It was a nightmare that came true. A camera in the shower of the mikvah in the building next to Kesher Israel Synagogue in Washington D.C. Who could even imagine something as violating and perverse as a camera invading one of the most, if not the most, sacred and private places for married Jewish women and converts. These were the horrors faced by the victims and would-be victims of Rabbi Barry Freundel.
Shortly after Yom Kippur, Rabbi Freundel was charged with six accounts of voyeurism after cameras were found near the mikvah showers. The atrocity affected his direct victims, many of whom were in the midst of the conversion process to Judaism, his congregants, and married women and converts who felt a sense of security attending the mikvah before the scandal broke out.
The range of responses elicited by the scandal almost resembles that of the five stages of grief: Denial that a trusted Rabbi could insinuate such an atrocity, anger over the blatant invasion of privacy, bargaining for change even when the transgression has already been committed, and depression over the disgusting acts of one man and how he jeopardized the sanctity of going to the mikvah.
The only stage that is missing in its entirety is acceptance.
While acceptance over the actual events of the scandal is near-impossible, our community has demonstrated that we have accepted the often unfortunate reality of human frailty through an immediate call for action. The Modern Orthodox community has responded by demanding reform to mikvah protocol, and specifically the conversion process. Perhaps the loudest voices that have led this recent call for reform have arisen from the women of our communities. Women want to take back the control over their sacred mitzvah; a mitzvah that once felt as though it connected them with God in the most pure manner, and is now tainted by scandal and revulsion.
For the first time, women are voicing their opinion, and they are being heard. Even though the incident was only in one synagogue, communities all over are evaluating the safety of their ritual baths in order to ensure that women feel comfortable and safe.
Even more importantly, the scandal called into question the place of checks and balances in the rabbinate, and whether women should have a place in the advisement of sensitive mitzvot that directly impact them. In reassessing the conversion protocols in the wake of the scandal, the Rabbinical Council of America, for the first time, appointed five highly qualified women to advise the Geirus Policies and Standards committee. And that’s not all. In another “first,” Dr. Michelle Friedman, the founder and chair of the Department of Pastoral Counseling at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, is set to join the board of the Beit Din of America.
While the Modern Orthodox community has responded to the mikvah scandal with an overwhelming wave of support, until a recent event this past week, the subject had been mum on campus. Now, for the first time, women’s voices are being acknowledged, and not being brushed off as originating from a minority group of women who are identified with the radical left. Women’s issues in Judaism are on the forefront of the agenda, and women have been chosen to take a stand as leaders. To some extent, isn’t this what many of us have been waiting for?
On campus this past Monday evening, there was an event titled, “For Women, By Women” where Professor Nechama Price, Mrs. Rachel Cement, and Dr. Yael Muskat from the Beren Campus Counseling Center moderated a “safe-space” for students to ask questions and express their feelings on the scandal. The three professionals dealt with the issue with the utmost sensitivity, and the women who attended voiced their concerns and questions.
Yet, this was just the first necessary step.
So far the efforts on campus have addressed the immediate emotional effects of the traumatic event. But where do we stand on the more large-scale reforms? Are we trailing behind the bandwagon of change?
I find it problematic that these changes have not been, on a very minimum level, acknowledged on campus. Women are on a committee board of the RCA and on the board of the Beit Din of America, the leading institutions of established Orthodox rabbis in America, and yet, we remain silent on the matter. These women are setting a new precedent for women’s involvement in mainstream Orthodoxy, paving groundbreaking leadership roles while still adhering to halakhic standards. While I have heard no outright remarks of disapproval, I haven’t heard any approval either. Whether it be from the student body or anyone else, I haven’t heard any response at all.
If we view Yeshiva University as the flagship of Modern Orthodoxy, then shouldn’t we be setting the tone for these new developments, as well as acknowledging the evolvements taking place?
Unless these women, and these changes, are embraced with support, they can disappear before our eyes faster than they appeared in the first place.
Ready or not, change is upon us. The roles for women in Modern Orthodox are evolving before our eyes. We can either bear witness, and be a part of the future, or turn our faces in apathy. The choice is in our hands.