Men are weak.
OK, some men are weak.
Powerful men are even weaker.
And God created woman, to stand beside a man, to be his strength, his inspiration, his partner.
In the beginning, it was Adam and Eve, just the two of them in the world; they would walk around Gan Eden naked and free.
Then they sinned. Suddenly they were embarrassed by each other’s bodies so they covered themselves with big leaves.
Bingo.
That’s where it all began.
The chaos, the beauty, the adrenaline of the endless story of attraction and difference between a man and a woman. This is what makes the world go round.
God instructed us with the mitzvah: go and multiply. God gave us clear directions on how to fulfill this mitzvah. We have the laws of family purity.
Thank God for that.
We are blessed for we have received clear directions on how to navigate and enjoy this mitzvah and turn it into something holy, special, pure.
Without these strict rules to be applied once married, we would be lost and wild. Sexual relations before marriage is not allowed.
Just look around you.
When there is no Torah applied, no fear of God, and no knowledge there is chaos.
Betrayal, sexual abuse, and promiscuity have existed always since the moment that Adam and Eve started to cover their bodies when they sinned.
It exists in all social circles and in all sectors of humanity, from the non-Jews to the most religious Jews.
Success and power usually play a big role in this game.
You can feel attracted, seduced, or forced by someone who has a lot of money, is famous or powerful, and do things that either you were forced to do and were too scared to walk away or you were trapped and threatened, or you weren’t aware right away but a sort of abuse had already begun.
It happens in Hollywood, see Harvey Weinstein. It allegedly happens in the elite circles like Jeffrey Epstein; and in religious sectors, see the allegations against Yehuda Meshi Zahav, and in the mainstream of Israeli naive children’s world of books and fantasy when über author and genius Chaim Walder, who was accused of having a second soul and mask he wore to scar and scare women and children forever.
SSSSHHHH, if you keep silent no one will know, and anyway, no one will believe you.
That’s the spirit.
Not only in the religious world, look at Hollywood, famous actresses who were scared to talk, for fear of being fired.
You must not talk about it, no one heard, no one saw but all knew from Weinstein to apparently Walder.
The difference is that in a place like Hollywood it seems like there is no God and there are no laws.
In the religious world, you think there is a God after all and there are laws.
Yes, there is a God, yet some “God-fearing men” are mistaken and think that they are God and that they make the rules.
When this happens, it creates disasters.
Hopefully, from now on after the Chaim Walder earthquake, things will change from the victim’s point of view.
THEY WILL not be scared to be silenced.
So many parties get hurt in this dangerous game of lust, abuse, secrecy and power.
No one comes out as a winner. Everyone involved is left in shatters.
Truth always comes out.
If we could all focus on the moment that a woman immerses herself in the holy waters of the mikveh when she becomes pure again for her husband, where she can now again have sexual relations with her partner, the love of her life, where she now has the power to create another human being. That is the moment where it all begins. When the woman comes up for air and she hears kasher being echoed to her by the supervisor in the mikveh, who then blesses her and helps her out of the ritual pool, the woman feels reborn, special, and beautiful.
Let’s go back to that.
I think of all the women betrayed so publicly by their husbands, I think when they went to the mikveh and sanctified their bodies for them, I think of the victims who were abused, their bodies turned into a horrible game for others to pleasure, the scars in their souls that will never go away.
I think of the men so weak and so selfish to abuse, to betray, to lie and to cheat.
Let’s go back to purity and Torah.
We were given a gift, if there are laws to be followed it’s only for our best, when will we learn that the Torah with all its millions of prohibitions and explanations is for making our world the best it can be.
There is so much beauty in the world, so much love, and respect.
All those who abuse, who rape body and soul, who cheat, lie and play, pay the price in the end.
No one gets away, all those who thought were above the law, were too powerful, or too talented, will face their day.
Either in the court here below or in the court up above.
There is no place for God down below, though, if we keep shutting our eyes to the truth, if we cover up in the name of “respect” and destroy lives on the way. When we silence kids because we are scared to hurt powerful adults, when we protect the strong and mean and destroy the weak and the good.
And we say it’s all in the name of God.That’s not my God.Most men are weak.We need to be strong. Us, women.For them.For us.For our children.Amen. ■
The writer is from Italy, lives in Jerusalem and heads HadassahChen Productions. A director and performer, she also heads the Keren Navah Ruth Foundation, in memory of her daughter, to assist families with sick children. hjm74@hotmail.com