The Default

Newsletter July 22, 2024 Together, we're #keepingitsacred...

I recently received a link to a TV commercial featuring actor John Cena asking people to close their eyes and imagine the average American.  

And the first fact he stated after asking people to do this was that the average American is a woman- 51% of the population. So, why did many of us imagine, in our mind’s eye, a male American? In short: because we live in a patriarchal world where men are thought of as the default gender and women, non-binary, trans and gender queer folks are considered the special cases. 

Take the idea of a rabbi. Why, when describing a rabbi, a male is described  as a “rabbi", but a female rabbi is described with the added description of being a "woman rabbi," and a trans rabbi is described as a "trans rabbi"? Why is the default male? Why do men rabbis get to just be called “rabbis”?

Women and genderqueer and nonbinary folks have been marginalized in language but also socially, legally and politically. 

Stunningly, in this week’s Torah portion, the 5 daughters of Zelophehad make the case that they should be able to inherit fron their father- that they should not be discriminated against or marginalized based on their gender, since sons of Zelophehad would have easily been bequeathed the inheritance. They are clearly being treated differently because of their gender. 

Stunningly, Moses agrees to take their case before God who, in an act of justice, agrees that they should inherit. God moves these women out of the margins and back to the center of their own family life. 

Yesterday, like back in 2016, the United States moved from having two male frontrunners for president, to having a man and a woman at the top of their party tickets as current Vice President Kamala Harris was endorsed as a viable presidential-elect. And with this act, women were placed back at the center of American political life. 

Was President Joe Biden waiting for the week of this Torah portion to announce his resignation from the race and to endorse Harris? I’m sure not. But all of these circumstances from the ancient texts to the happenings of political life today bring us again to ponder the placement of women and nonbinary, genderqueer and trans folks in Jewish life, in political life, in the life of our economy and families and in science and beyond. 

It isn’t Mother’s Day. It isn’t women’s history month. It’s just a random Monday. But it’s always a good day to consider who is centered. It’s always a good day to challenge ourselves to think about the “default person” and start challenging ourselves to see more clearly. 

This is how we’re keeping it sacred. 

Together, we’re keeping it sacred….

Rabbi Heather Miller

Founder, Keeping It Sacred

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