Journal 3 in 2003
Bezugspunkte: Europa / Israel / USA

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Alice Shalvi
POWER AND RESPONSIBILITY: The Israeli Perspective

Israel is unlike the other countries in which Jews currently reside in a number of ways that bear directly on our topic.

Firstly, it is a country which, since its establishment 55 years ago, has been in almost constant danger of attack or even actually engaged in armed conflict with one or more of its Arab neighbours. At present it is also an occupying power in control of over 1 million Palestinians.

Secondly, it is a country in which 18-year-olds, both male and female, are - with the exception of the Arab and ultra-Orthodox Jewish citizens - conscripted for military service for a period of at least two years (3 in the case of men). Men then serve in the reserves until the age of 45. However, within this framework of compulsory military service there is a vast difference between men and women, in that women are not expected to participate in actual combat. (This despite the fact that they actually train the men for combat duty!) As a result, fatal casualties (21,500 since 1948) are almost exclusively male. In other words, men die for their country; women do not. Israel's war heroes - both those who survive and those who do not - are male. Furthermore, the masculine ideal is that of the courageous warrior, the ????. It is an ideal to which most young men aspire and which most of the populace admire. (cf. Ezer Weizman, when he was commander of the Israeli Air Force: "The best (men) go to be pilots; the best (women) go to the pilots.")

The impact of the gender differentiation in military service, coming in late adolescence at a crucial time in the formation of character and the defining of life goals, is incalculably far-reaching. It impacts both on the development of the respective self-image of young men and young women and on the formation of the image of each in the eyes of the opposite sex. It undoubtedly contributes to a general perception that men are more valuable and hence deserve greater power and influence in society.

To this gendering of societal rôles via the military we have to add Judaism's traditional gendering of rôles and functions, which follows the model established in the Book of Genesis after the first act of human disobedience. Woman's rôle is to serve as helpmeet, wife, mother, homemaker; men are the bread-winners. Even when married women engage in employment outside the house, they are almost invariably the secondary income-earners. Because home-makers are not income-generators, their status in a society which values people according to their contribution to the Gross National Product is invariably inferior to that of men.

Although women undoubtedly have potential and often actual power in the home, this is limited in comparison with that of the men who control the country's fiscal resources and who also fill the majority of government-related priorities, from Prime Minister down. Significantly, a man's military record is often the key to his ascent to political power - and this, as we have seen, is a path closed to women.

Women who are dissatisfied with the current situation and the primacy of military considerations, values and criteria, have two options: they can either strive to be like men, demand an equal rôle in the military and attain power by this method or they can "opt out" of the military mode. The first course of action has indeed been adopted, for example, in the case of Alice Miller, whose appeal to the Supreme Court resulted in women being accepted for pilot training. Since the late 1980s, more military occupations have been opened to women - the result of defense needs rather than a growing belief in the virtues of equality. As a result, there are more women in senior ranks, though none higher than Brigadier-General and only 3 at that rank.

However, women on the whole are not anxious to become military heroes, preferring to find alternative routes to power and influence via higher education, through the free professions (particularly law) and in local and national politics. In all of these, there are now far more women than there were 5 or 10 years ago. As judges, professors and legislators women have significantly impacted on the status of women in general and on society at large. Indeed, they have perceived it as their responsibility to improve the status of women and to serve as mentors and rôle models for younger women.

Even more significant, however, are the peace movements initiated by or dominated by women: Peace Now, the Women's Coalition for Peace, Machsom Watch, the Movement for the Civil-ization of Israel, which encourages and supports the "refuseniks," Women in Black, etc. Their patience and persistence are exemplary. They demonstrate regularly - Women in Black for 14 years already - undaunted by verbal or physical abuse. They enter the Occupied Territories to extend help with harvesting crops. They maintain telephone contacts with the "other side." They attend frequent dialogue meetings on neutral territory. They have won international recognition and acclaim and they will not desist from their efforts until peace is achieved. They are widely credited with having compelled the Israeli government to withdraw from Lebanon. One can only hope that they will be equally successful in bringing about a peaceful settlement between Israel and the P.A. - something that may result from a mass movement of refusal to serve in the Occupied Territories on the one hand, and a readiness to forgo terrorism on the other.

What is remarkable about women's mode of operation is their creation of coalitions. In other words, they are prepared to share both power and responsibility. No one group seeks to attain credit or glory. Moreover, they claim to speak not only for women but for all peace-loving and peace-seeking citizens on both sides. They seek to persuade both the powers that be and the "man in the street" that theirs is the desirable path.

Is all this Jewish? I believe it is. Firstly, these women seek peace and justice. Their goals are in accord with the noble vision of our great prophets. Furthermore, their method - of coalition-building, of sisterhood, of non-hierarchical decision-making and their courage are all, I believe, comparable not only to the ways of Ruth and of Esther, but also to the methods of the Daughters of Zelophad, who together confronted Moses and achieved, through God's intervention, the heritage which was their due.

Significantly, women in coalition - ICAR - are also now impacting on women's status in the rabbinical courts. With a confidence gained from greater knowledge of Torah and Jewish law, they have infiltrated such vital institutions as the religious courts, the committee that appoints the Chief Rabbis and the disciplinary committee that evaluates dayanim.

As rabbis, teachers and spiritual leaders they are bringing about much-needed change not only in the rabbinical establishment but in the average Israeli's conception of what constitutes Judaism and Jewish religion.

Knowledge is power. By accepting the responsibility of attaining that knowledge women are finally also attaining a power which does not entail the oppression of others but which is a generally liberating force in society at large.