Murphy's Law

Murphy-the-Cat, formerly Murphy-the-Kitten, is big news around these parts. It seems she's pregnant. Pregnant cats are novel to my family.

I grew up with dogs. Hounds and terriers populated my childhood. Thereafter, my pets were footnotes and manual typewriters (I wore out the parts, and, consequently, the machines, every few years; it was cheaper for me to replace than to repair them, especially when manufacturers began to sell electric ones!)

Accordingly, it wasn't until I was in graduate school, hundreds of miles away from my family and from my fiancé, Computer Cowboy, that I adopted a cat. It wasn't until that time that I needed the company. That cat, like the three or four others that followed him, was "gender free." Thus kittens, per say, were never even a topic in my home.

The path of Torah is the path of the Feminist

In a recent edition of The Jerusalem Post, two remarkable pieces were presented; an op-ed essay/book self-promotion piece entitled "Why a Women's Torah Commentary" and a Jewish News piece entitled "First guide for inclusive Prayer prayer services published." Both of those items shared the thesis that shifting Jewish women from their halachic role necessarily can unify Klal Yisrael, in general, as well as necessarily can better the lives of Jewish women, specifically. I will attempt the beginning of a refutation to those notions.

In the words of Yael Weil, in "You've Come a Long Way Baby," published in L. Schreiber's, Hide and Seek: Jewish Women and Hair Covering; "[t]rue self-confidence can only be attained by ... the one who does not need fame, honor, recognition, or approval of others because inside, he or she ultimately cares about the only opinion that really counts (Weil, 2003, p. 38)."

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