The latest in an unending series of rabbinic scandals, involves a prominent American Orthodox rabbi, Barry Freundel, who set up voyeuristic cameras in the Mikveh of his synagogue, and filmed women - both married Jewish members, and converting to Judaism - as they immersed naked into this mikveh.
http://forward.com/articles/207652/rabbis-barry-freundel-and-leib-tropper-ensnared-in/?p=all
This is a scandal about rabbinic power, perversion and complacency. About how power corrupts , and absolute (religious power) corrupts absolutely.
However, there is a bigger picture scandal in all of this. this is the scandal of the "mikveh". In Lev 15, it gives the laws relating to menstruant women. There is no explicit requirement for a woman to "immerse" in a mikveh. In fact, it does not explicitly state that she even needs to bath in water. We may infer, from the fact that a man who has come into contact with her needs to bathe in water, that she can do the same. But this is not specifically a rabbinically constructed mikveh. The scandal is that rabbis have legislated to control and dehumanize the population with their additions. The ongoing violations of human dignity are part and parcel of this rabbinic offensive on human dignity.
No comments:
Post a Comment