Effacing Women

Shoshanna Keats-Jaskoll has recently called attention to the new extremes to which the aggressive erasure of women has gone in the Haredi World (and beyond). Frankly, I can't believe that this has gone as far as it has (again). Still, as Emerson put it, 'A Foolish Consistency is the Hobgoblin of Little Minds,' and there appears to be no lack of little minds about. 

Some voices of reason do decry such extremes, such as my friend Rabbi Yitzhak Adlerstein. On the other hand, some vociferous defenses of this practice have emerged from within the ostensibly Modern Orthodox Community. I have addressed the issue directly in the past (here and here). At present, I would simply like to protest that the banishing of women and girls from publications is a direct affront and attack on the integrity and piety of our sainted ancestors, both Ashkenazic and Sephardic. They saw NO problem in representing women in books, including Sacred Texts that were used in the Synagogue during Prayer.

Consider the following:

 Rothschild Miscelllany

 Rothschild Miscelllany

Darmstadt Hagaddah

The Golden Hagaddah

MS JTSA 8892 Italy 1492

I rest my case.