Class Year
2021
Document Type
Student Research Paper
Publication Date
2-2020
Department 1
Judaic Studies
Abstract
I stood there, or rather wobbled, standing on a plastic chair, peering over the division of a wall. Three feet away, I saw a boy reading from the Torah. There were men embracing, women cheering from across the wall, and rounds of applause on both sides. I stepped down from the chair and glanced at the sky. In my view, a large barrier towered over me, piercing the blue-- the Western Wall. My haze was then suddenly interrupted by a woman frantically mounting the chair I had previously been standing on. She was desperate to get a view of the boy on his Bar Mitzvah day. Frazzled, I redirected my focus to a new woman with dark hair. She looked as if she was trying to jump across the barrier that separated the men from the women. It was her son’s Bar Mitzvah day, and all she could do was watch from afar. All I could do was watch from afar because I am a woman.
Copyright Note
This is the author's version of the work. This publication appears in Gettysburg College's institutional repository by permission of the copyright owner for personal use, not for redistribution.
Recommended Citation
Farbstein, Tobi N., "Resisting the Tradition of Sexism" (2020). Georges Lieber Essay Contest on Resistance. 2.
https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/lieber/2
Comments
First place winner of the 2020 Georges Lieber Essay Content on Resistance.