Sunday, November 16, 2014

Rabbi Barry Freun­del scandal: are not all religions sexist?

You read all those long articles about the scandal and it makes you think: what if this Rabbi was a Muslim cleric? Would those same articles not go out of their way to link the scandal to the doctrine of Islam and to the status of women in Islam and to the sexism embedded in the Islamic religion? Yet, on the subject of the Rabbi there is no attempt at all to link the scandal to the religion in question. Different standards depending on the religion. Either apply the same standard across religion, or don't apply it to any religion.  Take for example the mikvah: "the most important and general usage of mikvah is for purification by the menstruant woman."   Notice how Western liberal is very non-judgmental about sexism in the Jewish religion (or Christian for that matter) but is very judgmental about any manifestation of sexism in the Islamic religion.   Of course, Judaism, Islam, and Christianity are deeply sexist although the Old Testament may win hands down for being the most sexist holy text of the three.