DeDe Jacobs-Komisar's previous dispatches from Orthodox Jewish feminism can be found here. 1. He’s great at woodworking and generally pretty handy. 2. Sometimes I ask for a cup of water and he brings me a glass of wine and it’s like whoa, how did you know? 3. He bakes amazing challah and has been known to turn out vast quantities. Sometimes fish as well. 4. He covers his Semitic face in an untrimmed beard.
When we last spoke, I told you about launching a feminist revolt at my Orthodox Jewish girls’ school. I hope to get back to that, eventually. But let’s fast forward about 30 years.
“What do you mean he abused her?” The question was shrill and innocuous.
The teacher, Mrs. Stern, looked incredibly uncomfortable. But hey, she had brought it up. “He got into the bed with her, and he abused her.” Mrs. Stern shrugged her shoulders at the ambiguity of it all, as if it was impossible to know what the passage was really saying. “Now let’s move on.”
