RESPONSES TO THE AGUNAH ISSUE
DEAR EDITOR,
An International Rabbinic Conference on Agunot and Mesuveret Get, scheduled by Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar in Jerusalem in November 2006, was cause for joy and optimism for all who recognize that women cannot fairly obtain a Jewish divorce. Its cancellation, a few days before its scheduled date, was a pyrrhic victory for the ultra orthodox who attempt white washing this scourge in halakha by denying it is a problem. The agreement of international representatives to sit together to pursue solutions was a victory in and of itself. The abrupt cancellation has made lay persons and rabbis alike sit up and take notice that the problem must be dealt with so that our holy law continues to command respect. Though disappointed, we continue to work—with more commitment than ever—toward implementing solutions to free our chained or extorted sisters. We pray that people of courage will arise and demand an end to politicization of matters which affect so many women and their children.
Batya Levin
Chair, JOFA Agunah Task Force
DEAR JOFA READER,
I am writing to inform readers of a revision in the RCA Prenuptial Agreement discussed in your last issue that was made recently in California.
With the cooperation of the California Iranian Jewish community, Rabbi Yona Reiss, Director of the Beth Din of America, and the RCA, the standard version of the RCA Arbitration (Prenuptial Agreement) was revised to meet the needs of the Iranian community as well as eliminate certain civil legal issues that prevent it from being useful in California. The revised version can be used in any community and probably is more helpful, both psychologically and legally. The changes are as follows:
- The new version is bi-lateral: Women, as well as men, would be obligated to pay support so long as they refuse to accept the get, just as men are obligated to pay support so long as they refuse to give the get.
- Any option of allowing the Beth Din to adjudicate any issue other than the issue of the get has been deleted. Thus, there is no possibility of the parties being forced by the rabbis to sign an agreement that would obligate them to have their property, support and/or custody issues decided by the Beth Din. The Prenuptial Agreement focuses solely on the issue of the get, and no other issue.
- Under California law, (and the law of other jurisdictions, such as Canada), the imposition of a support obligation in case of get refusal requires the agreement to be “signed off” by an attorney. This has become an impossible task as California attorneys did not want to obligate their malpractice carrier to pay in case a husband sues the attorney for having allowed him to waive his right to “extort”. Therefore, to eliminate the requirement that an attorney sign off on the agreement, the new version speaks specifically to the payment of support as a “Jewish obligation”, independent of any civil obligation to pay support.
Since no such Jewish Prenuptial Agreement has been tested in the civil appellate courts until now, there is no guarantee that the agreement will be enforceable in court. However, in California, at least, the likelihood of enforcement of such an Arbitration Agreement and the decision of the Arbitrators has been greatly enhanced by the changes that have been made.
The California Iranian Jewish community is very grateful to Rabbi Yona Reiss for his efforts to help make these revisions a reality. Rabbi Reiss attended a one-day conference in California, sponsored by the Iranian Jewish Women’s Organization, to explain the halakhic validity of the agreement, and to urge its use. A link on the website of the Iranian Jewish Women’s Organization (www.ijwo.org) provides the text of the revisions.
Alexandra Leichter, CFLS
Beverly Hills, California
EDITORS NOTE
In a communication with the Journal, Rabbi Reiss, Director of the Beth Din of America, noted that the promulgation of this form that complied with specific Californian law requirements, in conjunction with the Iranian Jewish community of California was a major step forward in bringing solutions to potential agunah situations to a larger community.
While the revised form assumes that only get related issues will be submitted to the Beth Din, the RCA standard form does provide parties with the option to submit other disputes to Beth Din adjudication. Indeed, the RCA encourages parties to submit other marital disputes to the Beth Din. Rabbi Reiss considers it important that there be a Beth Din capable of dealing with all such issues and one of the RCA objectives is to provide the necessary professional expertise to be able to do so when appropriate.
The standard form can be found on the Beth Din website (www.bethdin.org) and on the Orthodox Caucus website at www.ocweb.org. The RCA has the same form with an added feature of the special notary form that can be used by officiating rabbis for New York marriages at www.rabbis.org.
Educate Yourself Further on the Agunah Issue
The Agunah issue was a major focus of JOFA’s recent Tenth Anniversary International Conference on Feminism & Orthodoxy. The issue was highlighted at the opening session, and there was one period during the day that was totally devoted to issues surrounding the Agunah crisis, with nine simultaneous workshops and two films on the topic. Readers are strongly encouraged to purchase CD’s of the Agunah sessions to educate themselves on the latest developments in this area. To order, visit www.jofa.org.
WOMEN IN THE PERFORMING ARTS
DEAR EDITOR,
I would like to react to your last journal dealing with the Arts and to take the opportunity to supply the readers with some information about Orthodox women’s theater which has been developing throughout Israel in haredi, national religious and ba’alat teshuvah circles. I would like to relate mainly to theater affiliated with the national religious community, based on research I conducted since 1998 on the topic, within the framework of my doctoral thesis in anthropology at the Hebrew University.
Theatrical activity of Israeli Orthodox women, most of whom are native Israelis and have not had much exposure or experience in this art, is one aspect of the many changes taking place in this society in the past decade. National religious women have become involved in politics, in the intensive study of Torah and Talmud and have also developed artistic venues in which they express doubts, fears, spiritual aspirations and conflicts through prose, poetry, cinema, painting, dance, music and also theater.
Israeli Orthodox women’s theater must be analyzed in the context of these changes and in the context of the traumatic events which have been taking place in past decade in Israel: the assassination of Rabin, the outbreak of the second intifada and the evacuation of Gush Katif. Theater has become a ‘safe space‘ where Orthodox women can deal with personal, social, ‘political’ and religious issues connected to their specific way of life. Although plays may express criticism of some aspects of it (the rigid religious education, the excessive demands for propriety, the exclusion of women from the arena of the synagogue and other surfacing social problems such as abuse against women), the artists do not want their work to be too subversive for fear of it being ostracized. That is why many (but not all) consult rabbis on issues of textual interpretation, modesty and even on questions of directing, especially when the plays deal with biblical figures such as the matriarchs, or stories of a kabbalistic nature. This is done in order to avoid what might be considered hillul hashem. Although most rabbis are not familiar with this art and have hardly even seen theater, they have been forced by the performers, members of their community, to abandon the traditional Jewish aversion to theater as a subversive art. Instead, they have had to acknowledge that theater has become a legitimate venue for self-expression that contributes to avodat Hashem. A collection of responsa has been published by Emunah College, the only Orthodox women’s college in the country with a theater department. It deals with a wide range of questions connected with the performing arts: ranging from a discussion of practical questions such as how to move onstage, whether women can represent male characters and which costumes they should wear, to more philosophical and moral questions dealing with social theater, the necessity to refrain from gossip and evil and how not to be tempted to ‘worship the ego’ despite the exhibitionism usually associated with this art-form.
Most of the women do not deal with existing texts from the Western repertoire; their theater is original, based on a wide range of texts from the religious canon: Bible, Midrash, Gemara, prayers and Hassidic stories. They choose canonical texts which deal with female figures and they add their own perspective and interpretations; by producing Jewish interpretations (parshanut) and religious preaching (darshanut) onstage, women have entered realms that have traditionally been male-dominated. Dramatic adaptations of these texts reveal the relevance of the canon to their present day lives.
Orthodox women actresses are, in most cases, amateurs, married, with large families and work in other professions. Lately, younger performers who have studied in academic frameworks have dedicated themselves to the theater and to theater education. Most are native born Israelis but in areas with large communities of Anglo–Saxon immigrants such as in the Efrat/Gush Etzion area and Beit Shemesh area, English-speaking troupes have been formed and they perform musicals and plays in English, viewed by a mixed audience of English speakers and native Israelis.
Israeli Orthodox women’s theater is clearly not a subversive art which ‘reaches out’ to the secular artistic world. When it does, the reactions of the secular artistic community towards it are in many cases patronizing and therefore disappointing for the performers. My conclusion therefore is that Israeli Orthodox women’s theater is mostly (but not exclusively) directed at an internal, marginalized all-women audience as a means to communicate and strengthen them from ‘within’ and as a way to justify their stances vis-a-vis other factions in Israeli society (haredi on the one hand and secular on the other).
Throughout years of intensive fieldwork, I have witnessed changes and developments in this theater. Today, Orthodox women have become more professional in all areas of theater: directing, acting, lighting and stage management. In many cases they are even requested to help and give advice to Orthodox male theater troupes who are less restricted halakhically. Before the evacuation of Gush Katif, young women initiated street theater to present what they felt were the dangers of the disengagement. Although the rabbis allowed them to perform in the streets of Jerusalem, with certain reservations (using masks, wide costumes etc.) they preferred not to and instead they directed a group of male yeshiva students as actors and in doing so, dealt with many complex aspects connected to the production.
As is evident from this short summary about Israeli Orthodox women’s theater, there is a growing recognition of the power and legitimacy of theater not only within educational institutions (many Orthodox schools have theater departments) but also within the community at large.
Yours truly,
Dr. Reina Rutlinger-Reiner
Jerusalem
EDITORS NOTE
Dr. Rutlinger-Reiner’s book “The Audacity of Holiness: Orthodox Women’s Theater” was recently published in Hebrew by Carmel Publishing House.
DEAR JOFA,
One of the questions asked of performing artists in your recent issue was: “Is it possible to pursue a career as a professional… actress…, and to advance in that career in the context of a modern Orthodox lifestyle?” I’m afraid that my answer, in a word, is “no.”
I include myself in the ranks of professional actresses because I am a member of two performers unions, Actors Equity Association (professional theatre actors and stage managers) and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (“AFTRA”). My acting credits include performances in New York City, regional theatre, and television (“Another World”, “As The World Turns”, and “Guiding Light”). I studied with several well-known acting teachers in New York, and with the legendary Sanford Meisner in Los Angeles. Like the vast majority of professional actors, I have also held “day jobs” including camp counselor, secretary, and teaching artist.
Unfortunately, since becoming fully observant, I have been unable to find professional acting work. Shabbat is a big component in this, because not only are performances virtually always held on Friday and Saturday evenings, and often Saturday matinees, but rehearsals are often held at these times as well. In addition, around the holidays in the fall and at Pesach, the possibilities of working around my religious commitments are virtually impossible.
When our children were young, my husband and I decided that we could not possibly plan on day school educations for them without my working full time, and as I detested clerical work, I returned to law school and have been an attorney since 2000. Nonetheless, wanting to keep my hand in should performing opportunities ever come along again, I periodically take acting classes and have even managed to appear in private, non-paying showcases and productions. I deal with the other matters you raised by being very selective. In acting classes, I have been able to choose the scenes I work on, and have accordingly chosen scenes that would not involve significant physical contact with a male scene partner. When deciding whether to audition for a particular production, I make sure to read the script to determine that issues of physical contact with male actors, costuming requirements, the language and theme of the play, and the content of the role are all within my comfort zone as an Orthodox woman. This, of course, raises other issues for me as an artist, who has been taught to take emotional risks and to stretch beyond my own personality. I have appeared in plays on Shabbat, which has involved early and complicated logistical planning on my part, including staying near the theatre, bringing meals, doing my makeup in advance (on Friday) and at the last minute (after Shabbat). I have made kiddush (for myself and any cast and crew who wish to participate) in a dressing room. However, in the past 12 years, I have performed before audiences a grand total of 4 times. This is hardly enough to nurture an acting career.
I think that actors face particular difficulties that musicians, in particular, may not. Firstly, with the rare exception of one-woman shows, actors need to work with other theatre professionals—most of whom do not have the issues and, to be blunt, restrictions, of Orthodox Jews (I recently auditioned for a production at Washington’s Theatre J, located in the DCJCC. While performances are not held on Shabbat, I was told by the director that he would not be able to consider me because he planned to hold rehearsals on Sukkot). Secondly, performances are scheduled at times that are convenient for audiences. Finally, there is a bias in the theatrical world regarding traditionally religious people. Artists believe (rightly, I think), that they need to push beyond the boundaries of convention, and that they must be completely dedicated to their work. This, after all, is the source of the old truism, “The show must go on.” Unfortunately, there is a widespread assumption that complete dedication to one’s work cannot go hand-in-hand with complete dedication to other things, and that traditionally religious persons are too hidebound and conventional to be real artists. The great irony, for me, is that in our “anything goes” East Coast urban culture, being an Orthodox Jew is probably the most unconventional thing I’ve ever done!
Unfortunately, for me, the outlook is bleak. A request a few years ago to an Orthodox day school to start a performing arts organization for adults and children in my community was turned down. I have often asked outreach organizers why the Orthodox community has not attempted to produce fictional programs to illustrate, explain, and encourage Orthodox Jewish observance to people who are seeking to connect with Judaism. The usual answer is a variation on these themes: (a) it wouldn’t be in keeping with Yiddishkeit; (b) the difficulties of writing/casting/filming would be too great; (c) it’s too expensive; and (d) there wouldn’t be enough interested viewers to make it worthwhile to deal with all of the above. Yet I’ve met many people who have viewed every Hollywood production with Orthodox subjects (e.g. “Fiddler on the Roof”, “The Chosen”, and “A Stranger Among Us”) greedily because they are desperate for a glimpse of our world! How sad that our stories are being told only by those who are outside our community!
I hope that the time will come when the Orthodox community will make greater efforts to allow those of us whose gifts are in the performing arts to use those gifts within and for the benefit of the community. Especially with the cultivation of these talents in our children and teens, we are setting them up for bitter disappointments if we do not find ways for them to use these talents. We may also be setting ourselves up for the loss of some who believe that the community’s rejection of their talents is a rejection of them as well.
Sincerely yours,
Edna Boyle
a/k/a Edna Boyle-Lewicki
Silver Spring, Maryland