Nira pushes a red baby stroller with big wheels to the neighborhood kosher cafe, so young, a handkerchief twisted and tied with artistic skill on her head. A handkerchief that leaves not a single hair visible. Her eyes are wide with childlike innocence and a natural blush on her cheeks.
Nira (23), a beautiful and gentle girl from a religious community in the north of Israel, enters a meeting with a counselor.
The counselor gently lifts the blanket over the sweet baby in the stroller, asking if it's possible?
""Sure," Nira replies with an embarrassed giggle.
At the sight of the little one's smiling face, the question arises in the air: what is the fault of the two-month-old girl whose mother is already divorced? Slowly, a difficult story of abuse unfolds before the viewer's eyes. A chilling story of violence. A story with a lot of pain and, above all, guilt. A sack full of guilt weighing on the thin shoulders of the young woman sitting in front of the counselor.
Nira came for counseling and career guidance through an organization that helps women who have been refused a divorce and divorced women who are observant of Torah and mitzvot. The counselor's role is to empower her. To accompany her and give her the strength and tools to take independent initiative and establish the business that will support her.
But first of all, she needs to be cleared of the guilt. Unlike other women assisted by the organization, she has already received the long-awaited divorce.
But... she doesn't dare change her status in the population registry. Until now, she hasn't even told a neighbor or a good friend that she's divorced.
The possibility of Nirah forgiving herself seems very remote at the moment. The sentences she utters are outrageous.
""Where was I?", "How did I not see that he was like this?", "How did I not notice the signs?", "Why didn't I get up and leave immediately when I noticed them?""
Her young head is full of fateful questions, and guilt surrounds and wraps her head just like a scarf, a scarf, or a shawl that she puts on her head. The questions are oppressive and give her no rest.
It is true that the task of Nira and the counselor in their joint work will be to find an employment opportunity for Nira. There is no doubt that the strengths are hidden within her. All that is needed is to open the heavens for her, clear away the guilt that is gnawing at her like a worm, and prepare her for a job interview.
The altar is crying.
Once, when I would say that some of my best friends were divorced, many around me would raise an eyebrow. Who knows, maybe they thought it was contagious... Today, there's a prime-time report about it, and the divorced Haredi women themselves are outraged by the way they're portrayed.
Since I am involved in supporting, advising, and assisting several organizations that work for and on behalf of women going through this difficult path, I know the people who work there well. I must say that if I were asked to define divorced Haredi women, I would call them "iron women.".
In general, unpacking the package, in any society, is a difficult step. All the more so in a closed society like ours. It is not for nothing that our sages, blessed be their memory, said that the altar weeps... Both in a kibbutz in the Negev, in a village in the Galilee, and in northern Tel Aviv, women with much more money and far fewer children are devastated by the loss of their home.
So Amnon Levy's countless attempts to make his home at the expense of the Haredim, and this time at the expense of the Haredi divorcees, make no impression on me at all.
In my opinion, these women, and Haredi women in general, are "larger than life." I have no doubt that most of them manage to stand on their feet thanks to their faith in God. What's more, no one talks about the large number of divorced women who have managed to build a second home.
The virtue of slaves
Call it rising female power, call it pure feminism, even the days of the Messiah. When I come to women's circles, and there are more and more of them everywhere, on every stage where women sing together, gather together, study together, break challah in devotion or join in a feast of artists, I know that the female power revealed to me symbolizes the days of the Messiah.
In a talk by the Lubavitcher Rebbe given on the Sabbath after the 10th of Tevet, the Rebbe explained why the Third Temple would be built of iron, unlike the first, which was built of gold, and the second, which was built of silver. Especially in light of the fact that iron was banned in the Temple because it was a killing tool.
The Rebbe explained that "Barzel" is the initials of Bilhah, Rachel, Zilpah, and Leah. The four wives of Jacob, the mothers of the twelve tribes. Opposite them stand four hichinut in the Nukvah of the Klipa (in the female part of the Klipot). As it is said, "They cradled a cradle of iron.".
The order of the initials also reflects the conduct of the kilipot, a maidservant would inherit her mistress. Bilhah before Rachel and Zilpah before Leah. However, in the days of the Messiah and the building of the Temple, it will be revealed that even in holiness there is a concept of a maidservant before her mistress.
The fact is that God commands Abraham to listen to his wife's voice, to the point that the sages say that Abraham our father would have cared for Sarah with prophecies. This is what will be revealed in the future. The virtue of a woman who is "a woman of valor is the crown of her husband." The crown is placed on the head, above the being of a person.
And in this way, regarding the superiority of the maidservants over the ladies. Mothers are a form of royalty in virtue (a higher rank), and maidservants are a form of royalty in its descent into the worlds of action (creation, work, doing). The descent itself testifies to their origin. After all, the stone at the top of the wall is the one that falls further when it is destroyed.
Likewise, in the matter of Didan, in the future to come, when order in the world is restored, the great superiority of the slave girls over the ladies will become evident. The superiority of the woman over the man will become evident, and the Temple will be made of iron.
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Now do you understand why I feel that the rising feminine power indicates the closeness of the days of the Messiah?
• The author is the owner ""My choice"", event host, lecturer and radio broadcaster. For comments: [email protected]
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