And I take it seriously. So when I am in these situations where I see people take more care about following the specific nuances of a ritual, and don't care about the message it sends to women, about the Muslim neighbor being denigrated, or the member of the community who doesn't share the opinions of the majority (or at least the vocal minority), I cannot help but ask myself if the idea my rabbi frequently espouses, that the system of mitzvot is designed to make us better people, is really unsuccessful or designed for other purposes, like control. With all due respect to my rabbi, sometimes I look at my community and think that the designer(s) of halacha were just trying to control the masses and gather power for themselves.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment