January 31, 2010
By: elana
Category: Gender Politics and Society, Gender and Education
Women can solve the world’s problems by just being a little quieter. That is the message emerging from the resolution of a little fracas in the Religious Zionist world recently. The conflict revolved around the traditional IDF event memorializing the “Lamed-Heh,” the 35 men from the Haganah convoy who gave their lives to protect Gush Etzion in 1948. Bnei Akiva announced their withdrawal from the event because there are to be women singing in the choir. After some hemming and hawing and a few angry responses even from within the Bnei Akiva constituency — including condemnation of the boycott from Bnei Akiva World head Daniel Goldman, as well as Kibbutz Hadati youth, Kolech, and others —the groups reached a “compromise” in which women would not sing at the event, but would sing after the event (once all of the Bnei Akiva kids have left).
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January 31st, 2010 at 11:53 pm
I disagree with their interpretation of halakhah. BUT, I must concede, that they DO have a right to boycott whatever they want.
After all, if women want to sing, they have that right, and it is the duty of men to avoid this singing if they object. The burden lies on the men, not the women. It would appear Benei Akiva realizes this.
February 1st, 2010 at 9:15 pm
Michael
First of all, there’s a difference between making a choice not to attend and giving an ultimatum-boycott, trying to apply pressure to make the event change to accommodate them, which is what they did
Second of all, you know there are girls in Bnei Akiva as well. Why couldn’t they let the girls at least listen to the choir?
B’vracha,
Elana
February 2nd, 2010 at 2:46 am
Perhaps Benei Akiva doesn’t want to create a rift between the boys and the girls? Perhaps, in a peculiar way, they’re being egalitarian? I.e., if the boys cannot do something, then the girls cannot either (or vice versa), because they want the two sexes to remain mixed. But that’s really not the point. Benei Akiva is a voluntary organization, and anyone who freely opts for membership, must accept all of Benei Akiva’s conditions, no matter how unreasonable. You signed the contract, so live up to its stipulations without complaint. If you don’t like it, leave.
I don’t really see a problem with the ultimatum-boycott, because there’s no coercion. All they said was, “If you don’t change, we won’t come.” The response could have easily been, “Fine, don’t come.” No one forced the IDF to give a rat’s patootie what Benei Akiva said. If the IDF had really wanted to, they could have easily said, “Fine, don’t come”; Benei Akiva didn’t use any coercion.
I’m a libertarian. With certain exceptions, I’ll pretty much allow anyone to do whatever they want, as long as they don’t hurt anyone else. (It doesn’t mean they should do whatever they want, only I’ll give them the freedom to be stupid, as long as their stupidity doesn’t hurt me. If I were to elaborate on this point, the result would be halfway towards a reconciliation between John Locke and the theocratic Puritans, between democracy and the Torah. Add in Rabbi Ya’akov Ettlinger’s tinok she-nishba, and the result is a complete and total reconciliation between the Torah and democracy. But that’s another subject.)
Similarly: if IDF soldiers refuse to listen to women sing in IDF choirs, fine. Let them walk out - who does it hurt if they’re not there? What I object to is the IDF’s forcing these soldiers to violate their religious consciences. The IDF is being undemocratic by forbidding democratic freedom of expression of conscience. The IDF must make a choice: either allow soldiers to abstain from attending these concerts, or stop having women sing. You cannot have your cake and eat it too; you cannot coerce someone to attend an event against his will, and then complain when he tries to change the event he’s being forced against his will to attend.
All that said: I think those members of the IDF and Benei Akiva who are strict on kol isha, don’t understand the halakhah of kol isha. See my recent article: “A New Hearing for Kol Ishah”, Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals, 1 February 2010. Online here.