Jewish Scum Manifesto

For International Women’s Rights Day, K. is publishing a text that is a departure from its usual line. A young Jewish woman sent us a manuscript that, pastiching the famous SCUM Manifesto (1967) by radical feminist activist Valerie Solanas, virulently expresses her anger at the Jewish world’s deafness to the demands for women’s emancipation. This anger is the political expression we get from bottling up what’s ready to explode.

Don’t read this if you are a man with an inflated ego. 

 

 

I devote a lot of my time to an insurmountable task: decentering men from my life. But just in honor of this week’s International Women’s Day (let’s not forget to mention their rights…) – a farce in itself that barely and painfully reminds the other half of humanity of our truncated existence – let’s take this opportunity to remind ourselves why this soul-sucking, absurd chore is still necessary. And since the Jewish community, which is the one I belong to, alienates women no less than the rest of our society – and the pretext of God, tradition or assimilation is just not a valid excuse – I am taking you on a quick tour of Jewish manland.

I could stick to only berating the more conservative and archaic streams of our community but that would be dishonest. As if misogyny were just the fantasy of a few dusty rabbis… It is easy to point out the patriarchal pillars that maintain the tangible and metaphorical mechitzah^[1] in our midst. A sense of dress and a restriction of the voice that is employed to avoid the ever-impending danger of seduction – famously all Jewish women want to do is fuck and those poor, poor men have no will of their own. Thank God for all the rabbis that have scolded girls along the way. Or simply the all-encompassing structural and institutional discrimination against women getting the same learning and communal participation and standing opportunities as the shnipped.

However, the ambiance of scum is festering in all our communal, professional and personal structures, denominations, secular, intellectual and cultural Jewry.

Famously all Jewish women want to do is fuck and those poor, poor men have no will of their own.

The beauty of belonging and community in the Jewish sense brings with it an indoctrinated fear of a lack of conformity. The pressure to align with the communal wolf pack and the party line that is explicitly or implicitly given by the leaders means that any leanings outside of the narrowly and illogically confined framework of Judaism elicit at best a penetrant sense of discomfort and at worst exclusion and lasting fodder for the rumor mill. Differences of opinion are not tolerated, even less so when they come from women. Women demanding a better seat at the table or one at all are branded as the problematic and hysterical by-products of a Jewish world adjacent or seemingly integrated into modern society, who want to ruin the foundations of thousands of years of unity and survival. As for the men who attempt to be allies or crutches to the female Jewish experience, they often do so with their own caveats, which in the end should surpass the true desire for equality. “Everything in its own time..” Right?. “You cannot force change that quickly..” RigHt? “You should be more grateful for what this community has already done for you, for how I am helping you…” RIGHT? And the very, very, very few men, who, although will never live the oppressive Jewish woman experience, do try to lend their privileges where possible and yield their space otherwise, are ultimately also seen as brainwashed, emasculated traitors, that bring about the downfall of the Jewish structure that is supposedly keeping us all breathing. Even if the air is filled with our slow impending death of continuity.

 

No one can deny that, when it comes to issues related to feminism, the Jewish world revels in ignorance, with a clean conscience full of arrogance. I no longer want the few examples of women who have managed the feat of infiltrating the pantheon of contemporary Judaism to be paraded around, as if it were not insulting enough already to have to struggle for a seat in the peanut gallery. Now you will find some communal leaderships consisting of not only men, a non-male voice being given some space for Jewish teachings or the Jewish charity that has a woman at its helm. This is of course in the more mainstream spaces, where we are all oh so grateful for the random Moishe or David that didn’t close the door on us right away. And of course women can work in charities because weren’t they already born with that caring gene instilled in them and are ready to serve and save what men have broken over centuries?

Well, they are considered a nuisance, a threat, a mere speck of dust that, on the edge of the global Jewish experience, stands out as an anomaly. Judaism, the true, the only legitimate one, is obviously masculine. The rest is just background noise, which will hopefully soon be silenced. It can be fun to discover grassroots initiatives, find a space where others share some or all of your gripes and fights. And yet it is also exhausting to be excluded from the mainstream because your stamina of bending over backwards to carve your own niche is bleeding out.

How can we even respect ourselves when we continuously have to chip away at our purpose and add on virtues where we never desired them?

For centuries Jewish women have been told they hold an elevated, a more sacred position in Judaism. That she is relieved of most time-bound religious obligations as she is already so close to God. That if she just stays in her place, she will be graced with respect. How can we even respect ourselves when we continuously have to chip away at our purpose and add on virtues where we never desired them? I don’t care whether you believe that Judaism is the God-given one true religion or if you see it as just one of the many sects that sprouted thousands of years ago and simply managed to usurp the others, so that it established itself along the other divine belief systems – what matters is that it is just another framework of power and group control. It already began with gender inequality but I will not take up my beef with the forefathers now. However much I do or don’t enjoy the mostly one-dimensional portrayal of all the women in our texts, is not really relevant for today’s confession. What I do take umbrage with is how those ancient stories and lifestyles have been turned into rigid traditions with added layers, requirements and specifications over time that strangely enough impose more restrictions on women than on men. I wonder why that is…

 I have a deep love for the women that find solace and thrive in the frameworks of practice and community that we have been conscribed to. In another life I shared a lot with them, enjoyed caressing the line between the permitted and the other. In a way I still am. And structure provides direction provides comfort. But I cannot accept the golden cage that we were born into anymore. I don’t wish it upon myself, nor on anyone else. Make no mistake: There is no winning in patriarchy, also not in its Jewish version. The beauty of the patriarchal maze is that by escaping one cage I will only fall into another one. Oh how I crave to just exist.

The beauty of the patriarchal maze is that by escaping one cage I will only fall into another one.

Still, religion provides a framework for and enables men to satisfy their sick need for dominance over women and anyone who does not conform to their phallocentric, heteronormative and cisgender view of human relationships. It teaches alibis and excuses for problems that are nurtured and accepted as a status quo. On that note: if you can’t keep it in your pants, maybe you should reconsider your existence. 

Too many are the stories of Jewish male authority figures abusing their power and standing to groom, harass, assault and rape. In fact, the word authority is almost superfluous here. Look to Germany, France or the UK to just mention a few cases of the recent past. Although it will not be hard to name even more across Europe and internationally. But the eyes stay closed, the ears stay shut and the fist remains ready to crush any disruption that would rock the boat of ‘wholesome’ community life. Always treated as absolute isolated incidents and only if the voices become so loud that backs cannot be turned on the victim anymore. And even then, it is the man that receives the general grace and benevolence of the community, is given a million second chances and of course his actual actions are called into question. Because how dare the woman try to dethrone the welcoming, caring rabbi, the witty, intellectual shul member, the young heroic activist fighting antisemitism… The list goes on and we all know someone. Don’t you dare avert your gaze. 

As uncomfortable as it is for you to face reality head on, have to cut connections you held dearly or engage in some communal soul-searching and frank conversations – I assure you it is nothing in comparison to what the woman had to suffer, who is now carrying the trauma and repercussions with her of what was once an innocuous person and a safe Jewish space and who will keep being reminded of her personal horror and have to work through it over and over again. Because our communities prefer to prioritize the integrity of the male ego above all else. 

The narrow-mindedness of men to be able to see beyond their own limited senseless warped horizon – the result of centuries of crushing supremacy that has kept their brains in a state of chronic underdevelopment – is laughable, expected and breath-taking all at once. This boyish childlike behaviour of refusing to comprehend that a step towards equality ultimately benefits everyone is so infuriating to me at times, that I would happily have it out with you on the playground and bash your head against your beloved goalpost. Can’t say I didn’t already do that when I was but a young Jewish school girl… But even then I remember feeling ogled by other boys and that rage taking on a sexualized undertone that there was no way to escape from.

The narrow-mindedness of men to be able to see beyond their own limited senseless warped horizon – the result of centuries of crushing supremacy that has kept their brains in a state of chronic underdevelopment – is laughable, expected and breath-taking all at once.

No matter where you try to turn as a woman, you are sex. I raise my voice, I demand what is mine, I rebel against the norm – I am branded as a feisty thing that really just wants to be dominated by the cholent cocks around me. I play nice, I appease, I keep my mouth shut – I am the girl next door, harbouring an inner sex beast waiting to be unleashed for your pleasure. But god forbid women express an ounce of sexual desire. Lock that up and double up on that tzniut^[2] tent. 

Everything is about sex. Except sex, sex is about power. 

No safe haven in the synagogue, in the boardroom, in the bedroom, at the kiddush club. Don’t come to me with your performative harbor of the Rosh Chodesh Ladies group. Or the yearly acknowledgement of how Esther, Ruth and co. are the true heroines of our Jewish history and continuity. No shit Sherlock! The only reason you, your community and the history as it stands exists is because of women. Because we were there since week one, having to endure your shit and righting your wrongs. And don’t you dare pin my girls Lilith and Eve against each other. Look in the mirror first. And then dig yourself a hole.

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Valeria Solanstein