It is hard to believe that 3 years have passed already since the last JOFA conference, into which I poured so much of my heart, soul and time (as co-Chair of Programming). I am excited to join the ranks of the JOFA faithful again in Lerner Hall. I need the jolt of energy and personal connection that only the Conference can bring. While we have come so far in all four areas the Conference seeks to explore, so much has remained the same, or worse, moved backwards. The Conference always provides me with a lift and a spark of inspiration that sends me charging into battle again.
Since the last Conference, I have joined the board of JOFA and put my first two children into mainstream Orthodox Day School. Both have been exciting, as well as frustrating endeavors. To join the ranks of JOFA leadership has been an honor that has allowed me to interact with the greats of Orthodox Feminist Leadership. I was raised in the trenches of this movement and I feel proud to take on these issues in my own right. Being a board member has given me the opportunity to voice my concerns and act on them in a real and fundamental way. It has also provided a window into the slow-moving, often gruelingly political, process that fostering change can be.
My inauguration into the day school community has been fairly, almost surprisingly, uneventful. My children have enjoyed smooth transitions, high-quality teachers and minimal drama, yet I find myself with my guard constantly up. The education of my children has been the issue that has kept me on the ramparts of the Orthodox Feminist movement all these years (as opposed to chucking it all in favor of a more pluralist or denominationally neutral sphere). I firmly believe that if we raise our children to think more broadly about Judaism, Orthodoxy, gender roles and leadership, many of the issues we struggle with these days will fade away and a whole new norm will be conceived. My children are young, so there have been minimal opportunities to offend, and in truth, our school does handle many issues with deft sensitivity. That being said, there are indications that I cannot let down my guard. I cannot wait till the issues present themselves. I need to use these early years to watch and learn what the hashkafa (philosophy) of the school really is and not just what they say it is.
So, I eagerly await this conference. I am excited to hear about glass-ceilings being challenged and broken, innovative approaches to learning and age-old texts, new roles being conceived and exhibited. I look forward to the conversation and the khizuk that comes from rubbing elbows with like-minded people. I sincerely hope you will join me.
My experience as a parent in the Orthodox day school world has also been–thankfully–pretty uneventful. Interestingly, my experience religiously as a faculty member in an Orthodox day school has been more difficult. Things like partnership minyanim, and even affiliation with JOFA, are still seen as pretty radical, and not within mainstream Orthodoxy. This is frustrating and marginalizing. Does anyone feel they have similar experiences in their Orthodox communities?
Comment by Amanda on January 14, 2010 2:34 PM
I am a faculty member in an day school that is a bit of a “hybrid” between Orthodox and community school. One of the greatest blessings of my job is that the administration of my school has always welcomed and encouraged my discussion of Jewish feminist topics in my classes. My affiliation with JOFA is seen as an honor, not a liability. Interestingly, my head of school is from a haredi background, and still basically affiliates herself with a haredi community. She is a brilliant woman and an exceptionally broad thinker and she understands that the clientele in our classrooms will not be satisfied by more traditional Orthodox polemics regarding women’s role. I have found that my students are far more attached to their Judaism and to taking an active role in their Jewish communities as adults when they feel their questions and concerns are answered with honesty and forthrightness.
Comment by Laura on January 14, 2010 6:09 PM