Day Three: Ask an Orthodox Jew

Here is the post: http://rachelheldevans.com/ask-an-orthodox-jew-response

After reading the post myself, several things stood out to me. According to this woman, Orthodox Jews don't take the whole Old Testament literally, only the Torah (law). If that is the case, then a lot of things in the OT can be left to personal interpretation, but the Torah is strictly held to. Well... as far as I know they don't stone people anymore, so I'm not sure what other things have been ignored as time has gone on. I thought the description of a woman's life was very interesting. The powerful Jewish wife and mother she described seemed nothing like the mousy women Paul references in the NT. Granted, it's still the woman's role to remain silent in church and leave such matters for the men to discuss (she even leaves a doctrinal question to be answered by her husband in this interview, which certainly illustrates a few things). I suppose "separate but equal" is a fairly accurate way to describe how this woman sees her standing as a woman, and she is happy for it remain that way. Personally, I find the idea that only men are allowed to be in positions of spiritual leadership to be unfair. Looking back at history, the general concept of "separate but equal" usually leads to being separate but not truly equal. Anyway, those were a few things that stood out to me. This series is extremely interesting! I have learned a great deal already, and I LOVE to learn.