Every person has a voice. We each have the ability to affect, shape, and influence the world around us, and this is a truly precious gift. Whether we're talking about voting (and remember to register to vote and get a valid form of ID before November!), protesting, organizing, or just speaking your mind - it's important to acknowledge and celebrate this, especially considering that it wasn't always so. If you were - let's say - a woman, and were living - I don't know - in Biblical times, your voice would simply not be equal to that of your male counterparts. A 13-year old boy would have more clout and social standing than you. Something about that just doesn't seem right...
This week's Torah portion, Matot-Masei, talks about making vows. I'm guessing you don't think too much about swearing oaths these days, but trust me when I tell you it was a big deal in the Ancient World, and it was a big deal to our rabbinic forbearers. You were, in effect, dragging God in as witness to your claim, and if you failed to live up to what you promised, God would look bad.
And for whatever (chauvinistic) reason, women were seen as less reliable in making vows than men. A father could cancel out a vow his daughter tried to take, and later in life, a husband could do the same to his wife. The Reform movement Torah commentary by Rabbi Gunther Plaut summarizes this issue, stating: "While the Torah records a number of laws in which men and women are treated equally... it is on the whole male-oriented. The male has rights the female does not enjoy. She is to be wife and mother, invested with inherent dignity, to be sure, but by law and social order relegated to a second-class status comparable to that of minors." I'd like to think that we've come a long way, but the reality is that this statement could easily be talking about some cultures around the world TODAY, including certain sects within Judaism. 
It's an ancient problem, but that doesn't make it any less relevant right now. I can't help but ask the question; what is it about the relationship between men and women, that men have tried to silence women since the dawn of time? And Plaut agrees with my earlier statement about the 13-year old boy (not that I'm trying to pick on Bar Mitzvah kids...): "To this day the signature of a youthful male is valid on a document while that of a mature woman is not." And when we get to Yom Kippur (in just a few short weeks... oy), and we sing the haunting Kol Nidrei about dissolving vows - are women even included in that? Should it mean anything to them, or are we really just still talking to all the men (and boys) in the room? Where are the female voices - as authors, participants, or addressees - in our liturgy?
The point of this rant is not to decry the Torah. It was speaking to an audience in a time and place where this was pretty normal. However, we need to determine whether this makes any sense whatsoever for us today. And when we open our eyes and realize our values have evolved (thank God), and we DON'T think like this anymore, what do we make of the Torah? Or Kol Nidrei? Do we throw it all away?
Do we boycott services and/or Judaism and/or God? No. At least not in my opinion. Instead, we must bring our tradition with us, update the English translations, and help our values and our heritage make peace with one another. If we stopped reading this section in our Torah cycle, we wouldn't have the opportunity to have THIS conversation, right now. We might forget that it's still a problem around the world, and that we need to use our voices to speak out against the inequality we see around us. There are pay gaps, violence against women, and so many issues that still plague our society. Let's fix those, THEN we can talk about whether to change our Torah reading choices! For now, treasure your voice. It is yours. It is a Divine gift, up there with free will and love, and no one can take it away from you. But it also comes with responsibility. Don't waste the opportunity to stand up for what you believe in. Make it a voice that inspires, that heals, and that demands justice. VOICE your opinion now.
Photos in this blog post:
1. CC image courtesy of Carl Lender on Flickr
2. CC image courtesy of Adam Jones, Ph.D. on Flickr
3. CC image courtesy of Katie Tegtmeyer on Flickr
4. CC image courtesy of soukup on Flickr
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