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Immodest 6 Year Olds?

12
What, me worry?8/22/2012 7:32:49 pm PDT

re: #8 Zionist Lord of Remulak

I don’t know you.

I do know that you have no idea what you are talking about or who you are talking to.

Let me enlighten you. I studied at Yeshiva in Jerusalem. I used to daven Shacharit every morning at the Kotel. I am also a professional physicist, very modern, and generally liberal.

The reality of Israel, and Israeli observance is that most Israelis are secular and frankly very similar in their patterns of observance as many American Catholics. Some have totally disconnected from the tradition. Some are definitely atheist. But many still feel a tenuous attachment.

That set shows up maybe once a month, or once a year, or even once a decade. But when they do show up, they show up to an actual schul, just like the American Catholic goes to an actual mass.

Yes, there are some Reform and Conservative Jews in Israel, but Reform Judaism exists more in America and Western Europe than any other place, and it has its own dogmas, while Conservative Judaism is almost entirely an American movement. In Israel, the joke, for the majority, is that “the schul I don’t go to is observant.”

The other largest group are religious Jews. That group is anything but monolithic.

That means of those who are actually going to pray at the Kotel, the vast majority respect the Traditions. The atheists just don’t go you see.

I am sure your little feminist theory books tell you how horrible Judaism is and how patriarchal it is etc…

That is a debatable topic for another day.

What is salient here is that there is a very small minority of whacko women who feel the need to make a scene at the Kotel, in a way that pisses everyone else there off. And they are whacko, beause if they knew anything about the laws surrounding the Talit, you find that it is an insult against the men. You see, it assumes that men need more reminders to do what is right.

Of course, to know that, those women would have to actually know something about their horrible patriarchal religion. Ohhh… and the ten men saying Kadish… that is a tikun for the spies - in other words another reminder of when men messed up.

But you didn’t know that. Now you do.

Also, to clarify (I know you know), regarding the schools in Israel, there are two state type (public) schools. One is considered a state school - public school. The other is a state-religious school. The state schools absolutely have Jewish study - cultural and historical, but not religious. State-religious schools include religious study.

jewishagency.org

And for the record, I don’t agree with your take on women and the Talit, but that’s ok.

I think it’s important for people to realize that Israel and the U.S., although both democratic republics, function in very different ways.