February 25, 2008 | Filed Under Blog | 2 Comments
I love to see people that I love becoming who they are.
I’m in New York now, watching my beloved classmates become rabbis in the sense that they’re in the middle of job interviews and beautifully stepping up to the task. I remember some of these guys from ulpan (Hebrew intensive, before we even started rab school) and I’m just glowing and kvelling with pride to watch the transformation into clergy really manifesting.
I went to see the off-Broadway play of an old dear friend tonight, and it was brilliant, and a thing of loveliness. Most of all, the play was so very her. It’s not the first work of hers that has been produced (by a long shot, at this point), or the first I’ve seen staged (ditto) but it was really pleasurable to watch this, and be simultaneously totally absorbed by it and just loving her for being herself enough to write this.
Tomorrow I’m going to have coffee with another (slightly less) old friend, who in the time since I last saw her finished the novel she’d been working on for forever, published it, and watched as the world began to notice how good she is.
There are lots of stories of my people–stories of perseverance and hard work and talent coming into itself.
The early thirties feels like the season when the trees begin to be heavy with sweet, delicious fruit.
I love my friends, and it’s hard to explain just how unbelievably proud I am of them.
February 11, 2008 | Filed Under Blog | No Comments
It’s been such a long break from blogging that I’ve neglected to note that some stuff that I had written a while back has finally made it out into the big world.
An essay that I co-wrote with Rabbi Rebecca Alpert (it’s more of a dialogue, really; it was awfully fun to write) has come out in the excellent book Righteous Indignation: A Jewish Call for Justice. The essay is about trying to create priorities in Jewish feminist work–how much should we be engaged in the world at large and how much focused on trying to fix our own communities first?
A piece in Shma’s sex issue came out on teaching Jewish sexual ethics to teenagers
I’ve also got four essays in a book on theology for teenagers from Torah Aura called, God: Jewish Choices for Struggling With the Ultimate
And, for extra bonus publishing happiness, I should note that Hanne Blank’s excellent book Virgin: The Untouched History is coming out in paperback, finally.
February 10, 2008 | Filed Under Blog | 1 Comment
I know I’ve been neglecting you. There are so many stories I haven’t told you, and even lots of pictures of my trip that I haven’t put online. I didn’t even tell you about the three days of trekking around Torres del Paine (so beautiful! I’ve never been that sore in my life!!) or Tierra del Fuego or any of that. It’s not because I don’t love you, I swear it, blog. I do, I do. It’s just that I hit the ground running when I got back, and, well, I’m still running. I’m pretty sure that my school’s pedagogy is that if you make it to May without collapsing with exhaustion, they’ll ordain you. I’m playing catchup today with work (proofing galleys for my book!!) and then tomorrow’s a new week, off to the races again. I don’t really have time to answer email anymore, and blogging is just a whole other level of sophistication.
I’ll try to be better, blog. I appreciate your patience and understanding. I do miss the times that we’ve had together.
In the meantime, here’s something swell for you. The awesome Shabana Mir has written a piece called How Not to Rescue Muslim Women. It starts as she’s overhearing a debate among students about whether the West should impose its righteous feminism onto Muslim women, or whether, in the words of one, “‘women in the Middle East don’t need as much education. Why should we force them to get more education and to marry late?’” Mir has what to say on the subject, and the binary thinking:
…It hadn’t occurred to my baristas that “those people” had already come up with ideas, strategies, and jihads to try to change patriarchal norms and oppressive customs. It hadn’t occurred to them that brown and black folks who spoke funny languages were sometimes engaged in a life-and-death struggle to change societal practices….
Muslim women are done being rescued. Muslim women are done being defined. Muslim women are done being told what they need. Muslim women could use help, doing what they think they should do.
Women could use help in the worldwide community of patriarchy. Muslim women are engaged in struggles for humanity, equality and justice as are their global sisters. They sure could use some help. But when they reach out for assistance, they call for a few ground rules…..
To find out what Mir suggests, check out the whole thing here.