According to yet another interesting article in Ha'aretz about women in the Haredi community, 43 women are about to graduate from a new Haredi College for Women in Jerusalem.
It was created by Adina Bar Shalom, who happens to also be the daughter of Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef. Presumably the challenges for many of these women seeking higher education is doubley difficult due to the fact that they are both Haredi and Sephardic, two communities which generally have more traditional views regarding women's issues. According to the article:
The first class of ultra-Orthodox social workers is undoubtedly the ultimate achievement for Adina Bar Shalom. Lacking any academic education ("because I was a woman and from a Sephardic background, and in those days, what could be expected of me?"), she went through some personal changes several years ago. One day, she abandoned the world of elite sewing where she worked and taught, and decided to take part in moving the ultra-Orthodox sector toward higher education and professional training. Today she is fully associated with this process. According to Bar Shalom, her father did not hesitate to support her.
The College is described as an environment in which Haredi women will feel comfortable. There are also teachers and rabbis available for students to talk to about resolving any issues that may arise between their studies and their ideology.
Whether or not you want to call it feminism (and I use this word knowing the many negative connotations associated with it), here is an example of rabbis acknowledging the intellectual needs of women. If for me and my friends this need is satisfied by becoming doctors or lawyers or teachers of Talmud, for Haredi women it is having an opportunity to go to college.
Think "empowerment" rather than feminism.
Posted by: muse | February 05, 2006 at 08:12 PM