For My Daughter (International Women's Day)

(I wrote this poem two years ago and Facebook reminded me of its existence. I have decided to republish it without edits in honor of International Women's Day today).

Today, I am a rabbi.
Today, I am a working mother, a tax payer, an earner for my family.
Today, I am a voter.
Today, I get to determine the boundaries of my body and plan my family.
Today, I get to choose what to wear and what not to wear as per personal preference or on religious principle.
That's because,
Yesterday, Suffragettes laid down their lives to win us the vote.
Yesterday, Jewish women campaigned for ordination.
Yesterday, feminist activists fought objectification tooth and nail.
Yesterday, working women joined unions to fight for our rights.
Yesterday, we stood up for the right to choose who to marry, when to have a child (or not) and if we consent to physical intimacy.
And yet,
Tomorrow, I want to see a workplace of truly equal pay.
Tomorrow, young girls should not feel pressured into being someone no-one can realistically be.
Tomorrow, I want to see us female rabbis, female workers, female professionals break the glass ceiling.
Tomorrow, I want all women the world over to have access to health care, family planning, religious freedom - to cover or to not cover.
Tomorrow's world should see women's dreams, ambitions and civic duties fulfilled alongside those of men.
Today my heart is full with hope of tomorrow and gratitude for yesterday.
For my daughter, for all of us: Happy International Women's Day.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bit by Bit

Parashat Vayeitzeh, Human Rights Shabbat 2016 Rabbi Esther Hugenholtz Bit by Bit When Jacob left Beer-Sheva and journeyed towards Charan, he was truly and utterly free. Not even gravity could constrain him, as he laid his head to rest on a pillow of stone and dreamt of the angels ascending and descending the ‘sulam’, the ladder to the heavens. Jacob was on an intrepid adventure, a quest for liberation. He needed to get away from the limitations of his own upbringing and the mistakes that bound him to his past. In that freedom, he found vision in the night, courage in his fear. Yet, only a chapter later, he found himself in subjugation to his uncle Laban’s deception. Wanting to marry his cousin Rachel, the beautiful younger daughter, Laban contracted him to work for seven years before allowing him to marry her. The Torah tells us that Jacob agrees with the terms and conditions of this arrangement and narrates: ‘ Vayavod Ya’akov b’Rachel sheva shanim va’yihyu be’einav
Read more

Vrouwen en het Joodse gebed

Image
Tefillin leggen, 2007 - foto genomen voor Reliflex Dit artikel is in 2007 verschenen in Reliflex , de voorganger van Nieuw W!J. Vrouwen en het Joodse gebed Het religieuze jodendom steunt op twee gedachten. Enerzijds is iedere mens – man en vrouw – geschapen naar Gods beeld en dus gelijkwaardig. Anderzijds steunt het jodendom op verplichting. Deze twee concepten zijn van belang om de joodse eredienst te begrijpen. Elke jood – man of vrouw – kent de verplichting tot gebed. Maar deze verplichting kent in het traditionele jodendom een zwaardere rol toe aan mannen dan aan vrouwen. Mannen moeten drie maal daags bidden en bij het ochtendgebed een gebedsmantel met schouwdraden (talliet) dragen en gebedsriemen (tefilien) aanleggen. Vrouwen zijn van deze geboden vrijgesteld. De traditionele uitleg is dat vrouwen zorg voor huishouden en kinderen hebben en niet belast moeten worden met tijdsgebonden geboden die secuur uitgevoerd moeten worden. Een meer antropologische uitleg zou zijn dat het in e
Read more

Love is Stronger than Death

Sermon Chayyei Sarah 2017 Rabbi Esther Hugenholtz Love is Stronger than Death One of the most beautiful verses from Shir haShirim (Song of Songs) is ‘ ki azah chamavet ahavah ’ - ‘for love is stronger than death’ (8:6). I had been asked to attend a funeral of a local Lutheran Iowa woman as a proxy for her beloved grandson who is a dear friend of mine. The pastor, who had been a personal friend of the deceased, delivered a beautiful and heartfelt homily on her life, integrity and love of God. Being invited to witness this moment of transcendence and intimacy and supporting a mourning family was a privilege. As I sat in the pews something else struck me. This salt-of-the-earth Midwestern pastor, himself in his mid-eighties, spoke with great love and tenderness. For a man of his generation, speaking about tenderness, love and intimacy may not have been the cultural trope of his upbringing and I realized what a great gift our faith traditions give us:
Read more