The Jewish State - May 22, 2009 - EBJC examines gender roles in Jewish life/TITLE> <BASE href=http://thejewishstate.net/></BASE> <META content="" name=keywords> <META content="" name=description> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.6000.16735" name=GENERATOR> <link rel="stylesheet" href="tjs_styles.css" type="text/css" /> </HEAD> <BODY> <TABLE height="100%" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=1> <TBODY> <TR> <TD vAlign=top width="23%" bgColor=#e6f2ff> <P style="MARGIN: 10px" align=center><A href="/index.html"><FONT face=Georgia>Home</FONT></A></P></TD> <TD vAlign=top width="77%"> <IMG src="/logo.jpg"><BR><BR><BR> <div class="tjs_headline">EBJC examines gender roles in Jewish life</div> <BR>Sarah Morrison<BR>THE JEWISH STATE<BR>May 22, 2009<P><P> <P>Participants of East Brunswick Jewish Center's "Considering Male and Female Roles in Jewish Life" discovered just how involved their gender was with their religious decisions. <P>During the May 17 seminar, led by Sylvia Barack Fishman, chair of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies at Brandeis University, participants identified their favorite synagogue-related activities, analyzed why it was their favorite, and tried to determine if gender roles had an active say in their decision making. <P>The attendees broke into six smaller groups to answer eight questions posed by Fishman. The questions, about synagogue activity and how gender plays a role in the involvement of their friends, their children, and themselves in synagogue life, were intended to provoke discussion on the broader scope of gender roles in Judaism. <P>One of the six focus groups got into intense discussion about their favorite synagogue-related activities and why, the first question Fishman asked the groups to address. To one participant, it was making a minyan because he feels like he is making an active contribution. For another participant, it was social action programs such as Meals on Wheels that made a difference for the entire community. The general consensus of the group, however, was that general activities that enhanced community life were their favorite to participate in. <P>That particular group also discussed gender roles in their children's participation in religious life. The responses were mixed; some parents thought gender severely limited their daughters' roles, others believed gender expanded their sons' and daughters' roles, and others believed that gender had no effect whatsoever. Some parents were particularly concerned that their daughters, who received extensive training in leading services but could not do so at EBJC, which is not egalitarian. <P>"I have daughters who can't be here, so gender does influence," one participant said about her children's inability to participate in services. "I would prefer that they could participate. I feel badly." <P>Women's inability to participate in services felt demeaning to many of the women who participated, and the point became a top topic in the wrap-up discussion led by Fishman after each group leader reported the main points of their discussion to the participants. <P>Fishman attributed many of the answers to a phenomenon she called "ethnic social capital," which she described as "the stuff that goes into an ethnic group that makes it distinctive from a larger group." <P>"Everyone is nice to the ethnic group, so you can't count on xenophobia to keep them from being distinct. How is it that they manage to transfer their culture to the next generation?" Fishman asked. "It's prevailing in the United States, and it's a happy problem to have, but it is a challenge." <P>One of the main issues that Fishman discussed that came up in the discussion group was learning Hebrew. Fishman said that learning an ethnic language is a crucial part of ethnic social capital and also plays a major role, alongside and within gender roles, in synagogue life. <P>"A lot of women have this issue because they were taught less than their brothers were when they were growing up," Fishman said. <P>The only solution to this problem, Fishman said, is education. <P>Women's involvement in a service was the top issue of the wrap-up session. Fishman went over its implications for both sides. <P>"I'm in the service already, I'm very involved, I want it to be my obligation, I'm a woman, and they won't count me," Fishman said. "Some are upset that they are not being counted while some sweaty kid is, while the other side of the issue is that kid is getting an education... this kid is getting the feeling that he matters." <P>Fishman ended her talk with suggestions of where the group could go from there. <P>"For 2,000 years, we had a system that works," Fishman said. "The conundrum is, what do we do about the fact that women are actually human beings, that they are Jews, that they have strong feelings for Jewish activities? And then, we seem to have this thing where there are too many women involved in the men's activities, it becomes less interesting to them... I had a student tell me once, 'yes, it's a system that works, but it's an unjust system. Do we change an unjust system?'" <P>Fishman left that answer up to the group. </div> </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></BODY></HTML>