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“A Feminist Seder”
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To the Editor:
. . . Wendy Shalit [“A Feminist Seder,” January] went to the seder in the spirit of a heckler, and her behavior there was rude. It appears that COMMENTARY believes it was all right for her to turn a religious observance into a discussion forum.
I am writing from the perspective of a feminist who became bat mitzvah as an adult, in part to demonstrate to two college-age daughters that their parents had an investment in being Jewish. My talk at that time was entitled, “Can a Feminist Be Bat Mitzvah?” It has taken me many years to find the answer to that question. In brief, it entails having faith in the evolving nature of our faith, so that I can believe not in a Judaism that was, which showed few traces that women were part of the Jewish world. Nor is it a faith in the Judaism I experienced in growing up. My remaining Jewish depends on the changes taking place in Judaism led by the women rabbis and scholars who are retrieving a place for women in our history from the clues that are left to us, and, if necessary, creating new rituals to include women.
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