Last Sunday was the Dallas Kosher Chili Cook Off.
It is held every year as a local Dallas fundraiser for different charities.
( They really wouldn't know good chili if it jumped up and bit them in the tuchis. Chabad of Ft Worth entered several years ago with my chili recipe and we weren't even mentioned.(!פאסקודניאקס)
This year, I assume without thinking, they scheduled a woman to sing the Star Spangled Banner.
Now for those of you that don't know or follow Jewish law, men are not supposed to listen to a woman sing. In laws of Tznius ( modesty ) a woman's voice is considered arousing to men.
Now before you get all bent out of shape guys, you know there have been songs that certain women sing that "get your motor running."
Kim Karnes singing "Betty Davis Eyes"
Billie Holiday, Ertha Kitt or Peggy Lee singing anything did it for me.
So those Jewish groups that observe this law reminded the organizers of this, so they had a man sing it instead.
In this weeks TJP, the local Jewish paper here in DFW, there was a letter to the editor about the switch
from someone from the JWV of Dallas. I can't tell you if this person was a man or a woman because it was one of those gender neutral names.
This person stated that the organizers decided to "bend to the wishes of a narrow-minded minority (especially when it comes to women's equality) and violate the equality of women as guaranteed under American Law"
Now who is the "narrow-minded" one.
Without the participation of the Orthodox organizations, schuls, schools and the "DK", the Dallas Kosher organization that supervises the kashrus of the event, there would be no Dallas Kosher Chili Cook Off every year.
By letting the man sing the National Anthem everyone was able to participate.
If the woman would have sung, some would have been left out. Including some of the sponsors, and the event would not raise the amount of tzedaka that it did.
So again. Who is being narrow-minded?
Funny how diversity ceases to be a good thing in the eyes of the left as soon as the group being accommodated are religious Jews. Never mind the fact that there are many, many chili cookoffs in this part of Texas where a woman is welcome to sing the national anthem; never mind that there are non-kosher Jewish events where a woman is welcome to sing the national anthem; never mind that the only Jews who actually care that the chili is kosher are the one's who prefer that a woman not sing at the event; but G-d forbid there should be one event that accommodates observant Jews.
ReplyDeleteWe go thru this every year, at every event our family has or attends. In a family where we have an Orthodox observer, a Conserva-dox, an I don't know what, and an absolute liberal Jew...we seem to never really win this battle. Unfortunately we find ourselves, even among siblings, divided and often faced with challenges. The first two stick together while the other two make fun of our observance. It is only when something affects them PERSONALLY or when it is convenient that they attempt to understand the WHY we do and observe the way we do...and even then, if they don't like the WHY, they just can't accept it. As someone who is a geyr (sp?) I find this very difficult to understand. If our goal as a people is to set the example and someday reach Tikkun Olam....how can we get there if the acceptance among ourselves is so far off?
ReplyDelete...but the real question is, who won???
ReplyDeleteHalacha won. But the letters to the TJP keep coming.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know I belonged to an "ilk".