Masorti Australasia
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rabbi-charles-simon/the-next-wave-of-jewish-feminism_b_1031092.html
This past month, filled with holiday and synagogue activity, provided me with the opportunity to visit a number of different shuls in the Northeast. I visited chavurot, small, medium and cathedral synagogues. For some reason, perhaps because the services were so long, I found myself counting and comparing the number of men and women who were actively participating. In one synagogue, the ratio of female Torah readers to male was two to one. In another, three to one and in yet another it was 50/50.
In each instance, I attended the Kiddush (after-prayer collation) where being a stranger made me fair game for every “greeter” or “welcomer.” It was as if I was wearing a sign on my head, which proclaimed, “I’m new here, so please introduce yourself.”
“Hello, I’m so-and-so, welcome to our community, who are you?” the designated community greeter would ask. Gratefully, I supplied my name, praised the service and asked my new friend to tell me about their community.
As the conversation progressed, I would ask my key question: “Do you have any idea what the relationship of men to women is on your synagogue board? Do you have any idea what percentage of your volunteers are men?”
At that moment, I noted that the energy in the festive room began to shift. The friendly conversation became strained — and then I would be introduced to the rabbi.
In most cases the rabbi recognized me and was able to answer my questions. Sixty to 70 percent of the people sitting on the synagogue board were women and most likely that number paralleled the percentage of female volunteers. But if 70 percent of the volunteers in the community were women, what did that say about the men?
