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<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000
size=2>From: "Eli Turkel" <A
href="mailto:eliturkel@gmail.com">eliturkel@gmail.com</A><BR><BR>>>I still
do not understand why wives generally do not light chanukah candles<BR>according
to the Ashkenazi custom that each person lights separately.... <BR><BR><BR>2. If
ishto kegufo why can;t the wife light even lechachtila for the husband
and<BR>why if he is absent does he need to appoint her as a shaliach?
<<<BR><BR></FONT></DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>>>>></DIV>
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<P>In today's Huffington Post, there is an article, "Religious Enough for You?
Women Light the Holiday," by Leora Tanenbaum. She makes an
impassioned plea for Orthodox women to take control of their own lives and
light Chanuka candles. </P>
<P>"Most Jewish women in the liberal denominations (Conservative, Reform,
Reconstructionist), as well as in modern Orthodox communities, are delighted to
light the candles (even though this means more melted wax to contend with
later). But there remain too many holdouts who prefer to have a man or even a
boy over the age of 13 light on their behalf. "</P>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><A
href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/leora-tanenbaum/religious-enough-for-you_b_152146.html">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/leora-tanenbaum/religious-enough-for-you_b_152146.html</A></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Read her arguments and you will see that in today's day and age, for
women to take upon themselves the lighting of Chanuka lights -- if
they do not already have a family mesorah to do so -- is a symbol of leftist
politics rather than religious devotion, and should be studiously avoided
by Torah-loyal women. When she sees a picture of a woman lighting the
menorah, Leora thinks, "There goes a strong, brave woman who refuses to be
subjugated to the patriarchy anymore and will not allow her husband to be the
boss of her."</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Beware of buying into the feminist critique of Judaism, which makes a
traditional Jewish home a place of oppression for women and turns Jewish men
into bullies and thugs. If you -- any woman -- have in your heart
even a little bit of a feeling that the Torah is not fair to women or that
different roles for men and women imply that G-d is unjust to women or that
Chazal were unjust, you should davka avoid taking a mitzva and using it to make
a political statement. If you want to be closer to Hashem, do something
that does not have political implications. There is no shortage of mitzvos
and acts of chessed for women to do.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>As for a woman lechatchila lighting the menorah on behalf of the whole
family, /instead/ of the husband, that would up-end the natural assumption that
a husband in the home is primus inter pares. It would be a denigration of
the husband's position. Jockeying for power between husbands and wives is
definitely not a recipe for sholom bayis. </DIV></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT lang=0 face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF"
PTSIZE="10"><STRONG></STRONG><BR><B>--Toby Katz<BR>=============<BR></B>"If you
don't read the newspaper you are uninformed; <BR>if you do read the newspaper
you are misinformed."<BR>--Mark Twain<BR><BR><B>Read *Jewish World Review* at <A
href="http://jewishworldreview.com/">http://jewishworldreview.com/</A></B></B><BR><BR></FONT><FONT
lang=0 face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF"
PTSIZE="10"><B><BR><BR>--------------------------</FONT></B></DIV></FONT><BR><BR><BR><DIV CLASS="aol_ad_footer" ID="a5969e4bda08cc6f9ca137e2c3a0eb80"><FONT style="color: black; font: normal 10pt ARIAL, SAN-SERIF;"><HR style="MARGIN-TOP: 10px">One site keeps you connected to all your email: AOL Mail, Gmail, and Yahoo Mail. <a href="http://www.aol.com/?optin=new-dp&icid=aolcom40vanity&ncid=emlcntaolcom00000025">Try it now</a>.</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>