MO Woman

Religious Observance in the Workplace

Michael Eisenberg (Six Kids and a Fill Time Job) writes about the importance of feeling comfortable with public displays of Jewishness in the work place. For instance he asks:

How proud do you feel about your observances? Are you constantly running to hide them? When you need to put on tefillin in the morning and find yourself in an airport, do you wait for mincha and your quiet hotel room or do you put them on for shacharit in the airport (both are halachikly acceptable)?

Who Studies Better: Girls or Boys?

The NY Times reports (again) that women are doing better academically than men on college campuses. But how this will impact these womens' future places in the workforce reamins to be seen. The article concludes:

Still, men in the work force have always done better in pay and promotions, in part because they tend to work longer hours, and have fewer career interruptions than women, who bear the children and most of the responsibility for raising them.

Whether the male advantage will persist even as women's academic achievement soars is an open question. But many young men believe that, once in the work world, they will prevail.

"I think men do better out in the world because they care more about the power, the status, the C.E.O. job," Mr. Kohn said. "And maybe society holds men a little higher."

Hebrew Index Cards - Online

The online Jewish Education man - Jacob Richman - has produced yet another great learning resource. His new Learn Hebrew site is an easy, free, way to broaden one's vocabulary (with audio capacity), and translates words into Hebrew from four different languages (English, French, Russian and Spanish).

Enforceability of the Pre-Nuptual Agreement

Gil at Hirhurim asks whether or not pre-nups work?

Two great resources on the pre-nuptual agreement from past JOFA Journals which address this issue:

1. My friend Michelle Greenberg Kobrin wrote an article discussing what makes the pre-nup enforceable in court (since at that point it had not yet been tested in court).

2. I have heard Rabbi Yonah Reiss of the Beit Din of America say (about two years ago) that the pre-nup has not yet been tested in court because it has effectively stopped many cases before reaching the courts. Meaning, the threat of the possible enforcement of the pre-nup by a secular court was enough to resolve those particular agunah cases.

Rachel Levmore, a rabbinic court advocate, also has an article outlining how the pre-nup is used to prevent "get-refusal." Moreover, she cites Rabbi Reiss in a footnote saying:

Rabbi Yonah Reiss, in conversation with me in 2004 verified that, to his knowledge, in every case of a couple that had previously signed a pre-nuptual agreement and later came to divorce, there was a get.

Gender and Health

An Op-Ed piece in the NY Times argues that the medical world is now too focused on women-specific health issues and in the process has neglected men-specific health issues:

Over the past two decades, we've radically revised how we conduct medical research and take care of our female patients. And we've made valuable discoveries about how gender helps determine vulnerability to illness and, ultimately, the timing and causes of death. But I now believe that we doctors and researchers may have focused too much on women.

She suggests the medical world now direct their focus to men's health issues. But why not advocate for equal attention rather than try to promote the needs of one sex above the other?

Megillat Ruth

Hold onto this insightful article on Megillat Ruth by Dr. Berel Dov Lerner (aka Jewish Bible Blog) for next Shavuot, it is worth it!

Noteworthy New Blog

A great new resource for anyone teaching or studying Nach - Rabbi Alex Israel's new blog: Bekiut Nach. He is starting with Melachim bet, which is where he left off with his students, but hopefully he will review the rest of nevi'im rishonim for us as well!

I Spy MO Woman

This is a long overdue apology to my readers. As you can see MO Woman was on a long blogging break. I am not totally sure I am back yet, but could not resist a few posts today.

Bar-Ilan University Conference

Bar-Ilan University is hosting an international conference on Gender, Religion and Society, from May 20-21. The impressive list of speakers include: Elisheva Baumgarten, Deena Zimmerman, Ruth Halperin-Kaddari, Tamar Ross and many more.

Toiletries, Medicine and Pesach

Two useful and clear summaries about the chametz status of shampoos, make-up and medicine: Hirhurim and the Raanana Kollel.