Podcasts about ultra orthodoxy

You met Chavie in a previous episode. A determined mother who took a long hard road out of Hasidic Judaism so her children could have more choices that she did growing up. Now you get to hear from one of her children! Ruby recounts what it was like being forced to live a judge ordered Hasidic lifestyle, until they stood up and said no. From learning what they had been missing in school, to unearthing social media for the first time at 17, they are now living the life THEY chose for themselves!Click here to watch on YouTubeTo watch Chavie's previous episode, click here!(clickable chapter markers available on YouTube) Disclaimer & reading your comments!Chavie recap's her story that leads to today's discussionRuby's double life growing up in split custodyRuby dealing with the discouragement of pets in the communityDid Ruby feel Hasidic in a Secular world or Non Hasidic in a Hasidic world?What was it like for Chavie watching Ruby bloom with restrictive parenting court ordersWhen Ruby felt that she came into her diverse identityWhat Ruby thought of what was taught of a "woman's role"Does Ruby attribute her way of thinking to her mother?What Chavie thinks of Ruby's journeyChavie was worried her kids weren't pushing back enoughDuring split custody, did Ruby attend a Secular or Hasidic school?What did Ruby miss about the Hasidic schooling?Did Ruby feel that something was missing?Ruby's breaking poinRuby talks to the judge about her lack of educationWhat was it like for Chavie watching Ruby stand up to the Judge?Ruby expressing themself for the first time in public schoolNeed help with technology use as a first timerWhat being introduced to social media was like for RubyExploring the internet for the first timeChavie thoughts on her child on the internetRuby falling for a scam on the internetRuby opens up to MomDo Ruby and Chavie believe in Judaism to some degree now?Meet up Group:https://www.meetup.com/interfaithless-meetup/Support those who have left hasidic communitiesFootstepsorg.orgRuby on Social:IG: @freedomartcollectivePhoto of Chavie & Ruby by Jonah MarkowitzSupport ShelisePatreon: Patreon.com/cultstoconsciousnessVenmo @sheliseannAny donations are welcome and appreciated to support the making of this podcastFind Shelise on Social media!Instagram @cultstoconsciousnessHost Instagram @sheliseannTikTok @cults.to.consciousnessTwitter @cultstoconTheme Song Produced and Composed by Christian Guevara**Disclaimer: Thanks for joining us at Cults to Consciousness. This storytelling podcast is meant to be for entertainment purposes only and does not substitute for medical advice. We may discuss triggering topics and we ask that you make your personal mental health a priority. Lastly, the opinions of our guests do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the host.**

00:00 R. Daniel Sperber on True Orthodoxy vs. Ultra Orthodoxy, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zE0CDQ_TEXw 10:00 Doooovid joins, https://twitter.com/RebDoooovid 11:00 The Science of Consciousness (TSC) conferences, https://consciousness.arizona.edu/about-conference 15:00 Doooovid quit marijuana two months ago 17:00 Best Hindu temples in Farmington, MI, https://www.yelp.com/search?find_desc=Hindu+Temples&find_loc=Farmington+Hills%2C+MI 18:00 Minyan closes for lack of air conditioning 24:00 Doooovid on life as a half-Jew 40:00 Judas joins, https://twitter.com/JudasMaccabeus7 41:00 Judas's Youtube channel, Guerilla Judaism, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLgGCISOp6Ytu1W6adwvAtw 45:00 Detroit's white mayor is on his second term, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Duggan 51:30 Would Doooovid bake a gay marriage wedding cake? 54:00 Jewish & Hindu differences and similarities 59:30 Hindu vs Jewish foods 1:07:00 Rambam's commentary on Mishnah Sanhedrin, https://www.sefaria.org/Rambam_on_Mishnah_Sanhedrin.10.1?lang=bi 1:15:00 Don't be a freier, https://www.haaretz.com/1.4955222 Join this channel to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSFVD7Xfhn7sJY8LAIQmH8Q/join https://odysee.com/@LukeFordLive, https://lbry.tv/@LukeFord, https://rumble.com/lukeford https://dlive.tv/lukefordlivestreams Listener Call In #: 1-310-997-4596 Superchat: https://entropystream.live/app/lukefordlive Bitchute: https://www.bitchute.com/channel/lukeford/ Soundcloud MP3s: https://soundcloud.com/luke-ford-666431593 Code of Conduct: https://lukeford.net/blog/?p=125692 https://www.patreon.com/lukeford http://lukeford.net Email me: lukeisback@gmail.com or DM me on Twitter.com/lukeford Support the show | https://www.streamlabs.com/lukeford, https://patreon.com/lukeford, https://PayPal.Me/lukeisback Facebook: http://facebook.com/lukecford Feel free to clip my videos. It's nice when you link back to the original.

This week we're breaking down what it means to keep kosher. The point of these 'topic' episodes are twofold. On one hand, we've found that it's really great for those of us who left Ultra Orthodoxy to be able to talk out some of the bigger themes that once made up our lives. It helps us to feel connected, it helps validate experiences that sometimes felt so extreme that in retrospect we wonder if anyone else felt what we did. Also, since starting this podcast we've been amazed at the number of people who come to it without prior knowledge of Judaism. We are SO glad you're tuning in and we want to make sure that you're listening to the 'story' episodes withers much background information as we can give you! If there are any topics that you would like covered, let us know!Now, before you click download please remember that our goal isn't to teach you exactly how you'd keep kosher, or to cover all the finer points. If you're interested in learning about it further, get in touch and we'll forward you some great resources! If you're interested in bitching at us because we missed something and you think we sound irreverent... you may have sorely misunderstood the point of this podcast. (I'd write more, but there's bacon grease all over my fingers and I don't want it to ruin my keyboard.) If you have any questions or want to share your own story, please get in touch on: Email: Courageousheartspodcast@gmail.com Instagram: @Courageousheartspodcast twitter: @Calliewriting or join our private Facebook group The Untold Stories of Courageous Hearts Podcast to get in on the conversation! Keep an eye out for us on Patreon, we'll be launching bonus content and extra weekly episodes available THIS WEEK!! Are you pumped?! You should be pumped!!!Edited with the patience and wizardry of Jon Coder!Thanks for listening!

Not long ago I made my way through the limited series "Unorthodox" & the 2 full seasons of "Shtisel." Both offer more than a glimpse into the most orthodox of the Jewish communities. I wanted to get a practitioner's view on these. So I did. Enjoy.

Welcome to Have a Blessed Gay, your weekly spiritual-comedy podcast! Join holy host, Tyler Martin, as he critically discusses social norms, current events, mental health, religion, and spirituality from an outcast's perspective. In this episode, Tyler talks with Abby Stein, a Jewish educator, writer, speaker, and activist. She was born and raised in a Hasidic Jewish community in Brooklyn, isolated in a culture that lives according to the laws and practices of eighteenth-century Eastern Europe, speaking only Yiddish and Hebrew and shunning modern life. Abby was born as the first son in a dynastic rabbinical family, poised to become a leader of the next generation of Hasidic Jews. But Abby felt certain at a young age that she was a girl. She suppressed her desire for a new body while looking for answers wherever she could find them, from forbidden religious texts to smuggled secular examinations of faith. Finally, she orchestrated a personal exodus from ultra-Orthodox manhood to mainstream femininity -- a radical choice that forced her to leave her home, her family, her way of life. In 2012, she left the Hasidic world, and In 2015 she came out as a woman of trans experience. Since coming out, she has been working to raise support and awareness for trans rights and those leaving Ultra-Orthodoxy. Her story has been covered all over the world, including in the New York Times, New York Post, New York Magazine, and Vogue. She’s also made live appearances on CNN, NBC, ShowTime, and NowThis, just to name a few. Today she lives in New York City, now a graduate of Columbia University, and an English speaker, her 4th language. They chat about her beautiful book, Becoming Eve: My Journey from Ultra-Orthodox Rabbi to Transgender Woman, her life while in the Hasidic community, how she creatively rebelled against it until she eventually left, and how she acclimatized to a new life. Please enjoy this awesome discussion! Guest: Abby Chava Stein Social Media: @abbychavastein Website: https://thesecondtransition.blogspot.com/ Abby’s Book: Becoming Eve: My Journey from Ultra-Orthodox Rabbi to Transgender Woman Bookshop.org: https://bookshop.org/books/becoming-eve-my-journey-from-ultra-orthodox-rabbi-to-transgender-woman/9781580059169 The Strand: https://www.strandbooks.com/product/9781580059169?title=becoming_eve_my_journey_from_ultraorthodox_rabbi_to_transgender_woman Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/becoming-eve-abby-chava-stein/1130777534?ean=9781580059169 Sponsored by BetterHelp! Get 10% Off BetterHelp therapy by using my code! www.betterhelp.com/blessedgay Your Host: Tyler Martin Instagram: @tylerisaacmartin Follow Have a Blessed Gay and Reach Out! Instagram/Twitter/Facebook: @haveablessedgay www.haveablessedgay.com Email: hello@haveablessedgay.com U.S. Helplines National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255 Trevor Project Helpline (LGBTQ+ Youth): 1-866-488-7386 Trans Helpline: 877-565-8860

Rabbi Yoni chats with Molli Spalter, PhD candidate in Literature and Women's and Gender Studies at Wayne State University, on the complexity of the Jewish journey, Molli's time in Ultra-Orthodoxy, and the importance of finding renewal and life after heartbreak and struggle.

Check out our high school offerings at www.tikvahfund.org/hs The establishment of the State of Israel is one of the most remarkable achievements of the modern era. Never before had a people dispersed throughout the world, deprived of sovereignty for millennia, returned to its ancient homeland to build a thriving country. Who were the leaders and thinkers that helped craft a modern Jewish nationalism for a people so long deprived of self-determination? What moved them? What were their political teachings and key disagreements? In this episode, Ari discusses with Daniel Gordis his four-part exploration of the writings, legacies, and debates of Zionism's early thinkers. Students study the teachings of Theodor Herzl, Micha Josef Berdichevsky, Ahad Ha'am, Isaac Jacob Reines, Abraham Isaac Kook, and other representatives of modern Jewish nationalist thought. In doing so, Dr. Gordis shows how the founding disagreements within Secular Zionism, Religious Zionism, and Ultra-Orthodoxy can shed light on the spirit of Jewish nationalism and the internal conflicts Israel still faces today. Dr. Daniel Gordis is Senior Vice President and the Koret Distinguished Fellow at Shalem College in Jerusalem. Read more about the course: https://www.dropbox.com/s/e6yan8k52290ygc/The%20Zionist%20Ideas%20-%20Reader.pdf?dl=0 

Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein joins us to talk about God vs. gods, his wonderful book about idolatry in the development of Torah. (Throughout the episode, we use the Hebrew term for idolatry, avodah zarah, literally, 'foreign worship' or 'alien work'. If you didn't know the term before, you will by the end of the episode.) Is Hinduism idolatry? Is Christianity? Are ideologies idolatries? ... and why the religious and anti-religious might suggest they are and what they get wrong... (Do we need to revisit our take on Social Justice Worshipers? https://holymadness.org/blog/podcast-episodes/social-justice-worshipers-season-1-episode-11/) We discuss the sensual draw of alien worship, worshiping the poop god, and famous places of worship, including the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the Sistine Chapel, the Western Wall, May poles, and Meron. Tzvi asks a pointed and loaded question about Ultra-Orthodoxy. Meir-Simchah differentiates avodah from Torah, and Torah from religion. Rabbi Reuven discusses how Molech might have survived into modernity, conjectures that living with morality demonstrates freedom from idolatry, and suggests that Christianity and Islam pave the path to ultimate redemption. Some glowing recommendations: Buy Rabbi Reuven's book G-d Versus Gods: Judaism in the Age of Idolatry - https://amzn.to/2ZZ6LWb Buy his first book, Lashon HaKodesh: History, Holiness, & Hebrew (English, Hebrew and Aramaic Edition) https://amzn.to/32142gP And subscribe to his email series illuminating apparent synonyms' deep differences in the Torah: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/whats-in-a-word Subscribe to Holy Madness here, get more at holymadness.org, and follow us on Twitter: @holymadnessshow, and on Facebook: www.facebook.com/holymadness.theshow/. Intro music by bensound.com, outro music written, performed, & mixed by Meir-Simchah.

Jewish ultra-Orthodoxy, in its numerous manifestations, continues to exert profound influence on the Jewish world, even as it undergoes pressure to change from both within and without. In Jewish Radical Ultra-Orthodoxy Confronts Modernity, Zionism, and Women's Equality (Cambridge University Press, 2016), Motti Inbari accesses recently obtained archival materials and personal correspondence in order to depict the dominant personalities of ultra-Orthodox movements from the late 19th through the 20th centuries, and ​how those movements continue to confront and resist modernity. Inbari, associate professor of religion at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, provides historical, psychological, and ideological perspectives on these complex and often competitive movements in Jewish religious life, in both Israel and the Diaspora. David Gottlieb is a PhD Candidate in the History of Judaism at the University of Chicago Divinity School. His research focuses on interpretations of the Binding of Isaac and the formation of Jewish cultural memory. He can be reached at davidg1@uchicago.edu. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jewish ultra-Orthodoxy, in its numerous manifestations, continues to exert profound influence on the Jewish world, even as it undergoes pressure to change from both within and without. In Jewish Radical Ultra-Orthodoxy Confronts Modernity, Zionism, and Women's Equality (Cambridge University Press, 2016), Motti Inbari accesses recently obtained archival materials and personal correspondence in order to depict the dominant personalities of ultra-Orthodox movements from the late 19th through the 20th centuries, and ​how those movements continue to confront and resist modernity. Inbari, associate professor of religion at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, provides historical, psychological, and ideological perspectives on these complex and often competitive movements in Jewish religious life, in both Israel and the Diaspora. David Gottlieb is a PhD Candidate in the History of Judaism at the University of Chicago Divinity School. His research focuses on interpretations of the Binding of Isaac and the formation of Jewish cultural memory. He can be reached at davidg1@uchicago.edu.

Jewish ultra-Orthodoxy, in its numerous manifestations, continues to exert profound influence on the Jewish world, even as it undergoes pressure to change from both within and without. In Jewish Radical Ultra-Orthodoxy Confronts Modernity, Zionism, and Women’s Equality (Cambridge University Press, 2016), Motti Inbari accesses recently obtained archival materials and personal correspondence in order to depict the dominant personalities of ultra-Orthodox movements from the late 19th through the 20th centuries, and ​how those movements continue to confront and resist modernity. Inbari, associate professor of religion at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, provides historical, psychological, and ideological perspectives on these complex and often competitive movements in Jewish religious life, in both Israel and the Diaspora. David Gottlieb is a PhD Candidate in the History of Judaism at the University of Chicago Divinity School. His research focuses on interpretations of the Binding of Isaac and the formation of Jewish cultural memory. He can be reached at davidg1@uchicago.edu. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jewish ultra-Orthodoxy, in its numerous manifestations, continues to exert profound influence on the Jewish world, even as it undergoes pressure to change from both within and without. In Jewish Radical Ultra-Orthodoxy Confronts Modernity, Zionism, and Women’s Equality (Cambridge University Press, 2016), Motti Inbari accesses recently obtained archival materials and personal correspondence in order to depict the dominant personalities of ultra-Orthodox movements from the late 19th through the 20th centuries, and ​how those movements continue to confront and resist modernity. Inbari, associate professor of religion at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, provides historical, psychological, and ideological perspectives on these complex and often competitive movements in Jewish religious life, in both Israel and the Diaspora. David Gottlieb is a PhD Candidate in the History of Judaism at the University of Chicago Divinity School. His research focuses on interpretations of the Binding of Isaac and the formation of Jewish cultural memory. He can be reached at davidg1@uchicago.edu. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jewish ultra-Orthodoxy, in its numerous manifestations, continues to exert profound influence on the Jewish world, even as it undergoes pressure to change from both within and without. In Jewish Radical Ultra-Orthodoxy Confronts Modernity, Zionism, and Women’s Equality (Cambridge University Press, 2016), Motti Inbari accesses recently obtained archival materials and personal correspondence in order to depict the dominant personalities of ultra-Orthodox movements from the late 19th through the 20th centuries, and ​how those movements continue to confront and resist modernity. Inbari, associate professor of religion at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, provides historical, psychological, and ideological perspectives on these complex and often competitive movements in Jewish religious life, in both Israel and the Diaspora. David Gottlieb is a PhD Candidate in the History of Judaism at the University of Chicago Divinity School. His research focuses on interpretations of the Binding of Isaac and the formation of Jewish cultural memory. He can be reached at davidg1@uchicago.edu. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jewish ultra-Orthodoxy, in its numerous manifestations, continues to exert profound influence on the Jewish world, even as it undergoes pressure to change from both within and without. In Jewish Radical Ultra-Orthodoxy Confronts Modernity, Zionism, and Women’s Equality (Cambridge University Press, 2016), Motti Inbari accesses recently obtained archival materials and personal correspondence in order to depict the dominant personalities of ultra-Orthodox movements from the late 19th through the 20th centuries, and ​how those movements continue to confront and resist modernity. Inbari, associate professor of religion at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, provides historical, psychological, and ideological perspectives on these complex and often competitive movements in Jewish religious life, in both Israel and the Diaspora. David Gottlieb is a PhD Candidate in the History of Judaism at the University of Chicago Divinity School. His research focuses on interpretations of the Binding of Isaac and the formation of Jewish cultural memory. He can be reached at davidg1@uchicago.edu. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jewish ultra-Orthodoxy, in its numerous manifestations, continues to exert profound influence on the Jewish world, even as it undergoes pressure to change from both within and without. In Jewish Radical Ultra-Orthodoxy Confronts Modernity, Zionism, and Women’s Equality (Cambridge University Press, 2016), Motti Inbari accesses recently obtained archival materials and personal correspondence in order to depict the dominant personalities of ultra-Orthodox movements from the late 19th through the 20th centuries, and ​how those movements continue to confront and resist modernity. Inbari, associate professor of religion at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, provides historical, psychological, and ideological perspectives on these complex and often competitive movements in Jewish religious life, in both Israel and the Diaspora. David Gottlieb is a PhD Candidate in the History of Judaism at the University of Chicago Divinity School. His research focuses on interpretations of the Binding of Isaac and the formation of Jewish cultural memory. He can be reached at davidg1@uchicago.edu. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jewish ultra-Orthodoxy, in its numerous manifestations, continues to exert profound influence on the Jewish world, even as it undergoes pressure to change from both within and without. In Jewish Radical Ultra-Orthodoxy Confronts Modernity, Zionism, and Women’s Equality (Cambridge University Press, 2016), Motti Inbari accesses recently obtained archival materials and personal correspondence in order to depict the dominant personalities of ultra-Orthodox movements from the late 19th through the 20th centuries, and ​how those movements continue to confront and resist modernity. Inbari, associate professor of religion at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, provides historical, psychological, and ideological perspectives on these complex and often competitive movements in Jewish religious life, in both Israel and the Diaspora. David Gottlieb is a PhD Candidate in the History of Judaism at the University of Chicago Divinity School. His research focuses on interpretations of the Binding of Isaac and the formation of Jewish cultural memory. He can be reached at davidg1@uchicago.edu. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The establishment of the State of Israel is one of the most remarkable achievements of the modern era. Never before had a people dispersed throughout the world, deprived of sovereignty for millennia, returned to its ancient homeland to build a thriving country. Who were the leaders and thinkers that helped craft a modern Jewish nationalism for a people so long deprived of self-determination? What moved them? What were their political teachings and key disagreements? The Tikvah Fund invites you to join Dr. Micah Goodman, Research Fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem and CEO and Rosh Midrasha of Midreshet Ein Prat, for a three-part exploration of the writings, legacies, and debates of Zionism's early thinkers. We will study the teachings of Theodor Herzl, Micha Josef Berdichevsky, Ahad Ha'am, Isaac Jacob Reines, Abraham Isaac Kook, and other representatives of modern Jewish nationalist thought. In doing so, Dr. Goodman will help us see how the founding disagreements within Secular Zionism, Religious Zionism, and Ultra-Orthodoxy can shed light on the spirit of Jewish nationalism and the internal conflicts Israel still faces today. These lectures were originally delivered at one of the Tikvah Fund's educational programs for undergraduates. Click here to learn more about our educational programs. In this lecture, Dr. Goodman takes us on a journey from 18th-century Lithuania to the modern state of Israel as he explores the haredi response to Zionism and the challenges of modernity.

The establishment of the State of Israel is one of the most remarkable achievements of the modern era. Never before had a people dispersed throughout the world, deprived of sovereignty for millennia, returned to its ancient homeland to build a thriving country. Who were the leaders and thinkers that helped craft a modern Jewish nationalism for a people so long deprived of self-determination? What moved them? What were their political teachings and key disagreements? The Tikvah Fund invites you to join Dr. Micah Goodman, Research Fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem and CEO and Rosh Midrasha of Midreshet Ein Prat, for a three-part exploration of the writings, legacies, and debates of Zionism's early thinkers. We will study the teachings of Theodor Herzl, Micha Josef Berdichevsky, Ahad Ha'am, Isaac Jacob Reines, Abraham Isaac Kook, and other representatives of modern Jewish nationalist thought. In doing so, Dr. Goodman will help us see how the founding disagreements within Secular Zionism, Religious Zionism, and Ultra-Orthodoxy can shed light on the spirit of Jewish nationalism and the internal conflicts Israel still faces today. These lectures were originally delivered at one of the Tikvah Fund's educational programs for undergraduates. Click here to learn more about our educational programs. In this episode, Dr. Micah Goodman explores the philosophies of Rabbi Isaac Jacob Reines and Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook in order to trace the key disagreements within religious Zionism from the dawn of the Zionist movement until the present day.

The establishment of the State of Israel is one of the most remarkable achievements of the modern era. Never before had a people dispersed throughout the world, deprived of sovereignty for millennia, returned to its ancient homeland to build a thriving country. Who were the leaders and thinkers that helped craft a modern Jewish nationalism for a people so long deprived of self-determination? What moved them? What were their political teachings and key disagreements? The Tikvah Fund invites you to join Dr. Micah Goodman, Research Fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem and CEO and Rosh Midrasha of Midreshet Ein Prat, for a three-part exploration of the writings, legacies, and debates of Zionism's early thinkers. We will study the teachings of Theodor Herzl, Micha Josef Berdichevsky, Ahad Ha'am, Isaac Jacob Reines, Abraham Isaac Kook, and other representatives of modern Jewish nationalist thought. In doing so, Dr. Goodman will help us see how the founding disagreements within Secular Zionism, Religious Zionism, and Ultra-Orthodoxy can shed light on the spirit of Jewish nationalism and the internal conflicts Israel still faces today. These lectures were originally delivered at one of the Tikvah Fund's educational programs for undergraduates. Click here to learn more about our educational programs. In his first lecture, Dr. Micah Goodman explores the founding disagreements of secular Zionism by focusing on the relationship between Zionism and Jewish tradition in the thought of Ahad Ha'am and Micha Josef Berdichvky.

Shulem Deen, author of All Who Go Do Not Return, a National Jewish Book Award-winning memoir that tells the story of his exit from ultra-Orthodox Judaism, joins us to understand the people who do and do not leave ultra-Orthodoxy, the needs and hopes of those who do leave, and the roles formerly-Orthodox people might play in the rest of the Jewish community and in re-imagining the Jewish future. If you're enjoying Judaism Unbound, please help us keep things going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Support Judaism Unbound by clicking here. To access full shownotes for this episode, click here.

In a time when so many of us are under pressure --  working night and day, taking care of the generation under us and the generation above us, watching our debts rise and the prospects of our children fade-- of course the solutions offered by those eager to capitalize on our anxiety is to call for a return to some Golden Age where those ones supposedly to blame for our problems because they didn't keep to their station are fenced out, and we are once again on top. The problem with this is that often those Golden Ages never existed:  they are a fabrication about the past by those who want power.  One such Golden Age that is offered up as "Traditional Judaism" is the one where women stayed in the home, having babies, and didn't seek to compete for control of the public realm with men, one where they leave Torah study to others.  When I was speaking about this recently, one congregant said, "Look, Rabbi, I support egalitarianism, that's why I'm a Conservative Jew, but I also am deeply respectful of the Orthodox who are preserving Judaism the way it was."  Only problem?  The limitations on women are not the Judaism that was, but come from a modern reactionism that is recent.  In the Shulkhan Arukh Code of Jewish Law (early 1500's), women read from the Torah.  In the Talmud, women prayed our liturgy, and were not limited as they are in Ultra-Orthodoxy today to reading just Psalms.  The earliest evidence for a separation mechitzah between men and women is found in the post-Talmudic medieval period in Muslim countries, adopting it from Islam.  ["Traditional Judaism" should be understood as Biblical and Rabbinic Judaism, covering roughly 1200 BCE-1500 CE, not later emendations.] This "Golden Age" where "men and women knew their traditional Jewish roles" is a dangerous fiction, and dates mostly to the late Medieval period, and especially the 1800's, when laws and customs were ADDED [in violation of the Torah's rule that one may not add laws] in order to create these gender roles in a tradition that had been a champion of women's equality.  In my sermon on Parashat Bereishit (Genesis), I compare the situation to the original blaming of women [especially in early Christian commentaries] for the world's problems --Eve being the weak link the Serpent tricks, and then she gives Adam to eat-- and instead locate the "sin" in Adam's adding an illegal fence around the tree to prevent her from touching it, a rule God never gave but meant, apparently, for her own good.  The coincidence this week was divine:  a photograph of our Simchat Torah celebration, with a woman carrying the Torah scroll, was met with a comment from an Orthodox woman that "the rabbi of your congregation should know that a woman is forbidden from touching a Torah scroll!"   Really?  That's news to our legal codes: "All who are impure, even women who are menstruating, and even a non-Jew, may hold a Torah scroll and read from it, for words of Torah are not susceptible to impurity, provided that the holder's hands are not physically soiled or dirty.  [If they are, then] they must wash their hands and then they may touch it."  Laws of Torah Scrolls, 10:8, R. Moses Maimonides (c. 1180)

Prof. Motti Inbari, a religions scholar at the University of North Carolina Pembroke, is the author of the new book Jewish Radical Ultra-Orthodoxy Confronts Modernity, Zionism and Women's Equality. Prof. Inbari discusses with host Gilad Halpern the genealogy of the two most radical examples of Jewish ultra-Orthodoxy: Jerusalem's Neturei Karta and Brooklyn's Satmar Hasidim. Song: Sharon Lifshitz - Machshavot Hakaits This season of the Tel Aviv Review is made possible by The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, which promotes humanistic, democratic, and liberal values in the social discourse in Israel.