I'm actually aware of this

Tali — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 05:02:37 -0600

I'm actually aware of this interpretation of the word, Lurker. But if that were the meaning of what the woman said, then the sentence would be meaningless:
"The whole of a woman is nakedness" doesn't have that air of rebellion. She feels naked, and so she covers herself. While "The whole of a woman is genitalia" means, I'm a walking seduction and so I must cover myself. (This also resonates with the assumption held by many orthodox religious Jews that a woman's sexuality is a man's stumbling block.)

Nakedness, not genitalia

Lurker — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 02:07:37 -0600

Regarding the quote in your title: The word "ערווה" in this context means "nakedness", not "genitalia".

“The whole of a woman is genitalia.”

Tali — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 13:05:35 -0600

A strange, Jewish women's cult has popped up in rural Israel.

Israel has very remote separation of religion and state. As a citizen of Israel, I find women's issues very troubling, in regards to the religious community. Jewdism has a long history of covering up their women, but the majority of Israel has long forgotten religion's strict, by the book, implementation.
However, the more religious minority keeps up these old traditions of overzealous separation of sexes. As if a man and women need protection from the natural instincts of lust. These warped opinions make it so I, a secular woman, cannot be seated next to a religious man, on the bus. This man would rather stand up, the whole hour and a half commute, than sit next to me, for fear of lust!

The latest news, as I have read in Israel's Ha'Aretz, tells of a strange, Jewish women's cult that has popped up in rural Israel. This cult is led by a Rabanit (=A female Rabi. In Hebrew the term means a wife of a Rabi, and doesn't indicate the woman is a Rabi or schooler, herself), Bruria Keren, and abides by an extremely strict dress code of chastity, reminiscent of Muslim women. A religious woman must dress chastely, with shirt sleeves covering her elbows and a skirt down to her ankles. An extremely religious woman may sport a wig over her real hair, as her hair is “an instrument of seduction”. Keren's women must cover their faces completely, with a shawl.
“The whole of a woman is genitalia. It is forbidden for a man, other than your husband to see you.”
Says one of Keren's earnest students and assistant.

These women are actually rebels, in their own society, as they are acting in defiance of their husbands. They are also much like a regular women's club, as they laugh together and exchange sowing tips and family woes. Ironically, they find they can escape their stifling lifestyle, by taking on this extreme dress-code, which challenges their husbands wishes.

Dr. Elisheva Baumgarten of Gender Studies of Bar-Ilan University says that this rebellion is not new to religious women, but usually they had no support of the Rabis, so it never amounted to much. In this case, though, Baumgarten fears, this may backfire on the religious women's population as a whole. If men except this change in their wives, the Rabis support is soon to follow and that may just obligate the rest of religious women.

As a citizen of a country that doesn't separate religion from state, I fear the infiltration of these distorted ideas into my safe secular bubble. I'll go further by saying, I'd rather Israel be a nudist colony, before I'd wear a shawl over my face.

On another note: When Keren's disciple says: “The whole of a woman is genitalia.” I must ask the question of how powerful she finds her sexuality to be. Not even Sharon Stone, at the hight of her career (“Basic Instinct”), would have dared make that claim! ;)

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I'm actually aware of this

Nakedness, not genitalia

“The whole of a woman is genitalia.”

A strange, Jewish women's cult has popped up in rural Israel.