Jewish Stereotypes

It's an article about sales on 5th Avenue in New York City. Of course the lady pictured is going to be Jewish. Note the tichel on her head. Also, the young teenage girl behind her appears to be a yiddele as well, perhaps a Stern student on break from class.

Liberated Yet?

I teach Hebrew school on Sundays. The following conversation took place yesterday between a female fifth grade student and myself:

Student: I don't know any girl rabbis.
Me: That's because there used to not be any, since girls didn't go to school at all. Only in recent times have rabbinical schools started letting women in. This started around the time that it became normal for all girls to go to college.
Student: Girls used to not have to go to school? They were lucky back then!
Me: Instead, they had to stay at home all day and do chores. They cleaned the house and cooked food all day. Would you want to do that instead of going to school?
Student: I guess not.
Me: You should feel lucky that you live in a time where women can really do whatever they want to. They can be rabbis, doctors, bankers, lawyers, teachers, or anything else...
Student: Like models! I want to be a model!

The Wedding Rant

Reasons I really don't like going to frum weddings:

-The groom gives the bride a ring and says "behold, you are now betrothed to me". The bride does nothing. She has no (public) say.

-Weddings are essentially a sale of women. This is most evident at Sephardic weddings, when the parents walk the the bride halfway down the isle, and then the groom comes to "claim his property" and accompany the bride for the other half.

-High heels are especially painful, both to wear and to be stepped on by.

-Frum women do NOT know how to circle dance, yet they pretend to by walking fastly in circles for a few minutes, untill becoming more interested in the man burning a ring of fire on their black hats.

-The kallah is brought to the men so that they can be mekayim the mitzvah of simchas kallah.

-Girls are expected to "out-fancy" each other, even if the resulting outfit looks hideous.

-Separate seating is just awkward.

-There's something about the immense number of perakim of tehillim being said by 17 and 18 year old girls that makes me want to cringe.