To the Editor:

As the student co-President of JLIC Toronto, I think it’s time I got involved in this conversation. I didn’t want to, but after reading the article “Torah for Men, Challah for Women,” published on September 24th, I’ve realized that this has to be addressed. I’ve spent a lot of time looking at a blank page, trying to figure out how to articulate all the thoughts and feelings Flyer-gate has brought up. On the one hand, those who criticize are trying to raise a valid point–we, Modern Orthodoxy, have to start having real conversations about gendered roles in Judaism, about the expectations we place on our men and our women, and the negative consequences of those roles and expectations. But every good journalist knows that there’s no story without context.

The problem here, of course, is that with context, there’s no story.

If you look at the poster in a vacuum, I can see why you’d be upset, incensed even. After all, it’s a poster that’s split in the middle, one pink side advertising challah baking ‘for her,’ in the traditional kitchen secular women have long since escaped, and one blue side inviting men to ‘manshmor,’ to learn and drink beer and eat meat and do all those tragically ‘un-ladylike’ things. It looks like a Modern Orthodox organization is actively enforcing the most negative aspects of gender roles.

But hold your righteous anger, just for a little bit.

You see, that Modern Orthodox organization is JLIC, and JLIC is more than an admittedly unfortunate flyer. JLIC is an organization that caters to the undergraduate Jewish population of Toronto. JLIC is also an organization that offers constant learning opportunities for both men and women, individually and together – in fact, there are more learning opportunities offered to women. JLIC is an organization that executes and plans social events throughout the year, and JLIC is an organization that is dedicated to promoting a sense of Jewish community and continuity in a commuter-campus culture. And JLIC is an organization that has two female student co-presidents.

All of those things should be applauded, not condemned.

There is just one more piece of pertinent information that maybe should have been considered before calling out a Jewish organization for being sexist in the kind of writing you can’t take back. The only reason manshmor was even happening that week is because there was shiur for women happening, and the boys wanted one too.

And, just like that, when you add the context you lose the story.

So, Ms. Hia, I understand your frustration with the admittedly patriarchal conventions of Orthodoxy. I too feel that we need to start addressing the disparity in the roles women play in the secular world versus the religious world. I relate to the frustration you feel with ‘traditional’ male and female activities.

But I understand the importance of context, and in using an example–in this case, the flyer–that doesn’t hold up when brought to the light, you’ve actually set back the cause you attempted to put forward, and that is a real shame, because it is an important one.

So the next time you scroll down your Facebook feed and see something that strikes you as offensive, perhaps do yourself–and the publication you write for–a favor, and ask some questions before raising the alarms.

I’m a feminist, Ms. Hia, and the problem is that when you raise those alarms too often for too little, people are deaf when you ring the alarm for something of substance.

And there are so many things of substance to talk about. There is the growing disenfranchisement with the spectator sport of prayer, there is the dearth of religious female leadership, there is rape culture, there is the lack of sexual equality, and those are just the topics that came to mind. There’s a much longer list of things of substance we should be bringing to the attention of the Jewish community.

And the flyer? The flyer isn’t one of them.

Arielle Wasserman

To the Editor:

Your newspaper published “J Street Challenge Screened in Teaneck” (news, Sept. 25), which reads more like a glowing advertisement than objective coverage of a film so slanderous and mean-spirited that most Jewish Federations across the country refuse to screen it. Of course you can get a number of Jews to comment on either side of any issue.

I am a member of J Street and we support a two-state solution because it’s the only way to ensure Israel’s survival as a democracy and Jewish homeland. As late Prime Minister Ariel Sharon warned, “If we insist on fulfilling the [Zionist] dream in its entirety, we are liable to lose it all.” If Israel does not compromise on some of the territory it controls in the West Bank, it would be disastrous for both Israelis and Diaspora Jews.

Crisis can be averted through an agreement based on the pre-1967 lines with land swaps. It would finally give both sides what they desperately need: long-term security and international recognition for Israel, and dignity and independence for the Palestinians. I would like to remind folks that both Jordan and Egypt attacked Israel several times but Israel now has peaceable treaties with both. Giving the Palestinians their own country via a negotiated settlement will be the basis for security and peace for both peoples.

In the spirit of the High Holy Days, let’s respect the rich diversity of our community. And in the wake of this summer’s crisis in Gaza, let’s focus not on petty differences, but on the solutions that can help Israel find the peace and security it needs.

Stuart Kaplan
Chair Northern New Jersey Chapter J Street