Between traditionalism and feminist activism

YAFA BENAYA: These are two initiatives that try to change the patriarchal traits of the Jewish tradition and the role of women within it - without taking it apart

THE TRADITIONAL Sephardi-Mizrahi identity – the identity of Jews from Muslim countries – is not always understood. It does not correspond to the range of Jewish identities that emerged in Europe as part of their encounter with modernity. In our world there are no Orthodox, Reform or Conservative denominations.

The Sephardi world does not recognise these denominations, nor the conflicts between them. They are not part of the history of Jews from Islamic countries.

As a result, the encounter with modernity in these countries bred a different type of Jewish identity and a different model of community. This identity does not accept the dichotomy between religious and secular. On the other hand, the Jewish community in these countries became a universe of diversity without division.

Traditional feminine identity adapted with flexibility between feminism and tradition, based on an approach that seeks to fix rather than take apart. This is an approach that recognises the patriarchal characteristics of the Jewish tradition and the role of women within it, while at the same time aspiring to gradually change it without taking it apart.

I will present two initiatives that serve as examples for this model. The first is Beit Midrash Arevot – Women Weaving Tradition, where I am a partner and leader – which has served traditional women since 2017. The second is Congregation Degel Yehuda, a Sephardi egalitarian community in Jerusalem that has been around for more than 15 years.

The women of Beit Midrash Arevot define themselves as traditional, but the place is also open to women who wish to gain familiarity with the Sephardi Jewish tradition. In reality, the Beit Midrash is also attended by Ashkenazi women as well as women from the Ethiopian community, religious and secular alike.

The openness of the Arevot group brings out a fundamental Jewish value of Hachnasat Orchim (welcoming guests). The goal is to build communities that exemplify what we had experienced in our countries of origin, to restore an inclusive model of multiplicity without division.

The activity in the Beit Midrash concentrates on several areas: Torah study with a focus on Mizrahi feminism and Islamic feminism. Here, we combine the study of Talmud and Halacha (Jewish Law), ancient Jewish texts as well as social and feminist sources.

The issue of social class is very present in our learning, reflecting the history of pre-ascribed discriminatory roles, and the differential power structure between Ashkenazi and Mizrahi Jews in Israel. We believe in the notion that Judaism is a system of social justice.

Jewish life needs to be updated to meet our times. At its root, it is a system of social change. Yet Mizrahi women directly experience the issues of marginalisation of class, gender and ethnic positions, known today as intersectionality.

Rituals and ceremonies

We are also restoring traditional women’s ceremonies that were celebrated in the East. For example, the ceremony Eid El-Banat (the holiday of girls, in Arabic) that was celebrated at the first of the month of Tevet in many communities of the Muslim countries, as a mark of feminine heroism, has been reclaimed.

Today, in Israel, we create rituals for women who wish to participate actively in weddings, Hina ceremonies, birth, as well as mourning rituals; all as communal traditional experiences. In this way, we explore and continue the Torah passed from our mothers and grandmothers, a Torah that was essentially oral.

Knowledge and learning

We study, research and write about path-breaking women in the Sephardi-Mizrahi world, with the goal of restoring the legacies of women whose contribution has been erased and forgotten by history. We are inspired by their reclaimed leadership. We provide training modules for women who wish to conduct rituals in their communities, and by doing so, we re-build the chain of tradition transmitted from women to women.

Degel Yehuda is an egalitarian, Sephardi-Mizrahi congregation, the first (and the only one so far) that exists in Israel. Based in Jerusalem, Degel Yehuda combines a commitment to the tradition with the personal and social need of women to be full partners in Jewish practice in general and in prayer in particular.

In our community, women are counted in the Minyan; they lead services and read from the Torah. The doors of the community are open to all who wish to come. Men and women from the entire spectrum of religious and ethnic backgrounds, as well as the spectrum of gender identities, are welcome.

This is a model of the “Sephardi spectrum.” All our members are somewhere on the spectrum of faith, observance and commitment to the tradition. We believe that this model is a connector, a healing force.

The egalitarianism is not only expressed in the domain of gender. It is also in the inclusion of those who are skilled in prayer and those who are not, empowering children to lead elements of the service, and ensuring that every woman and man feels that they are partners in Jewish living. Happily, Degel Yehuda has become a model and inspiration for egalitarian Sephardi communities in Israel and around the world.

The two initiatives described are based on the aspiration for Tikun Olam, namely, advancing social justice for the ger (the stranger among us), the orphan and the widow, as commanded by our tradition. But just as the Jewish tradition relies on the legacy of past generations, it operates with responsibility to the generations of the future.