Posted on 05/12/2008 8:44:35 AM PDT by Alouette
(IsraelNN.com) A new study carried out at Brandeis University finds that as the liberal Jewish community empowers its women, its men appear to be losing interest in their Jewishness.
According to a report in JTA, which publishes parts of the study, "outside the Orthodox world, men are becoming less and less engaged in every aspect of Jewish life, from the home to the synagogue to communal organizations. Numerous studies show that fewer boys than girls go to non-Orthodox youth groups, religious schools or summer camps, fewer go into the rabbinate and cantorate, and fewer serve on synagogue or federation committees.
This comes as women and girls in the liberal movements are benefiting from a host of programs and initiatives aimed at increasing their Jewish involvement, from gender-neutral prayer books to the popular Jewish identity-building program for teenage girls, 'Rosh Hodesh: Its a Girl Thing.'"
Sociologist Sylvia Barack Fishman authored the study, which is called The Growing Gender Imbalance in American Jewish Life and will be available online June 1 at www.brandeis.edu/hbi.
Tough news for feminists Using hundreds of interviews she conducted for the American Jewish Committee and data from the 2000-2001 National Jewish Population Study, Fishman and her student co-author Daniel Parmer describe an American Jewish life "increasingly populated by women." Female dominance is especially apparent within the Reform movement, where the numbers of boys in post bar-mitzvah religious schools, youth groups and summer camps are declining, more than half of the recently ordained rabbis are women, and all this years entering cantorial students are female.
While noting that feminist scholars have a hard time accepting the idea of a boy crisis in liberal Judaism, Fishman is not apologetic: As soon as you say that women dominate certain aspects of Jewish life, it sounds as if youre saying, 'Lets go back to the way things were.' Thats not the point of my research, but we need to look at whats happening and be honest about it, she told JTA.
Her report also suggests that as Jewish men outside the Orthodox fold become increasingly estranged from religious and communal life, they are more likely to marry non-Jewish women. She concludes that "the boy crisis in liberal Judaism is leading to a continuity crisis that will not be resolved until liberal Judaism finds a way to engage its boys and men."
The same thing is happening in Christian circles. While I cannot speak for Jews, the worship and the way men are pressured to act in many Christian circles around the planet has becom feminized. It doesn’t attract men any more.
“This process is known as emasculation.”
Exactly. The problem with these situations is that the women who want to get on board the train immediately start trying to change the train. So programs get feminized with emphasis on feelings rather than logic, on inclusiveness rather than correctness, on social rather than educational programs. When this proves successful, the feminists in these programs turn to feminizing God. And all of this drives the typical males away.
In our church the men and women study the same lessons. During our three hours of religious study and worship time, everyone worships together for 1.25 hours. Then the adults and children meet separately for the remainder of the time with men and women studying scripture together for 45 minutes and the final hour being spent separated between men and women. During the separate times we study exactly the same lessons and scriptures but the takes (as discovered in talking with my husband) are often totally different according to the sexes. I think it is a good balance and we have little imbalance between men and women in church attendance.
As an old-line feminist who is Catholic and has no problem whatever with an all male clergy, I think it’s more likely that the men are ‘fading away’ because they demand to be in total control of the whole outfit or they’re not gonna play. There is a thread elsewhere in which men whine that wimmin are “taking over” at medical and vet schools and more Girls are attending and graduating from universities. Is that because men CAN’T compete or because they WON’T compete? You tell me.
I think it’s sad that men respond to the presence of successful women in all fields with kicking and screaming and stomping off in a huff. Seems kinda girly to me....
Where in this article does it mention kicking and screaming and stomping off in a huff?
I thought it meant Tribe of Judah.
I think... you’re wrong. I think your statement about men requiring total control or they won’t play is like saying whites shouldn’t be allowed to move out of neighborhoods if minority crime becomes rampant. It’s even reminiscent of saying that if women wear miniskirts they’re asking to be raped. The problem with your logic is you’re confusing the way things are with the way things ought to be, or the way you’d like them to be.
Fact: If crime goes up, the gentry are going to move out.
Fact: If women wear revealing clothing and go out in unsafe locations alone, they’re more likely to be raped.
Fact: You take the specialness out of being a Priest, make it seem like a job for fags, make it seem like even if you aren’t one everybody will think you are and won’t want you around their children to boot... we’ll you’ve just killed the odds of getting good, strong, manly role models like Fr. Corapi into the priesthood.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Definitely one of my favorite characters, along with her alter-ego Roseanne Roseannadanna. :-D
Whose whining now? Deal with it.
Actually, all Israelites may be called "Jews" because of the verbal root. "Judah" comes from the verb meaning "to greatfully acknowledge" or "to thank," and every Israelite is a living acknowledgment of HaShem. Note that Mordekhai, though from the tribe of Benjamin, is called "Mordekhai HaYehudi."
I was talking with someone yesterday who was saying that most Isrealis are something called Ashkanazi (sp?) jews, or something like that, and he said they are not real Hebrews because they are from Europe. I’d never heard of what he was talking about and didn’t really take him seriously. Anyone know what he was talking about or was it just a hater making stuff up?
You friend is peddling the Khazar theory of origin for Ashkenazi Jews. this theory holds that most Ashkenazi Jews are not descended from Rhineland Jews expelled during the Crusades, but from the Khazars, a Oghur Turkic people, some of whose leadership did convert. Although linguistics and simple history precludes this, this was a theory peddled by some Hugarian Jews (they wanted to be seen as inheritors of the Khabars, as Khazar group that joined the Magyars, thus making them authentic Hungarians) as well as communists, the Judeophobic right, and Islamist and Arab Nationalists. However, genetic testing has shown the opposite. Not only are Ashkenazi Jews related primarily to other Jews, but we are exceeding endogomous. Most Eastern European Jews are descended from just 4 women and are genetically very similar to Sephardic Jews. This is not to say that there was no intermarriage. In fact, there was quite a bit, especially with Sorbs and Ruthenians.
Personally, I am descended from Khazars, in part, if family lore can be believed. My anscestors fought the Caliphate from 640 until 737, keeping Islam out of Europe in 3 bloody wars that mad Tours look like a little raid.
Considering that non-Orthodox Jews have redefined Judaism to mean the exact opposite of what it actually means, it could hardly be otherwise.
The biggest scandal is actually the silence of the Orthodox leadership in this situation.
That's pure unadulterated hooey. 'Ashkenaz is the old Hebrew name of Germany and 'Ashkenazim simply means "German Jews." It refers to Jews of northern, central, and eastern Europe (those with German or slavic surnames and who speak Yiddish). Furthermore, 'Ashkenazi Hebrew and the 'Ashkenazi ritual come from 'Eretz Yisra'el while those of the allegedly "purer" Sefaradim (which simply means "Spanish Jews") comes from 'Eretz Bavel (Babylon). Sefardi Hebrew is also more influenced by the Mishnah and by Aramaic than 'Ashkenazi Hebrew.
Sefaradim (and Temanim, the Yemenite Jews) have a reputation as more "authentic" because they have lived so long in the Middle East, yet they are the historical liberals of Judaism (prior to the European "enlightenment"). Moreover whatever "Khazars" or "Sabbatians" there are are more likely to be found among Levantine Sefaradim than among European 'Ashkenazim.
Unfortunately, it is among 'Ashkenazim of the past two hundred plus years that all the leftist "reform" movements have taken hold and this has distorted their image and made Sefaradim seem more conservative.
This is the truth. But most people who spout the "'Ashkenazim aren't real Jews" line simply want to believe this and cannot be persuaded otherwise. Most ironic since the Babylonian Talmud, the bete noire of so many anti-Semites, was written by the ancestors of the Sefaradim (the ancestors of the 'Ashkenazim wrote the Jerusalem Talmud!).
You know, Khazar is almost always heard in a negative context, so I was surprised to hear several different Turks (including Turkmen) use it in a positive way on separate occasions. Basically it went, “We love Jews because they are Khazars.” & “Khazars are Turkic people, so Jews are our brothers.” Never heard it used as a compliment by anyone else.
Some Sabbateans became Turks after the converted to Islam. Some crypto-Sabbateans became "Donme", but they have nothing to do with Khazars.
"This is the truth. But most people who spout the "'Ashkenazim aren't real Jews" line simply want to believe this and cannot be persuaded otherwise. "
Entirely try. Kevin Brooks refuted the argument before the genetic information was in, but antisemites have the gall to cite his book as a source, while ignoring its content.
2. Long story. Turks in Turkey and Iraq are descended from a group of Oghuz/Ghuzz Turks known as the Seljuks. The Ghuzzia or the Ghuz confederacy was an allied tributary of the Khazars, having been inherited from the Gokturkut. As the Khazars declined, most Ghuzz rebeled but the Kınık tribe stayed loyal. The last Khazar installed governor was Seljuk. His progeny led a dynasty, the Seljuk Turks eventually conquered Persia, Mesopatamia, and most of Anatolia.
Thanks for the corrections. I didn’t mean to mislead anyone. My intention was to defend the ‘Ashkenazim, who are so often accused of being “Khazars” or not “real Israelites.”
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