Frum Comic Silenced Because Lesbian

[MamaJunebug]

Frum, funny & forbidden

As a student of both Judaism and Christianity, I'll never understand the extremists.  I was just beginning to wrap my mind around the importance of keeping kosher for the most-observant of the Jewish population when this story came across my screen.

The comic is an observant Orthodox Jew, a lesbian, family-friendly in her shtick and only performs for all-women audiences.

Yet the HRIC* have gotten her booted from two major gigs by telling the venues that they will lose their kosher certifications if they allow her to perform.

I just do not get it.  At all.

 

*Head Rabbis In Charge

[Lisafer]

I know approximately zero about Judaism, but this is frustrating and sad. She sounds like a lovely, respectful person. I wish I could go to one of her shows. 

[HarryPotterFan]

As a Jew I feel like this kind of assholery goes against everything I was taught about Jewish values. 

Extremism sucks 

[Beermeet]

When will humans stop this complete nonsense? That poor woman.  So cruel. 

[Terrie]

Interesting that they were able to find several rabbis who said this had no basis. Not Jewish, but knowing human nature, it feels like the sort of person who potentially decides to work in kosher certification is the petty, power hungry type who likes to throw around their weight and pretend they're more important than they really are. Admin assistants and bureaucrats are also popular options for such people. The kind who will measure your lawn to see if it's the "correct" length if you have an HOA or a local ordinance.

[HarryPotterFan]

14 hours ago, Terrie said:

Interesting that they were able to find several rabbis who said this had no basis. Not Jewish, but knowing human nature, it feels like the sort of person who potentially decides to work in kosher certification is the petty, power hungry type who likes to throw around their weight and pretend they're more important than they really are. Admin assistants and bureaucrats are also popular options for such people. The kind who will measure your lawn to see if it's the "correct" length if you have an HOA or a local ordinance.

A huge part of Torah study is debate and discussing your interpretations and interpretations of well-known rabbis/scholars, so it makes sense they can find rabbis who say this have no basis and have different views. I’m glad those rabbis expressed that.

[KeshetParparNesicha]

Oh my, I know this woman. She taught several of my friends in elementary school, and I went to one of her shows back when she was still in the closet. Then she suddenly disappeared from the Orthodox women's entertainment scene. I wondered what had happened to her.

For those wondering how a bunch of food certifiers justify interfering with the restaurant's entertainment, a lot of kosher agencies feel that they are not just food certifiers but are actually community institutions who have a right to set standards of general conduct. For instance, there's a super-stringent organization in Israel (Badatz Eida Chareidis) that won't certify perfectly kosher chewing gum because they believe chewing it is unrefined and immodest. Further muddying the waters, many kosher certification agencies, like the OU, CRC, and Star-K, actually are community institutions.

I don't agree with the organizations' decision or their tactics, but I 100% understand why it played out this way.

[elliha]

On 12/14/2018 at 6:12 PM, MamaJunebug said:

Frum, funny & forbidden

As a student of both Judaism and Christianity, I'll never understand the extremists.  I was just beginning to wrap my mind around the importance of keeping kosher for the most-observant of the Jewish population when this story came across my screen.

The comic is an observant Orthodox Jew, a lesbian, family-friendly in her shtick and only performs for all-women audiences.

Yet the HRIC* have gotten her booted from two major gigs by telling the venues that they will lose their kosher certifications if they allow her to perform.

I just do not get it.  At all.

 

*Head Rabbis In Charge

Is there any other way to access information about this since they denied me access to the page due to GDPR.

[KeshetParparNesicha]

1 hour ago, elliha said:

Is there any other way to access information about this since they denied me access to the page due to GDPR. 

https://www.jta.org/2018/12/12/culture/a-lesbian-comedian-did-not-want-to-become-famous-by-tussling-with-rabbis

Oh, and here is the comedian's statement:

 

[MamaJunebug]

Made my day to see how well she’s handling this. Thank you, @KeshetParparNesicha!

[zeppelincommander]

So all the food-processing factories I've worked in were kosher-certified for at least some products, but the general process seemed lax.  The official person (rabbi?) would come by once a year and sign some paperwork.  No inspections, no reviewing sanitation practices, nada.  Not in a single facility.  It seemed way too little for such an important deal.  These were major producers, too, who sold across the country (sometimes exports too).

[KeshetParparNesicha]

@zeppelincommander That's weird. Do you know what agency it was?

[MamaJunebug]

I just gotta kvell here for a minute. One of the Junior Junebugs worked where a Rabbi with the local agency came around to make inspections. Kippah, tallith, everything but earlocks.  Her (bad) boss - a woman - would rush to greet him and shake his hand before turning him over to the Jr,JB, who would greet him warmly but NEVER offer her hand. She knew better. The Rabbi was always polite to the clueless boss but was most at-ease working with my daughter. I was so proud. 

That’s all. Proud mom mo’. ☺️

[SusanAtTheLastBattle]

On 12/20/2018 at 10:02 AM, MamaJunebug said:

I just gotta kvell here for a minute. One of the Junior Junebugs worked where a Rabbi with the local agency came around to make inspections. Kippah, tallith, everything but earlocks.  Her (bad) boss - a woman - would rush to greet him and shake his hand before turning him over to the Jr,JB, who would greet him warmly but NEVER offer her hand. She knew better. The Rabbi was always polite to the clueless boss but was most at-ease working with my daughter. I was so proud. 

That’s all. Proud mom mo’. ☺️

For a second I thought you meant that he came by to inspect that people were wearing their kippah and tallit correctly (... everything but their earlocks?? Invasive!) ?

Were he doing that, I would have been less polite!

[MamaJunebug]

5 hours ago, SusanAtTheLastBattle said:

For a second I thought you meant that he came by to inspect that people were wearing their kippah and tallit correctly (... everything but their earlocks?? Invasive!) ?

Were he doing that, I would have been less polite!

LOL! Always good to be clear and sometimes I’m opaque!!!