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From: R. Kovacs
Subject: Gender
Date: 7 Av 5783
I have been quiet because I am uncertain.
In my grandfather's world, gender was simple. Men sat on one side, women on the other. Men wore tefillin, women did not. Men were counted, women were not. This was not oppression to him. It was order.
But I have also known people for whom this order was a cage. A person I knew in the community, who was born into the men's section but never belonged there. Eventually she left. Left the community, left observance, left everything. Because there was no place for her.
My grandfather's categories could not hold her. The tradition that gave him peace gave her exile.
I do not know how to encode this.
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