There is a “Great Big Challah Bake” next Thursday. It’s very popular. It’s lovely. It’s about Shabbat. It’s about bringing diverse elements of the community together. It’s for women. Men are not allowed. Is this a scandal?
It might well be if Israel’s president, Reuven Rivlin, were involved. While no analogy is perfect, and goodness know there are differences between American and Israeli Jewry, the recent cancellation of an event in Israel, at least in part due to the action of President Rivlin, gives us pause. Must all Jews be alike, robotlike, in their beliefs and behavior?
Apparently so, according to President Rivlin. Begin with this: Ezra Leparpe is a medical organization in Israel, a nonprofit, that helps all Israelis. Make that all, whatever one’s religious or political views, whatever one’s gender or ethnicity. A fundraising event was organized for it. Nice — or so you would think. The founder, the organizer, the visionary behind Ezra Lemarpe, is an Orthodox Jew who subscribes to the halachic view that kol isha, a singing woman’s voice, should not be heard by men. So he requested that no female entertainers appear at his own fundraising event.
Boom! The President of Israel and many others come down so hard on Rabbi A. E. Firer that he cancelled the concert in order to focus on medical care rather than hassle with Rivlin and others.
Shouldn’t we say: A female Challah Bake is OK? Or, if you don’t agree, suggest a viable compromise? Or, disagree with the rabbi, but don’t undermine his effort? Is it right to coerce an egalitarian position on voluntary medical-care providers who, from faith, think differently?
Mr. Rivlin, are you the president of all of Israel, or only of segments you agree with? If Israeli Muslims had invited you to a non-egalitarian event, wouldn’t you have gone? Should you do less for Israeli Jews?
Copyright © 2019 by the Intermountain Jewish News
