Women’s Liberation Needed to Balance Male-dominated Religious Structure

The Jewish religion and social structure, which has been male-dominated for more than five thousand years, needs a measure of Women’s Liberation philosophy, according to a young woman who expects to be ordained as a rabbi. Mrs. Sandy Eisenberg Sasso, a third-year student at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, Temple University, Philadelphia, made her remarks yesterday in the course of conducting a study session on "Women and The Bible: Lessons for Today." at the 66th Annual Meeting of the American Jewish Committee. "There is an urgent need to balance the predominantly masculine perspective in Judaism with a feminine counterpart, especially in regard to religious ceremonies, liturgy, and the creative arts," Mrs. Sasso declared.

Among her suggestions for liturgical modifications, she urged changes in the marriage ceremony that would "create a mutuality of obligation, rather than the one-sided sense of man’s ‘ownership’ of woman, and the double standard it implies." She also recommended the development of "a ceremony that would welcome the birth of a girl. in some way a counterpart of all the ceremonies that now surround the birth of a Jewish boy." And she deplored the fact that most Jewish art "depicts men in all sorts of attitudes–performing the Hasidic dances, poring over Talmudic texts, teaching young boys–while the only act in which women are depicted is the lighting of Sabbath candles."

EQUALITY MEANS PARTICIPATION

"Although women have enjoyed a significant position in Judaism, to state that their status is merely different but equal to men is to ignore the facts," Mrs. Sasso declared. Stressing the fact that she was not recommending a total renunciation of women’s traditional role, Mrs. Sasso stated: "If a woman chooses, after surveying all the other possibilities, to remain in the home and be a wife, mother, housekeeper, she should be able to make that choice, but she should not be limited to it. The Jewish woman should have an equal opportunity with the man in all fields and should be made to feel the she can participate in them."

Mrs. Sasso, whose husband is also a rabbinical student, declared that throughout Jewish history "there have been rampant apologetics and rationalizations that have kept women from full participation in Jewish life by, if not consciously recognizing, at least inertially maintaining their inferiority." Continuing, she said that "women’s position throughout Jewish history was reflective of the outside society in which Judaism grew. Women had an inferior role in all early communities, and to judge history by our cultural views would be erroneous."

However, she added, "to recognize change in the social situation and to refuse parallel development with regard to women’s role would be indefensible." Mrs. Sasso, born in Philadelphia, attended Temple University, where she received a B.A. degree, magna cum laude with honors in Religion, in 1969, and an M.A. degree in Religion in 1972. She is currently a candidate for the Ph. D, degree and is a teaching assistant at Temple University’s Department of Religion.