Josh – The simple fact that there are clothes rules for both men and women is at least a modicum of apparent egalitarianism and may well be a good starting place. There are still so many differences though… I’d be curious to hear where you’re going with it!

Pesach – I think that we agree that Judaism encourages men to use their skills and talents in a way that benefits both themselves and their community, and/even if that puts them at the center of communal attention.

Drisha alum – Yay Drisha! First I will say that I absolutely agree that suppressing and undervaluing women’s voices and leadership is a society-wide and Judaism-wide problem. That wasn’t my focus here (although I did mention it in multiple places).

I appreciate R. Linzer’s efforts, as I wrote in my last paragraph. But I think his words in the NYT article are actually inconsistent with his efforts to increase women’s scope of public religious activity.

A reader of the New York Times who is not already very knowledgeable about the Jewish community and R. Linzer’s corner of it would have no way of knowing that R. Linzer, who is identified at the end only as an “Orthodox Rabbi”, is actually working to encourage women’s public roles – work that goes against the grain of other organizations that identify as Orthodox (e.g., Young Israel) as opposed to Ultra-Orthodox. On the other hand, a casual reader of my essay here might actually have a much more positive impression of R. Linzer’s work in that regard.

As far as placing sexist norms in the same sentence as R. Linzer: I believe that I can respect R. Linzer and his work and still express significant disagreement with him about issues of gender and sexism. I don’t really see where immaturity comes into it.

Finally, I am truly glad that your experiences do not reflect a restriction of your religious expression of Judaism to private arenas. There have always been exceptional Jewish women (exceptional by their intellect, luck, wealth, social standing, family connections, and often, by necessity, all of the above) for whom that has been the case – but I would argue that, both historically and today (in many communities), that has not been the sociological or the ideological norm. I believe that to the extent that R. Linzer, or any of us, wants to effectively change that for the future – not just for exceptional women but for ordinary women as well – it must first be acknowledged without apologetics or obfuscation.

The requirement for men to be the center of attention should still be a humbling experience for the individual in that position. A true leader can be the center of attention whilst not letting his ego interfere with that job.

It seems to me that is the understanding of modesty that Rabbi Linzer’s was explaining in his article. Your perspective on this is flawed in my opinion.

My apologies if I have read your article incorrectly and misrepresented you.