By Jamie Spock
A few weeks ago we spent a Shabbaton in Jerusalem, in the beautiful neighborhood of Baka. The theme of this Shabbaton was "Devoted Resistance". I’m sure you’re asking yourself the same question that many of us did: what is devoted resistance? Well, according to Tova Hartman, devoted resistance is the idea of taking something that you love that has issues and working hard to fix those issues rather than merely kvetching and walking away. Tova Hartman is the daughter of a Canadian Orthodox Rabbi. She had a pretty typical childhood and loved her Orthodox Judaism but as she got older she started noticing some things that made her uneasy. As most of us that grow up Jewish know, there comes a point where you start wanting to learn more about your own religion apart from what your parents tell you or what you learn in Hebrew school. Tova was no exception; but she found that in her community, she was unable to study at the level of her male peers simply because she was a woman. She also wanted to be able to participate more in services but again found that her being a woman meant that those opportunities simply did not exist. It would have been easy for Tova to say that she had had enough of Orthodox Judaism and join a Conservative or Reform shul and find the egalitarian prayer and study space that she had longed for. But she didn't choose that path; she decided that it was more important to her to make a "change from within" her beloved Orthodox movement.
Tova did not understand why there was this disconnect between feminism and traditional Judaism. The former professor of Gender Studies and Education at Bar Ilan University felt that one should not have to choose between one or the other; they could be reconciled. After years of hard work and countless rejections and being told she was wrong, she succeeded in founding Kehilat Shira Hadasha in Jerusalem. Shira Hadasha’s purpose was to create a religious community that embraces its commitment to halacha, tefillah, and feminism in response to the growing need of many religious women and men to readdress the role of women in the synagogue. I had the opportunity during the shabbaton to attend Shabbat morning services at Shira Hadasha. It was a truly amazing experience. The Kehilla holds services in typical Israeli fashion, in a large room in a community center. There is, what I feel like, an unobtrusive Mechitzah. While we were in services it was opened for the celebration of a brit milah. We also had the opportunity to witness a Shabbat Kallah (Bride’s Sabbath, the Shabbat before a wedding). The women members of Shira Hadashah also lead prayers in the traditional liturgy. Women can receive an aliyah to the Torah, carry the torah on the women’s side, and the minyan must consist of ten men and ten women. The community that Tova has created certainly takes two seemingly mismatched concepts and mixes them in a way that doesn’t feel forced or insincere and instead feels quite natural and welcoming.
What was most impressive about Tova was her determination. Despite being told her method of practicing Judaism is not valid by multiple Orthodox Rabbis she continues to do the work that is important to her. She has inspired many similar places of prayer to open throughout Israel and the United States and she has definitely opened people’s minds, including mine, to what is possible in the world of traditional Judaism.
