By Debra Nussbaum Cohen July 9, 2009

There seems no end to the stream of astounding stories out of Israel relating to the official rabbinate there.

This one, for instance, which says the rabbinate revoked an Ethiopian immigrant’s conversion to Judaism in retaliation for the legal action against a prominent rabbi. The immigrant was injured when he tried to leave the parking lot where she was the attendant without paying, and drove right over her.

This week brings another story relating to women — as so many of these rabbanut-related stories do — brought to us courtesy of former Chief Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu, who is considered one of the most important living Sephardic halachic interpreters and kabbalists. The rabbi condemned his colleagues who “kowtow to women.”

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

According to the story on the Israeli news Web site Ynet:

During a Torah lesson delivered Monday, the prominent national religious leader spoke at length about the importance of observing chastity codes. He advised soldiers to cover their ears during military ceremonies that include women singing. “It’s better to go to jail than to obey the commander and hear a woman sing or play,” he stated.

Eliyahu stressed that listening to a woman deliver a speech, if she did so while using hand gestures, was also forbidden: “It’s very serious. One should watch out for these things.”

Hand gestures? I infer from the story that a woman delivering a speech (not that women have many opportunities to do so in front of a mixed audience, in Rabbi Eliyahu’s world) using hand gestures is forbidden because it’s potentially arousing to a male listener. If this is the rabbi’s reasoning (though “reason” seems a nearly impossible term to use in the context of this discussion), then it says far more about the way the rabbi views men than it does women.

It is a strange, sad view of human behavior and potential. Unfortunately, it continues to be women who ultimately pay the price for attitudes like his — relegated to ever-shrinking domains where it is “appropriate” for women to be present, to be visible, to be human.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

2X match on all Passover gifts!

$90 → $180 $180 → $360

$360 → $720

Other amount