BARBARA'S TCHATZKAHS

Many professedly religious communities, Catholics, Jews and Evangelicals - often close ranks around an abuser. Sexual abuser, harrasser, misogynist, wife beater, verbal abuser, exploiter of the vulnerable, etc. This is wrong . It invalidates victims and their families causing untold psychological harm. When the victims speak out they are called LIARS and their stories are minimized by powerful and duplicitous people. Silence about a wrong is COMPLICITY in my book. When you don't speak out about something that's very wrong - you are not being polite, avoiding Lashon Hara or 'minding your own business' - you are being a lemming and enabling more abuse. - Barbara Here's one of my all time favorite quotes: "Powerful and sneaky people use apologies as end runs around repentance. They betray a trust; and, when they have been found out, they say they are sorry for "mistakes in judgment"... They get by only because we have lost our sense of the differenc...

Leaders Lift Spirit in Orthodox Women's Section By Abigail Klein Leichman Sara Hurwitz will never be an NFL linebacker. Elana Stein Hain cannot be the queen of England. Just as these are accepted as unattainable goals, so are certain leadership roles in an Orthodox Jewish synagogue. Judaism's Oral Law, which the Orthodox follow stringently, defines formal public prayer as incumbent upon men and optional for women. The reason isn't as clearly defined; it may be to free women for household and childrearing tasks, or it may be a nod to their innately deeper spirituality. Regardless, the law maintains that people who are not obligated in prayer may not lead those who are. But even if they can't earn the titles of "rabbi" or "cantor" as their Conservative and Reform peers do, modern Orthodox women such as Hurwitz and Hain are finding ways to put their professional experience and advanced religious education to work within the traditional synagogue framewo...