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Lazy Imperative Programming (1993)
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|Yale University
|29 - 5 self
author = {John Launchbury},
title = {Lazy Imperative Programming},
booktitle = {Yale University},
year = {1993},
pages = {46--56}
In this paper we argue for the importance of lazy state, that is, sequences of imperative (destructive) actions in which the actions are delayed until their results are required. This enables state-based computations to take advantage of the control power of lazy evaluation. We provide some examples of its use, and describe an implementation within Glasgow Haskell. 1 Introduction There has long been a tension between functional programming languages and their more traditional imperative counterparts. On the one hand, functional languages are commonly more expressive and easier to reason about than imperative languages, but on the other hand, certain algorithms and interactions seem to rely fundamentally on state-based computation. It is clearly worth attempting to combine the strengths of each. Some languages like Scheme and ML have incorporated imperative actions as side effects. This approach only makes sense in a call-by-value language where the order of evaluation is statically de...
|Polymorphic type, region, and effect inference
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- 1992
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Citation Context
...ult of a program could depend on the order of evaluation---the very thing we are trying to avoid. The best solution to this is almost certainly a stronger type system, perhaps like the effects system =-=[TJ92]-=-. This would determine that no supposedly pure calculation made reference to anything other than its own internal state. However, in the absence of such an extension, the solution we adopt here is for...
|Unboxed Values as First Class Citizens in a Non-Strict Functional Language
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- 1991
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Citation Context
...orld# Elements of type IO a are functions which take a world token (of type World#) and return a pair of values, the first of type a, the second a new world token. Here World# is an unboxed data type =-=[PL91]-=-. The # suffix is a lexical convention only with no semantic content, but unboxed types are very different beasts from normal types. In particular, unboxed types have no bottom element, so cannot be u...
A strong connectivity algorithm and its application in data flow analysis
- Sharir
- 1981
(Show Context)
Citation Context
...Strongly-Connected Components To demonstrate the flexibility of dfs we provide a second example of its use, this time the strongly connected components algorithm due to Kosaraju in 1978 (unpublished) =-=[Sha81]-=-. This example does not take particular advantage of laziness, but does show a reuse the DFS code. For the purposes of this algorithm, we originally specify a graph as a pair of bounds for the vertice...
Advanced functional programming
- Hughes
- 2005
(Show Context)
Citation Context
...fect the final value could be discarded freely. This may be generalised by making the state thread entirely lazy. Hughes argues that the true power of laziness is to decouple control from calculation =-=[Hug89]-=-, and we show the same arguments apply to internally state-based computations. We provide some examples of this, and give an implementation of lazy-state in Glasgow Haskell. The contribution of this p...
Computational Lambda Calculus and Monads, proc
- Moggi
- 1989
(Show Context)
Citation Context
...ermining the exact order of evaluation---the very thing that laziness tends to hide! Consequently lazy evaluation and side effects do not mix. There is a way forward however. The recent work of Moggi =-=[Mog89]-=- showed how monads could be used to structure denotational semantics, including the handling of state in imperative languages. Wadler recognised that the same principles apply for functional programs ...
by Name, Assignment, and the Lambda Calculus, proc
- Odersky, Hudak
- 1993
(Show Context)
Citation Context
... directly on top of the IO work at Glasgow as reported by Peyton Jones and Wadler [PW93], and summarised in Section 2. There are also strong similarities with thesvar work of Odersky, Rabin and Hudak =-=[ORH93]-=-, which itself was influenced by Swarup, Reddy and Ireland [SRI91]. Like Peyton Jones and Wadler,svar provides only for strict imperative actions: no purely functional result is returned until the str...
Making Gensym Safe for Functional Programming
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Citation Context
...ld implement gensym using slightly dirty tricks with the dangerous performIO. Interestingly, however, Odersky has recently shown that the lambda calculus may be safely extended with a gensym operator =-=[Ode93]-=-. The term t :e introduces a new name t within e. The only operation provided on names is equality. The resulting calculus is Church-Rosser. The concrete syntax Odersky proposes for t :e is new t -? e...
U.Reddy and E.Ireland, Assignments for Applicative Languages, proc
- Swarup
- 1991
(Show Context)
Citation Context
...ones and Wadler [PW93], and summarised in Section 2. There are also strong similarities with thesvar work of Odersky, Rabin and Hudak [ORH93], which itself was influenced by Swarup, Reddy and Ireland =-=[SRI91]-=-. Like Peyton Jones and Wadler,svar provides only for strict imperative actions: no purely functional result is returned until the structure and content of the state is resolved. One surprising aspect...


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Article | October 31, 1997
Atlas Group Americas: Servo control
Atlas Copco Controls (Sewickley, PA) has introduced the SimPL, a point-and-click servo control that simplifies motion control setup. While most motion controllers require a programmer to learn a new language, the SimPL has no syntax to remember.
Instead hardware is configured I/O assignments made and most other parameters are set with a mouse.
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Tag Archives: Croxall
Leaving hibernation
We're a third of the way through March, and daffodils are out, the sun is high in the sky and spring is in full effect – I left in the afternoon for a quiet, fast spin – I ended up on a 45-miler around Lichfield, Croxall, Edingale, Harlaston, Whittington, Weeford and Shenstone.
[caption id="attachment_17934" align="alignleft" width="300"] How Shenstone looks best: in silhouette[/caption] Continue reading
Posted in Churches, cycling, Environment, Events, Features, Fun stuff to see and do, Interesting photos, Local media, News, Panoramio photo discussions, Panoramio updates, Shared media Tagged Canal, Croxall, Cycle rides, cycling, daffodils, Edingale, Events, New Photos, Panoramio, ride, Shenstone, Spring, Staffordshire, sun, Sunset, Things to do, WHittington 3 Comments
To be in England, in the summertime
Another day, another great ride – I headed out early afternoon, firstly to Chasewater then on to Lichfield and the festival market, then from the busy city, I headed to the quiet of the east Staffordshire countryside – Whittington, Croxall, Walton, Rosliston, Lullington, Harlaston and back via Wall.
[caption id="attachment_14740" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Pipe Hill poppies[/caption] Continue reading
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Spring. There's certainly something in the air.
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Appliance maker Whirlpool Corporation announced today that it has signed an agreement with the Cornerstone Alliance to lease the Kay Building in downtown Benton Harbor.
Cornerstone, a non-profit, investor-driven community and economic development organization, and Whirlpool had been in negotiations to lease the 25,000-sq-ft building since late last year. The company plans to relocate about 100 area employees to the facility in the first quarter of 2004.
"The arrangement meets two important needs for Whirlpool Corporation: it provides needed additional space for our employees in the headquarters community and gives us yet another opportunity to partner with Cornerstone in the revival of Benton Harbor's downtown business district," said David R. Whitwam, Whirlpool's chairman and CEO. "Benton Harbor has steadily improved its economic viability over the last few years. And now, with the leasing of the Kay Building, an important component of the Cornerstone Alliance's ongoing Harbor Town redevelopment plans is in place."
The Harbor Town Project is a four-phase development blueprint to generate housing, townhouses, and commercial property in what used to be called the "Flats" area of Benton Harbor near the St. Joseph River. Financing for the project is coming from federal, state and local authorities, as well as private investors.
The Kay Building, located along Main Street in Benton Harbor, was home to a Sears Roebuck Department Store, beginning in the 1920s. It later became a Woolworth Department Store. The building, which has been vacant for the last 16 years, is being completely renovated by Cornerstone.
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The claimant hired out recycling plant and equipment and the defendant had been a customer. A local agent of the defendant had properly entered into certain contracts with the claimant acting as the company's agent, but then created three long term contracts which the defendant then said were beyond his capacity. The defendant ceased trading at the site and the claimant then sought to enforce the contracts. The defendant denied liability under the contracts. The claimant now sought to enforce the order in its favour at the ensuing adjudication.
Held: The adjudication should be enforced. The defendant had entered into contracts through the agent, and had conceded that he had certain authorities. It had no prosepect of succesfully denying that agency now. The adjudicator's reference to the contents of a statement of the challenged agent but mistakenly not served was insufficient to establish a breach of natural justice.
Date: 19-Apr-2011
Judges: Akenhead J
Links: Bailii,
References: [2011] EWHC 972 (TCC),
Cases Cited:
- Carillion Construction Ltd -v- Devonport Royal Dockyard Ltd, CA, Cited, (Bailii, [2005] EWCA Civ 1358, Times 24-Nov-05, [2006] BLR 15, (2005) 104 Con LR 1)
- Freeman & Lockyer -v- Buckhurst Park Properties, CA, Cited, ([1964] 2 QB 480)
- Cantillon Ltd -v- Urvasco Ltd, TCC, Cited, (Bailii, [2008] EWHC 282 (TCC), [2008] CILL 2564, [2008] BLR 250, 117 Con LR 1)
- Pharmed Medicare Private Ltd -v- Univar Ltd, CA, Cited, (Bailii, [2002] EWCA Civ 1569, [2003] 1 All ER (Comm) 321)


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I wasn't afraid of teaching myself to weave. I read several books. I even bought one. I'm a very good book-learner.
But, there are a few things that are hard to learn from a book, even a good one.
One is the rhythm and flow of weaving. I'd heard, on internet boards, that keeping a consistent method makes the project look better. But, how to do it?
How can edges be neater? (It turns out there are about four answers to this one.)
Do I need to get really worked up if my warp threads cross each other?
How the heck does Log Cabin work? (This was really bugging me. I tried, and failed, to do it myself.)
So, I looked up Deborah Jarchow's class on Craftsy. You remember Deborah, right? She's the woman who finally convinced me to just buy a loom, already.
I bought the class and I'm so glad I did! For one, it was really nice just watching someone weave on the same kind of loom I have. The class covered 12 topics, overall, so there's something for everybody.
The class was also full of practical advice for improving my weaving. I feel more confident that, when I make a mistake, I can figure out what the heck happened.
Deborah encourages weavers to take notes, so that they can repeat good outcomes when they get them. This is great advice for any crafter, really. Ravelry has made keeping and sharing notes for projects fun. Having a cell phone with a good camera has helped me, too. I can snap quick photos of a warp, if I want to, and save it for later.
Deborah is a natural teacher and manages to include a lot of information without letting the class be too long or overwhelming.
If you're thinking of taking a class on Craftsy, all I can say is - do it! Since it's all online, you can work at your own pace and review sections later.
I'm happy and looking forward to my next project.
P.S. - If you want to learn to weave and aren't ready to take a Beyond the Basics class, Craftsy has you covered, too. There is a class for absolute beginners with a rigid heddle loom.


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NOTE: Guest post and images by Kevin Kubota I hear the angry lynch mob rallying together already. Their faces are getting red, they spew words like "megapixels", "sharpness", "depth of field", "lens choice", "noise levels", "grub-n-ale". Purists surely will argue that the iPhone is not sophisticated enough to be taken seriously as a "real" camera. […]
I am no Chase Jarvis when it comes to using my iPhone. But I do occasionally make a simple snap shot using the iPhone's built-in camera. One thing that got me playing around more and more with the iPhone is the slew of tremendous apps available to enhance it's camera. So here, in no particular […]
(EDITOR'S NOTE: Usually I rely solely on our tremendous in-house reviewer, Conrad Obregon for book reviews – which we publish every Sunday. Conrad is better at this than I am, but once in a while a book comes out that I feel the need to comment on. I assume Conrad will also review this title […]
Photos and post by Andy Ihnatko EDITOR'S NOTE: You can see Andy's entire iPhone 3GS Flickr set here. Apple let me have an iPhone 3G S a week and a half before the release date. Here's a whole bunch of pix I shot as I tested out the features of its new 3 megapixel variable […]
For me, one of the most exciting things about the Apple iPhone 3Gs announcement at WWDC 2009 was the inclusion of a better camera. While I always thought the original iPhone camera was "good enough," I knew it could be better. Well I was right. The new iPhone sports a three megapixel camera capable of […]
Guest Post by Liana Lehua
Collage Lite – Cost: $0.99
Developer: John Moffett
Lite features: Up to 4 photos in a collage at a time. The full version of Collage includes a crop feature.
This review is of the full, paid version of Collage for iPhone on both an iPhone 3G and original iPhone 2G.
Did your mouth drop when you saw Tom Cruise interface with data in Minority Report or watched CSI's Duquesne* and Delco* visually manipulate and analyze crime scene evidence using the iPhone-familiar pinch and expand technique – moving and re-sizing images around with the swipe of the wrist or a flick of the finger? Whether these clips from Hollywood are familiar to you or not, the were jaw-dropping awesome the first time they aired. If you think this way of interfacing with data is cool, and you're a photographer, then wait until you learn more about Collage.
While I don't generally use my iPhone to capture or edit images I may want to use for professional use, I definitely find the benefit of doing so with images I want to have fun with: iPhone wallpapers, Facebook posts, screen captures to share with others, to immortalize my Rock Band supremecy, for example.
To begin, I choose a color for my collage's background and decide whether I want to work in portrait or landscape mode by holding my iPhone vertically or tilting it horizontally. Then, select an image to work with. I choose to work with one image at a time, apply any filters, and perform actions before adding another photo to my canvas. If I accidentally select the wrong image, I can delete it using the trash can icon. This can be done on any image/layer at any time. Just be careful to have the correct one highlighted. There is no "undo" command to easily bring back whatever you've deleted. Moving images in front of or behind others is as simple as clicking on the image. Think of this as being the same as moving an image on top of or below another image/layer.
Delete "layers" using the trash can icon. This function works on the image but does not work for deleting filters, part of the "Actions" menu. In order to change an applied Action, simply call the menu and select a different item. Clicking on the delete icon will delete the highlighted image/layer. Multiple action items can be applied.
Next, I select a filter or an action to apply.
List of Actions:
• Black and White
• Sepia
• Nudge straight
• Remove Frame
• Auto Layout
• Adjust Transparency
Continue reading
Post by Ron Brinkmann
Cross Posted at DigitalComposting.com
I've been saying for a long time now that cameras need to evolve to where they're an open computing platform. To where all of the hardware on the device can be programmatically controlled by onboard software applications. Unfortunately we haven't seen a whole lot of movement in this area from the big camera manufacturers, other than a bit of SDK support by Canon and (finally) Nikon and some interesting but cumbersome hackish options.
I know that part of the reason for this is that the software/firmware on a camera isn't really designed with this in mind – it's not necessarily an easy change to develop an architecture that would support 3rd party applications. Which is why I'm starting to think that this will end up being solved in the other direction – by dedicated computing platforms that also happen to have camera capabilities. Platforms like, for instance, the iPhone. Continue reading


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|By Larry Carvalho
Article Rating:
|February 18, 2013 08:00 AM EST
I have attended IBM's Lotusphere conference many times, but this year was a different experience. The long-familiar yellow Lotus branded signs were missing as the conference was renamed "IBM Connect." The move away from Lotus branding was expected after IBM's recent repositioning of Lotus products, along with some new acquisitions under the umbrella of IBM Collaboration Solutions.
The change also reflects IBM's overall direction away from selling products to customers to focusing on business outcomes. The three main themes of the Connect 2013 conference were Social Business, Smarter Commerce and Smarter Workforce. These new focus areas are designed to enable IBM to expand into new markets while enrolling new clients.
Social interactions and mobile access bring along a large amount of data snippets, so analytics is an essential piece required to harvest maximum value. Therefore, the Day 2 keynote was appropriately delivered by IBM's Information Management organization that focuses on analytics. Without analytics, developing deep insights from social interactions accelerated by mobile access is simply not possible. Rapid reaction to market sentiments will differentiate social companies from other companies. Social interactions will bring about a big value to IBM and its customers if properly leveraged with the value proposition differentiators listed for the following themes:
Smarter Commerce:
- Managing empowered customers with personalization
- Viewing customers from a 360 degree view leading to increased customer satisfaction and better retention
- Improving customer loyalty through offers based on insights from location and context
- Engaging customers with additional interactions from mobile devices
Smarter Workforce:
- Building better teams with shared values to deliver better solutions to customers
- Acquiring talent to leverage social networks
- Improving innovation by encouraging social interaction
- Reducing turnover by leveraging social media to improve trust between the employer and employee
There are big challenges for enterprises to transform into a social business, especially since enterprise leadership very often sees more risks than gains when considering social strategies. An age barrier exists in many established enterprises with leadership that is unaware of how the younger workforce operates. (Blake Landau, founder of Artemis and a Huffington Post blogger, articulated the challenge of diversity and age for IBM in a well-written HuffPo post where she estimated that 90% of attendees at IBM Connect were middle-aged men.)
Becoming a social business depends on participation from people across the business environment, including employees, partners and customers. The value of social innovation is built on platforms of teams rather than individuals. Recent restructuring of workforces in many organizations has left very little time or motivation for employees to participate in social networking or to contribute disruptive ideas. Much has been said about the Return on Investment in social initiatives, but only broader adoption can enable organizations to accurately measure anecdotal and quantifiable results.
Facebook's rapid growth does not mean enterprises can easily replicate similar success. Instead, they need to drive social media adoption in the same manner as they promote wellness programs to drive down healthcare costs. Just as healthier employees contribute to the bottom line with reduced sick days and improved productivity, social-enabled employees can contribute more fully to better job and business innovation.
Driving social adoption among employees can increase partner and customer participation, too. Initiatives like viral adoption have been tried, but success is spotty. Direct benefits to employees are needed to achieve the goal of improved engagement. Just as employees get reduced insurance premiums from getting annual healthcare exams, they could similarly be rewarded for writing blog posts, gaining more internal and external followers, etc. Analytical tools, like those IBM offers for monitoring social interactions, can and should play a big role in developing quantifiable measurements to award appropriate incentives.
Although IBM Connect 2013 was a useful conference to impart knowledge on becoming a social business and enabling technologies, enterprises need to suggest a strategy that includes motivating adoption. Once such incentives are put into place as part of a broader social media strategy, employees will naturally gravitate to becoming more social, therefore positively contributing to enterprise business benefits. Once a core mass of participation has been achieved, other non-monetary motivation factors, like sense of corporate purpose, will rally corporate social maturity.
This post was first published on Robustcloud.com. Republished with permission.
Bit6 today issued a challenge to the technology community implementing Web Real Time Communication (WebRTC). To leap beyond WebRTC's significant limitations and fully leverage its underlying value to accelerate innovation, application developers need to consider the entire communications ecosystem.
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Tag Archives: halakha
When Creativity and Faith Collide
Growing up as the daughter of two teachers, my parents encouraged me to read every kind of book that I was interested in. As a middle schooler I socialized with Charles Dickens, curled up with Jane Austen, ate snacks with the Bronte sisters, decided that I hated every stuffy Victorian who took 150 pages to start a plot, and moved on to their dark Russian cousins, the Tolstoys and Dostoevskys (125 pages to start a plot). One author was off-limits in my house, and his books I had to keep hidden. I kept his books behind the other books on my shelves, binding face-down. This author was Chaim Potok. I actually had no idea why there was a Chaim Potok ban in my house until I started reading his books, and then the CPB (Chaim Potok Ban) made a lot of sense to me. Potok claimed that one could not be Orthodox, or more accurately, one could not fulfill himself creatively and be Orthodox at the same time. And when faced with this decision, one should choose creative fulfillment. Potok made this point in My Name is Asher Lev, Davida's Harp, and pretty much every other book he had written.
I don't blame my parents for this ban at all. Every parent has something, I'm sure, that they want to protect their children from. I want to protect my children from Sholom Auslander, author of Foreskin's Lament, in which he blames his apostasy on the "theological abuse" he suffered as a child at the hands of Orthodox parents and teachers. I pray every day that they should never read one of his books. I know that they will be exposed to anti-religious ideas out there in the real world, but by God, if they are exposed to all those ideas through the tortured, cynical eyes of Sholom Auslander, I will do serious penance. My children will make their own decisions as they get older about what kinds of Jews they want to be, but I don't want them to arrive at that decision through rage and through pain.
I think my parents were right in trying to protect me from the most devastating reality of being an Orthodox Jew: There are simply some people who cannot be both an Orthodox Jew and creatively fulfill themselves. This may not be devastating to you, but it was to me, and my 1994-future-Broadway-star/pianist self.
Every day I go through mind tricks to calm myself down when I worry that I am not fulfilled creatively. I yell at myself in my brain. I remind myself of my healthy children, my healthy husband, my healthy body (bli ayin hara). I remind myself that my life is wonderful. I have friends that laugh with me, and at me (and both are good things). I remind myself that there is a lot of instability in the world, and a lot of uncertainty and pain, and my children are more fortunate than most other children to have been sheltered from this uncertainty and pain. I remind myself that creative fulfillment is a luxury.
I remind myself that I create art when I teach. And when I write. I remind myself that the very act of conducting my life within a controlled, halakhic environment – that is art.
Five or six years ago, I participated in a small conference of Orthodox educators run by Rabbi Aryeh Klapper in Boston. After a panel presentation, a female attendee at the conference raised her hand and began to lament all the difficulties of her life, and how hard it is that she will never be able to fulfill her dream of becoming a rabbi. I nodded in empathy but supplemented her comments with a statement about how I will never fulfill myself musically – and that I was coming to terms with that.
I never wanted to be a rabbi. I wanted to be Gwen Stefani.
All I said was that I was coming to terms with it, not that I already had. I have entered into a Chaim Potok book, but I've chosen the other path — Orthodox Judaism. I will not be a singer, or a pianist (too many gigs on Friday nights and Saturdays). I have chosen a halakhic path. If I had to do it again, I would make the same choice. But I don't want my daughters to have to make this choice. I want (and here my cursor stays for 45 seconds – what do I want?)
I want my children to express their Judaism in a way that completely and totally creatively fulfills them.
I know some readers of this blog will point out to me that many Orthodox women sing or perform in front of men, but I am not looking for halakhic loopholes or possibilities. I'm waiting until they become mainstream. I know, I know, when there is a rabbinic will there is a halakhic way – but I don't want to fashion my Judaism according to my will. Self-control is a form of artistic expression. Or so I tell myself.
So for now, here I am, in Potok's book. I've also decided to let my children read actual Chaim Potok books and hope that my own personal choices stand as a (sometimes painful) alternative. But the benefits and the beauty of living as an Orthodox Jewish woman outweigh the fulfillment that I have skipped out on. Maybe. And who knows, one day I might even let Sholom Auslander's books into my house.
Not anytime soon, though.
Note: The opinions expressed here are the personal views of the author. All comments on MyJewishLearning are moderated. Any comment that is offensive or inappropriate will be removed. Privacy Policy
Jewish Women Deserve Better
Five months ago, I wrote about my struggles as a newly married woman in adjusting to the observance of Taharat HaMishpacha, the laws of family purity. I felt isolated in my suffering and scared that my commitment to halakha would forever negatively impact my marriage. I had been taught that Taharat HaMishpacha keeps a marriage fresh and alive. Rabbi Meir attested to this in the Talmud, "Why did the Torah teach that a woman was in a period of niddah, menstrual impurity, for seven days?…So that she will be beloved by her husband as on the day she entered the chuppah, wedding canopy" (Niddah 31b). But observing the laws of Taharat HaMishpacha was not a honeymoon for my relationship, and I was searching for someone to tell me that I was not alone in my frustration. I needed community and solidarity.
I watched eagerly as the conversation about my article spread on social media. While some critiqued my frustration and argued that halakhic challenges are simply a part of Avodat Hashem, service of God, many women reached out to me to express their solidarity and sympathy with my challenges. It was clear that I was not alone and that women needed a space to discuss this mitzvah openly and honestly.
Since moving to New York City last fall, I have met many female, halakhic scholars–mentors that I did not have access to when I initially learned the laws of Taharat HaMishpacha on the West Coast. I began asking them about strategies to cope with the challenging aspects of Taharat HaMishpacha and how to guide a follow-up discussion that would move beyond frustration towards constructive action. While the women I spoke to offered solidarity and sympathy, no one had an answer. Most offered a few ideas and then concluded, "You just learn to deal with it."
That answer was not satisfying. Getting married is enough of a new challenge: learning to live with someone, navigating a new sexual relationship, merging identities. Yet, at the same time we are introduced to a new set of mitzvot that impacts your body, sexuality, and emotional relationship. And if women ever choose to speak openly about these intimate challenges, the only support offered is that it will get easier. But we deserve better. No new bride should ever have to feel isolated and scared because of the laws of Taharat HaMishpacha. Our community needs to collectively strategize on ways to offer support to couples.
With this guiding principle, I facilitated a series of discussion groups, in collaboration with Immerse NYC, which brought together women in Washington Heights to share their experiences of observing Taharat HaMishpacha. These discussions provided space to both vent frustrations and clearly identify the challenges to address.
At one salon, a woman asked if my husband was home and when I responded no, she sighed in relief and pulled off her sheitl, wig. Women around the living room followed suit, pulling off sheitls, tichels, scarves, and hats, a collective shedding of our inhibitions. This was a safe space to open up and be in solidarity as women.
During these discussions, members of the group openly discussed each person's difficulties and offered suggestions to one another. As each woman shared, heads nodded around the room and women jumped in to respond. I found myself feeling more at ease with my challenges. There was a sense of solidarity in our commitment to this mitzvah and yet, an honest acknowledgement that while observing other mitzvot may be difficult at times, this mitzvah has a particularly sensitive impact as it affects one's body, marriage, and sexual life. There is a lot of constructive power in a room full of women. While no one walked away with every problem solved, I noticed a lighter energy as women left. We were on the way towards a more positive relationship with this mitzvah.
Our community needs to consciously and consistently support these conversations. While I am fortunate to live in a vibrant, Jewish neighborhood, women all over this country do not have access to this support. My hope is that we can expand this experience beyond Manhattan so that every woman has a place to turn to and a network to support her as she begins this new mitzvah, or as her practice evolves throughout her life. Every marriage deserves to start with all the resources available for success. Talking about the non-halakhic aspects of Taharat HaMishpacha should be another part of the healthy marriage toolkit.
If you are interested in bringing this curriculum to your community, please contact Sasha Kesler at email@example.com.
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Note: The opinions expressed here are the personal views of the author. All comments on MyJewishLearning are moderated. Any comment that is offensive or inappropriate will be removed. Privacy Policy
The Shofar Is Calling; Will You Answer?
Each shofar has a unique undulating shape and trumpeting sound. The sound may be low and haunting or bold and jarring. But whatever its call, the shofar awakens us from slumber and reminds us that the time for teshuva, repentance, has arrived.
During the Hebrew month of Elul, we blow the shofar on a daily basis at the conclusion of the morning service. This custom is derived from the Midrash that Moses ascended Mount Sinai at the beginning of Elul to receive the second set of tablets, having broken the first set when he witnessed the Israelites worshipping the Golden Calf. While Moses was on the mountain, the Israelites blew the shofar on a daily basis to serve as a warning to the people to maintain their faith in God.
It is interesting to note that the Shulchan Aruch explicitly permits a woman to blow shofar for herself or for other women on Rosh Hashanah. But our rabbinic sources are silent on the issue of women blowing shofar during the month of Elul, leaving us to extrapolate for modern times. The Rema, Mishnah Berurah, and other halakhic authorities categorize blowing the shofar during Elul as a minhag, custom, rather than as an obligation. With these considerations in mind, a woman could blow shofar for herself or in the presence of other women during Elul to assist them in fulfilling the minhag. Alissa Thomas-Newborn, author of a forthcoming JOFA publication entitled, "A Cry from the Soul: Women and Hilkhot Shofar," holds that a woman may indeed take on this role.*
Blowing a teki'ah (the long, solid blast) is not all that difficult. It takes some creative positioning of the mouth and hands, and some trial and error, but it can be mastered within a few minutes of effort. It is incredibly satisfying to put the shofar to your lips and produce a deafening blast. While the sound is energizing when it is merely heard, the call of the shofar is incredibly impactful when it draws from the energy deep within you.
Would you like to try it yourself?
The Partnership for Jewish Learning and Life, an agency of the Federation of Metrowest New Jersey, is hosting the Great Shofar Blowout on Sunday, September 21st in Whippany, NJ. In an attempt to break the Guinness World Record, 1500 participants will blow shofar in the same place at the same time! JOFA is co-sponsoring this historic event.
But before you can join in the Blowout, you may need to practice. JOFA will be hosting a workshop for women, men, and children who are interested in getting some practical experience; first-timers are welcome! The workshop will be enriched by a shiur, text-based class, which will review sources addressing the permissibility of women blowing shofar. I invite you to join me on Sunday, September 7 at the Mount Freedom Jewish Center in New Jersey, at 10 am, for this exciting event. Bring your personal shofar as you will want to learn the best technique for your instrument!
Rosh Chodesh Elul is almost upon us. The shofar calls out to me with a voice that is strong and unwavering. It is a call that has been heeded by countless generations each year at this time. This year, I will do more than just listen to that call. I intend to feed it with my own strength, my own will and my own breath. I will infuse the shofar call with my own hopes and desires for a fresh start in the New Year, for a greater level of commitment to God, to my people and to my community.
* Note: The issue of women blowing shofar for a mixed congregation, however, is more complex and requires intensive study of the sources; a synopsis is beyond the scope of this posting.
Note: The opinions expressed here are the personal views of the author. All comments on MyJewishLearning are moderated. Any comment that is offensive or inappropriate will be removed. Privacy Policy
Blessing the Shabbat Lights – A "Modern" Jewish Ritual
The quintessential image of home, holiness, and Jewish motherhood is that of a woman blessing the Shabbat candles, performing a ritual we assume has existed since time immemorial. But this assumption is wrong. In fact, it was only nine hundred years ago that, after much debate, lighting the Shabbat lamp came to be defined as a mitzvah—one with its own unique blessing, one that Jewish women took upon themselves.
Because there is no such commandment in the Torah, most rabbis before 1000 CE maintained that lighting the Shabbat lamp was not a mitzvah; it was merely a task women did because they were home and men were in synagogue on Friday afternoon. It was important only because, unless she lit the lamp before sunset, her family would be forced to sit in the dark. And while the Talmud (Tractate Shabbat) meticulously details what kinds of oil and wicks are best to keep the Shabbat lamp from going out, there is no mention of any special ritual for lighting it.
The great French scholar Rashi (1040-1105) took an opposing view. In his commentary on Tractate Shabbat (page 23b) he stated, "By observing the mitzvot of kindling a lamp on Shabbat and Hanukkah, one brings the light of Torah into the world." Yet even if a community accepted that lighting the Shabbat lamp was a mitzvah, should a blessing accompany it? And if so, which one? There is no such blessing mentioned in the Talmud and halakha forbids any non-Talmudic blessings. Because of this, medieval Sephardic women lit their Shabbat lamps in silence.
However during the eleventh century, Ashkenazic women had greater religious status and autonomy than those in Sefarad, so much so that they began to fulfill those mitzvot that only men were obligated to perform, such as blowing shofar, and wearing tefillin and tzitzit. According to Machzor Vitry, a compendium of laws and customs collected by Rashi's students, women took these commandments upon themselves and recited the blessings as well, in the same way that women today have taken on traditionally male mitzvot, instituted new rituals like Bat Mitzvah, and become rabbis and cantors.
Rashi clearly held that kindling the Shabbat lamp was a mitzvah, one that women, as well as men, were obligated to perform. Thus it seems logical that, if women made a blessing when they performed mitzvot from which they were exempt, surely they must recite a blessing if they perform a mitzvah for which they are obligated. Indeed, Rashi's grandson, Rabbeinu Tam, declared that lighting the Shabbat lamp required a blessing.
But creating a new blessing is prohibited, so what prayer should be said? The solution was to take the blessing for lighting the Hanukkah menorah, which was in the Talmud, and substitute "Shabbat" for "Hanukkah." As astonishing as it may seem, the Hanukkah blessing is the original one, a thousand years older than the Shabbat blessing, its derivative.
We know of this new blessing because we have a responsum by Rashi's granddaughter, Hannah, describing the ritual her mother performed. She explained that in Rashi's house, the woman first lit the Shabbat lamp and then recited the benediction, whose words are the same ones we say today. Rabbeinu Tam's decision and his sister Hannah's responsum were so authoritative that within a hundred years, even women in Sefarad were saying this blessing when they kindled Shabbat lights. Maimonides complained about it but admitted that he couldn't prevent women from doing so.
Today, when women (and men) light Shabbat candles, they never imagine that the ritual doesn't come from Sinai, that the blessing was once a source of controversy. And who knows? Maybe nine hundred years in the future Jews will assume that girls have always had a Bat Mitzvah, that women have always studied Talmud, and that there have always been female rabbis.
Note: The opinions expressed here are the personal views of the author. All comments on MyJewishLearning are moderated. Any comment that is offensive or inappropriate will be removed. Privacy Policy
Owning Our Heritage: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
"To celebrate freedom and democracy while forgetting America's origins in a slavery economy is patriotism a' la carte."
A recent article by Ta-Nehisi Coates in the Atlantic Monthly outlines the argument for reparations to be paid to African Americans for the injustices of slavery, and the subsequent economic disadvantage and discrimination they have suffered for more than a century. As convincing as Coates' is regarding the systemic injustice meted through the Jim Crow period, and the way decades old housing discrimination continues to hold back blacks even today, there is one question that nags: "why should I be paying for reparations on something I had nothing to do with?"
I didn't enslave anyone, nor has anyone I know. While my family actually does have ties in the US dating back to the mid-1800s, I have no reason to think they were involved in slavery. On my wife's side, her father immigrated from Germany as a child in the 1950's, and her mother's family fled Russia in the early 1900s. What culpability could we possibly have in the enslavement of Africans from 1619-1865?
Coates answers with this:
A nation outlives its generations. We were not there when Washington crossed the Delaware, but Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze's rendering has meaning to us. We were not there when Woodrow Wilson took us into World War I, but we are still paying out the pensions. If Thomas Jefferson's genius matters, then so does his taking of Sally Hemings's body. If George Washington crossing the Delaware matters, so must his ruthless pursuit of the runagate Oney Judge.
If we are Americans, and we benefit from being American, want to remain American and might even be proud to be American, we need to own the whole thing. We can't take the Constitution without slavery; we can't have 21st century Manhattan without 19th century Mississippi.
And this is exactly what we reenact every year on Tisha B'Av. We sit on the floor, eat ashes and weep. We read Lamentations with its horrific descriptions of the siege of Jerusalem and the city's ultimate destruction. Wanton hatred destroyed one Temple, and lasciviousness destroyed the other. We do this every year, but what did I have to do with the Temple being destroyed? Those weren't my sins. I can't even relate to the concept of there being a functioning Temple, and now I'm expected to feel remorseful and seek atonement for its destruction? I wasn't there! Can't I just have a Passover Seder, read Megillat Esther and dance on Simchat Torah without having this random day of mourning in the middle of the summer?
This idea of complete ownership over our heritage isn't only relevant when considering problematic historical events. The same applies to our relationship to the modern State of Israel. As someone who loves Israel and prays for her future, there are some things I just want nothing to do with, and I think that's true for everyone. Whatever your politics, there are things you love about Israel and things you hate about it. Whether it's Haredim serving in the IDF, bombs falling in Gaza, misogyny in the workplace, income inequality or a myriad of other issues—there is something about Israel that makes you upset. There is something about Israel you wish you could disown. We all have an obligation to work on changing these things, but we don't have the luxury of pretending that the Israel we love and support doesn't include them. We can't have the hike through Ein Gedi without grappling with the armored bus to Ariel. We can't have the yeshivas in Jerusalem and the cafes in Tel Aviv while trying to ignore the conditions in Ramla or the deportations of Ethiopian refugees.
Orthodox Feminists are often asked (from both the left and the right) why we remain Orthodox. If we are so troubled by certain interpretations and applications of halakha, why not just jump ship? Wouldn't it be so much easier to keep the parts we like and drop the parts we don't? The answer is obvious. This is our heritage, and this is our history. We understand that as members of this kehillah, community, we can't ignore the problems. We will remain committed to the halakhic process, while working to fix it, because it is ours—for better or worse.
Tisha b'Av is the time to reflect on the tragedies that have befallen the Jewish people, but not just for the sake of self pity. It is our opportunity to understand how we went down a path towards destruction, and to identify the tikkunim, improvements, we can implement in our own lives to avoid the same fate in the future.
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Life as a Female Semicha Student
When I was young, I was drawn to the study of Torah as a way to get closer to God and as an answer to questions that arose in the formation of my identity as an observant Jew. Talmudic dialectics demanded of me not to leave my own intellectual integrity on the outskirts of my spiritual explorations. Talmud study also offered a source of enjoyment and an analytic challenge. But after several years of studying Talmud, I wanted more. All my best teachers had invested more than a decade of intensive study in these texts and it was clear to me that I was still at the threshold.
For me, the years at the Drisha Institute in New York were not the end goal but rather, the springboard for further learning—though clearly the years I had invested would already have equipped me with the necessary background to teach Oral Law in high schools and even to teach Talmud in a post high school midrasha, seminary. A similar educational and career trajectory typifies many of my colleagues at Midreshet Lindenbaum's Susi Bradfield Women's Institute for Halakhic Leadership. They were also driven to further learning after completing the Matan Institute for Advanced Talmud, Nishmat's program for Yoatzot Halakha, or Lindenbaum's own training for Rabbinic Court Advocates—all of these frameworks enabling women to explore in depth various areas of Jewish tradition, ancient, medieval and modern.
In my opinion, just as in houses of prayer there must be windows—so too, houses of study, the beit midrash, must be an open space, and not just open towards heaven. As distinct from my academic study of Talmud, wherein I was required to track the various manuscripts of a text in musty basement libraries aided by microfiche technology—my training in applied Rabbinic rulings meant dealing with people and on behalf of people with an awareness of them as holy vessels. The voices from the outside that enter the beit midrash of halakhic learning are not viewed as intrusions into the turf of a silent library, nor are they an intellectual threat of anachronistic data suspect of disturbing the sterility of an historical context. Rather, they are perceived as an invitation to further conversation—to a connection between the texts and the street, between the Torah and the marketplace. It is in this connective window space where Torah achieves its greatest relevance and vibrancy.
Obstacles to Study
At first, the obstacles to the study of halakha are technical: Aramaic, decoding acronyms and abbreviations, broad knowledge of Talmudic concepts and terms, reading between the lines in texts that take for granted numerous unstated assumptions, and texts that often express themselves in purposely cryptic or laconic language. Though the process of zooming in to minutiae in every clause and paragraph is wearying and painstaking, it allows us to subsequently zoom out to a glorious landscape wherein one can see the intricate fabric of halakhic discourse and the interconnectedness of seemingly disparate spheres of halakhic writing. After being exposed to this broad and systemic study of halakha, one also becomes aware of how artificial a confined study of the laws of Niddah, family purity, or any other "tunnel visioned" area of law can be. The narrow study of one area to the exclusion of a broader curriculum will not allow for a deep understanding of the factors, possibilities, and tools that are available to a posek, decisor of halakha.
I can't point to a specific moment when this occurs, but there is a time when the challenges of halakhic study shift from the technical to the essential and the personal, and the student of halakha moves from a passive recipient to an active participant. In similar fashion to the way in which an artist or a parent moves from mere involvement to utter identification, so too, the seeker of Torah moves to a place where the Torah begins to demand responsibility on the part of her disciples. One asks relentless questions, the way one would allow one's self to demand of a close relative: Why is there a ritual vacuum here? How could he say this? The difficulty is no longer textual; it is substantive. The tear is not a contradiction between two sources but rather a rip in the textured fabric of a cherished cloth that I myself have participated in weaving.
In thinking about Torah study, we speak in terms of revelation, and we use metaphors like "the hammer splitting a rock." Basic assumptions are constantly getting shattered and rebuilt in a slow and reflective process not unlike labor contractions that lead to birth.
For me, this is the meaning of Torah becoming my own, of owning it—that remarkable process in which ownership leads to a sense of responsibility to respond to the ethical challenges of the time while remaining attentive to the doubts and questions of the generations of students who came before us—who endeavored to clarify the illusive Divine will.
Semicha for Women
As distinct from the written tests that often typify those of the Israeli Chief Rabbinate for semicha, rabbinic ordination, our written tests do not just demand a retention and expulsion of the material. I am expected to have internalized the material and to add my own thinking; my study was supposed to be transformative. Even though the heads of the program say that the five years of study are required in order to make allowance for mothers who want to be at home when their children return from school, I think the five years are a necessary gestation period for the processes I'm describing. Even in the age of fast internet, there are some things that need to slow cook, to percolate.
I actually understand the concerns of rabbis like Rabbi Yaakov Ariel, who are worried about the lack of a "nigun shel masoret," music of tradition, in women's Torah learning. But I also think this may be an advantage. As a woman, at least sociologically, I am an outsider to the discourse. But this is precisely what gives me empathy for and sensitivity toward the others who need to carve out a route of entry—like converts and the newly observant. There are also certain things that can only be perceived from the outside, or from the other side of the mechitza. Coming from the outside provides new perspective.
Just as the Chief Rabbinate refused to let a fourteen year old prodigy take the tests for the rabbinate because there is no substitute for life experience in training a rabbinic leader for the mediation between text and life, so too, there are areas of human experience that being a woman allows myself and my colleagues to experience differently. We bring a fuller spectrum of life experience into halakhic leadership. The fact that my colleagues also come from various academic and career backgrounds—ranging from social work to theatre to advocacy and mediation—only amplifies our potential contributions to halakhic discourse.
A friend recently shared her insight with me that the issue is not so much a glass ceiling as it is that of obstacles on the path and an unequal point of departure. The fact that the present Israeli Chief Rabbinate does not recognize our learning toward semicha and that of our musmachot, graduates, toward dayanut, impacts on our ability to serve communities and institutions in various capacities. The impediments are social and political rather than halakhic. The forward vision of Rabbi Riskin and of the Women's Institute for Halakhic Leadership to train women for positions that don't yet exist is a testimony to the power of dreams. The passion, commitment, and deep religiosity of the women and the inexorable forces of rapid social change promise to combine in furthering the realization of that dream.
This article was originally published in Hebrew in Makor Rishon. It has been translated and reprinted with the author's permission.
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An Open Letter to Everyone Who Asks Me Why I'm Still Here
This is the second post in a two-part series of blog posts written by high school students. We encourage you to engage in constructive conversation with the authors around these posts. Read the first post here.
Each morning, my first destination is my living room. I take out my siddur and tefillin (unless it's Shabbat, of course) and I pray the Shacharit service as my family bustles around. As I finish, I swap out my tefillin and siddur for a gemara to study. My day continues on, and between my chavrutas—studying with friends—and teaching at Hebrew school, my Jewish practices are hardly put aside. Meals are symbolized in both start and finish with blessings, and the chunks of the day are split up by my recitation of Mincha and Ma'ariv.
Somehow, because of these practices, I am "not Orthodox."
The fact is: I am Orthodox.
Yet, I'm living in a paradox. When I say I want to daven (pray) more, I'm considered less religious. I take on more practices, suddenly, I'm less religious. I want a leadership role in my community's prayer, I'm less worthy of actually being in my community. This attempt to purify the Orthodox community from people who practice differently—or rather, different people who practice—isn't going to work. When we do this, we're simply shutting doors on people who are committed to and in love with Judaism. Pushing me out won't fix the problems, won't stop the questions; it will merely slow down the process of change.
The problem is that the Orthodox community no longer defines itself as a group of people who are committed to Judaism. Rather, it is a group of people who are committed to a particular version of Judaism—a gendered Judaism. I believe it is time for a new paradigm of commitment to mitzvot, and a new paradigm for Orthodox Judaism.
Mitzvot are Mitzvot
Gender is not prescriptive of the ways that a person connects to religion. There is no such thing as male spirituality or female spirituality. Some women want to lay tefillin while some men don't; some women want to be religious leaders while some men don't. As an Orthodox community, we can either push away the women deeply committed to mitzvot on account of gender roles, or push away the gender roles on account of a deep commitment to mitzvot. I recommend the latter.
Mitzvot are mitzvot, and people who keep them are observant Jews. Do I believe that everyone (who takes on halakhic obligation) is equally obligated in tefillin regardless of their gender identity? Yes. But we shouldn't try to build a community based on forcing people to perform mitzvot out of obligation; we should build a community of people who perform mitzvot out of commitment—out of acceptance of obligation. Of the male peers I know that pray every day, an absurdly low percentage care about it—yet they do it because they are told they must. Forcing all boys to keep mitzvot and coercing all girls not to generally results in resentment on both ends.
But somehow, that's what it has come to. We've decided it's better—for the sake of tradition—to build our foundations on boys who wish they didn't have to go to minyan and girls who wished someone would ask them to. If, instead, we didn't ask anyone to come to minyan, and merely counted on having enough interested members of our community commit to be there, I believe we would not only be able to maintain a minyan but it would be a happier one than ours is now.
Bringing In, Not Pushing Away
For those of you who are thinking, "But we have communities that are egalitarian and halakhic, why does Orthodoxy need to budge?" I have a simple question. What would happen if halakhic egalitarian communities started calling themselves Orthodox? If they simply pointed out that they are observant in every way that observance matters to us—merely disregarding gender and gender roles—and they are therefore still Orthodox, we would be a larger Orthodox community. If every time someone interprets halakha—not disregarding, but understanding it in a new light—we bring in rather than push away, the vibrancy of the Orthodox community can remain strong.
It would be simpler for me to stop calling myself Orthodox because it would mean I could do what I want. I could have an easy pass to interpret halakha any way I want. To anyone who argues with me I would simply say "I'm not one of you." But I am. I'm an involved, committed, interested Jew and that's about as you, Orthodoxy, as I can get. Even though it would be easier to take myself out—away from a place that judges and resents me—I don't. If I let Orthodoxy's inertia win, then in ten years, when my sister struggles with the same feelings of religious pride and fear of abandonment, I will have done her no good. I will have opened a door that closes right behind me as soon as I walk out through it. I have told her that she must either blend in or bow out, but she cannot be a red flower in a field of white. There is no value for the Orthodox to keep pushing away those who care about it—so I'm going to take the fact that I don't budge easily and use it to keep having hard conversations. I'm going to keep bringing up difficult subjects, and I'm going to keep looking for answers. And every time I am pushed aside, my questions ignored or my answers rejected, I will still be just as much of an Orthodox Jew. It's not just about affiliation, it's about community. I am halakhically egalitarian and communally Orthodox—that needs to be a legitimate option.
I'm not going to stop praying. I'm not going to stop observing halakha. I'm not going to stop having pride in my religion. The question is whether or not you're going to support me.
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A Controversial Clarification
This is the first post in a two-part series of blog posts written by high school students. We encourage you to engage in constructive conversation with the authors around these posts. Read the second post here.
Apparently I'm right-wing now. Conservative, closed-minded, and a traditionalist. This is all very new to me given my highly liberal politics, feminist identification, reverence for human rights and idealism. You may be wondering what changed. Well, nothing really. You see, as I understand it, there's a new movement forming between Conservative and Modern Orthodox Judaism. This is evidenced through the rise of partnership minyanim, the Maharat movement and the very existence of organizations like JOFA, Mechon Hadar, Drisha, Women of the Wall, etc. However, there is a vital distinction that very few people are making: the difference between Orthodox feminism and halakhic egalitarianism.
The best way I can describe this difference is that Orthodox feminists see partnership minyanim as a good solution to women's ritual exclusion, rather than a stepping-stone to full egalitarianism. Orthodox feminists might not wear tefillin themselves, but they support the right of all women to wear it if they choose. Now pause. You may be offended, outraged, hurt or confused.
Here's the thing: I will never believe that I am obligated to wear tefillin, or attend morning minyan, or wear tzitzit. However, I do want people to admit that women are still permitted to do these things and to make space for those who wish to do so. I will never try to eradicate all gendered aspects of Judaism. I simply want people of all gender identities to be recognized and respected in our history and communities. I will not stop identifying as Orthodox, rather I will balance my desire for inclusion and respect with my adherence and loyalty to tradition.
I have had the privilege of basically never encountering explicit anti-women, misogynist religious Jews (though I have encountered many harmful implicit messages and offensive statements). Frum (traditionally observant) life has always seemed positive and rich to me; something of which I wanted to be a part. Perhaps that is why I am far less bitter or hurt than some of my sisters. While these women need to be heard, respected, and involved, I do not think that their pain should be the primary focus of Orthodox feminism.
Now pause again. I promise I'm not a super-privileged victim blamer. Rather, I am someone who feels misrepresented. I view gender problems in Orthodoxy slightly differently than some in the JOFA community. First of all, I think we must be more conscious of the fact that women who follow normative halakha can absolutely feel fulfilled, respected and empowered. This fact does not invalidate the feelings of those of us who pursue egalitarianism, but rather emphasizes 1) that every woman is different and has the right to choose her lifestyle, even if it's non-liberal (a fundamentally feminist value) and 2) that Judaism does have richness (even in areas that may feel restricting). The Torah is not broken, Jewish communities are.
I'm also a bit different from the mainstream halakhic feminist discourse in how and where I place the blame of exclusion. Yes, I have felt ritually excluded and ignored. I wonder, though, how much of this may be my own issue to work out, or truly an institutional injustice. Judaism's richness lies in its history and tradition, and throwing that away or altering it to our fancy may not really be legitimate halakhic practice and could even be cheapening the power behind the rituals. That being said, put a Miriam's cup on your seder table, let a woman say the mishaberach for Israeli soldiers or hold a women's Megillah reading. I'm not saying that women who are unhappy in Orthodoxy are creating something out of nothing (I've certainly felt unhappy with Orthodoxy at times in my life), but I am saying not to throw the baby out with the bath water.
I believe that halakhic activism cannot be the same as secular activism. Jewish culture and law is based on exegesis and commentary. If you do not have the proper sources and psak (halakhic decisions), your argument simply cannot hold water. There are red lines in normative halakha, and we must fit our feminism into our Judaism and not the other way around. Let us not lie to ourselves and our children and pretend that everything is halakhically perfect when we are stretching concepts (even if for the admittedly noble cause of uniting Jews). I still want there to be rabbis who think that the concept of female ordination is absolutely against halakha. Not because I am a masochist, but because I am intellectually honest. I fully support female clergy members (and aspire to possibly be one). However, if we do not know our sources, we cannot properly apply them to our lives. This goes both for those who say women could never be rabbis and those who say that women are obligated in tefillin. We don't need one uniform hashkafa (halakhic outlook), we need intellectual honesty.
I know that people feel real suffering and want change. I do not intend to blame them or make them feel guilty. I also do not mean to say that halakhic egalitarianism is wrong or illegitimate; in fact, this movement creates a vital space for many people. However, I am not sure it is Orthodox, and am frustrated with the blending of what I see as parallel but distinct agendas.
I am trying to convey that Orthodox Judaism and feminism are both inextricable parts of my being, and therefore, they should strengthen rather than dilute one another. I know I am privileged. As a straight, feminine woman who wants a family, the normative role of a frum woman is not an insurmountable leap. But, I also know that Judaism is the best thing in my life and I will protect it fiercely from unwarranted harm and slander. Jewish communities are far, far from perfect, but let us act together, conscious of our differences, into the future. Here's to intellectual honesty and ahavat yisrael.
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The "Dance" of Halakha
A new issue of the JOFA Journal will soon be in our subscribers' mailboxes; its theme is Orthodox women in the performing arts and sports. The headline we've given it is "Raising our Voices"—because many of the articles deal with the topic of kol isha, a woman's singing voice heard in public. But I think a better title might be "The Dance." The difference is not about artistic genre, but concept. Let me explain.
A rabbi I highly respect once told me that halakha—Jewish law—is like a dance between the rabbis and the Jewish people. The rabbis are the leading partner, putting their arms around the people and guiding them this way and that. But if they are out of rhythm with the people, if both are not moving in the same direction, then the dance will fail and the dancers will be frustrated with each other.
Within this issue of the journal, one can see the dance in motion around the issue of kol isha. Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld, in a d'var Torah on Vayishlah, recalls Rashi's question about the whereabouts of Dina, Jacob's daughter, when Jacob was about to cross the river and confront his brother Esau. The Midrash tells us that Jacob had put Dina in a box to protect her, so that Esau would not lay eyes on her. However, Rashi tells us, because she had been inappropriately locked up, Dina became a yatzanit someone who "goes out," and she fell into the hands of Shechem—to far worse consequences. Rabbi Herzfeld sees this story as instructive for the issue of kol isha, in which over-stringency has had the effect of drowning out the voices of women and girls in every context and thereby squelching their spirituality. He calls for a more nuanced view that takes into consideration the content of the singing, not just the gender of the singer.
Rabbi Herzfeld's understanding of kol isha is presented in tandem with the voices of women who wish to pursue careers in singing and struggle with the notion of kol isha. They run the spectrum from the Hasidic women's rock band Bulletproof Stockings, who only play for all-female audiences, to Neshama Carlebach, who, after years of conflict, has concluded that kol isha "is an antiquated, misogynistic concept that has no place in our modern society." Neshama believes that she is following her father Shlomo Carlebach's conviction in stating that, for her, singing is "a holy calling."
We also hear the voice of the young woman, Ofir ben Shitrit, who placed second in the Israeli talent competition, "The Voice," and was consequently suspended from her religious school. We meet the Glaser sisters, who sing together both on stage and around the Shabbat table. We hear singer Rebecca Teplow proclaim, "It cannot be wrong for me to use my God-given talent to encourage hearing the inner voice of the soul's yearning." For each of these musical women, kol isha is no theoretical question, but is central to how they will live their lives and pursue their chosen paths.
There are few places in the Orthodox world where halakhic issues are discussed from the perspectives both of the rabbis and of the people for whom these decisions are critical. The JOFA Journal is a forum in which the voices of women struggling with, and living joyously with, halakha can be heard. It is a place where "the dance" that is the process of halakha can take place.
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Spiritual Nourishment at a Graduation?
I know that attending the Yeshivat Maharat graduation is the "right thing to do" but it is easy to forget, until I am there, how incredibly important it is to my own spirituality and notions of what Orthodoxy can be. This past Sunday was Yeshivat Maharat's second graduation and as Rabbi Avi Weiss noted, seconds are pretty big in the Torah, i.e. Noah, Yitzchak, etc. Seconds validate that firsts are not a flash in the pan.
Sunday was that kind of big day. There will soon be five practicing, Orthodox, female clergy who have been ordained by Yeshivat Maharat. They will be working in synagogues in Washington D.C., St. Louis, and Montreal and on the West Coast. This year's incoming class of seven students is the largest class so far. What strikes me each time I see them is: how natural, warm, wholesome, and unmotivated by ego they are. It just seems so right.
For me, the highlight came when Rabbi Daniel Sperber, unable to contain himself, talked about the "generic criticism" that innovations in leadership and ritual in Orthodoxy have been getting. As he noted, the traditional role of halakha was to solve problems that arose. Halakha was never meant to be static or petrified as people now demand. Hence the root—halekh—to go, to move forward—makes that abundantly clear and yet is so distant from where we are today.
For those who weren't at the graduation, I suggest that you watch it online—it should give you renewed hope in the vitality of Orthodoxy. For those who were there, and some who were not, I look forward to seeing you next year for the "Chazakah graduation," the third graduation.
Mazal tov Maharats Rori and Victoria, Rabba Sara and team. May you go m'chayil l'chayil, from strength to strength! We need you!
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15th Annual Reindeer Run
The Laurens Family YMCA will be hosting its 15th Annual Reindeer Run 5K Saturday, December 13th at 9:00am in downtown Laurens, SC. Palmetto Bone & Joint PA is the Title Sponsor. The kids' 1-mile fun run, sponsored by McDonald's, will begin at 9:05am. Register before Dec.5th for a price break! T-shirts are not guaranteed for registrations after Dec 5th.
Register online at active.com.


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In case you lost it: Cosm (formerly Pachube) is now Xively
The service formerly known as Cosm is now dubbed Xively:
The Internet of Things promises to revolutionize the relationship between people and their world, but bringing transformative connected products to market takes more than a great idea. It requires tools, infrastructure and know-how that most businesses don't have the time, money or capacity to obtain. However, we have a solution! Xively provides the platform, tools, services and partners that simplify and accelerate the creation of compelling connected offerings. With Xively, you're free to focus on innovation instead of infrastructure.
via Xively – Public Cloud for the Internet of Things.


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Gypsy Ballads
I have some news for you. There's now a Gypsy Ballads store on Society6 so if there's a print...
- Nudity or Pornography
- Spam
- Promotes Self-Harm
- Attacks a Group or Individuals
- Other
It's quite simple, you take two friends with different styles plus love of illustration and you get Gypsy Ballads. We hope you enjoy our art. Tamara & Andrea