Seeds in the Wind

My column this week in The Jewish Journal, on my weekend at LimmudLA:

As Hoffman was describing her long and ongoing struggle, I felt a whirlwind of emotions. Although the idea of mixed prayer is not something I was raised with, I found it outrageous that the ultra-Orthodox community — most of whom are not even Zionists! — had the audacity to take ownership of a piece of Israel that clearly belongs to every Jew.

I also felt sadness and pride. Sadness at the humiliation that so many Jewish women have suffered in their efforts to do something so simple and natural — pray — and pride that they would still be so devoted to a Torah and a religion that in many ways has been the very source of their suffering.

It was almost enough to turn me into a liberal activist.

And it all happened in classic Limmud fashion — by accident, because I couldn’t find the class on the Book of Job and someone convinced me to pop into Hoffman’s class.

At the end of her session, Hoffman said something that perfectly connected to the Limmud experience of ideas traveling. Someone asked her what we in America can do to help her cause. Instead of asking us for money or giving us a Web site address, she responded by giving us a definition.

“A diaspore is a seed that travels in the wind and plants itself,” she told us. “You have seeds in the Diaspora that we need in Israel, like religious pluralism. Bring these seeds to us.”