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Or sign-in if you have an account.Orthodox Jewish women hold hands as they go for a swim in the Mediterranean Sea at a religious beach for women. Photo by Getty ImagesThe most consequential Jewish conversation of the moment is not taking place amid screaming protesters outside synagogues and other Jewish institutions. It is not concerned with a blood libel printed in the pages of the New York Times or blatant lies on social media. It is not obsessed about whether one can be an anti-Zionist without being an antisemite. In fact, it has little, if anything, to do with Israel at all.Enjoy the latest local, national and international news.Exclusive articles by Conrad Black, Barbara Kay and others. Plus, special edition NP Platformed and First Reading newsletters and virtual events.Unlimited online access to National Post.National Post ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword.Support local journalism.Enjoy the latest local, national and international news.Exclusive articles by Conrad Black, Barbara Kay and others. Plus, special edition NP Platformed and First Reading newsletters and virtual events.Unlimited online access to National Post.National Post ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword.Support local journalism.Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.Access articles from across Canada with one account.Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments.Enjoy additional articles per month.Get email updates from your favourite authors.Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.Access articles from across Canada with one accountShare your thoughts and join the conversation in the commentsEnjoy additional articles per monthGet email updates from your favourite authorsSign In or Create an AccountorRather, New Yorker Adina Sash, who goes by the name “FlatbushGirl” on her popular Instagram feed, has sparked a renewed debate about the Jewish concept of “agunah,” whereby a Jewish woman remains “chained” to a marriage so long as her husband refuses to issue the Jewish divorce document known as a “get.”This newsletter from NP Comment tackles the topics you care about. (Subscriber-exclusive edition on Fridays)By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc.We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try againAccording to Jewish law, divorced women may not remarry without a get document in hand. Many Orthodox and traditional Jewish women thus remain trapped long after their marriages have fallen apart, unable to move on with their lives and build new families.For centuries, rabbis have attempted to poke holes in this law, advocating for the social isolation of, and even physical violence against, recalcitrant men. Sash, herself, has been fighting for the rights of agunahs for some time now. In 2024, she publicly encouraged Jewish women to withhold sex from their husbands in an effort to bring awareness to the cause and effect change.Her new campaign invites Jewish women to take provocative selfies for publication on her Instagram account. It is a direct challenge to the religious establishment, and the message is clear: the agunah law must be struck down by any means necessary.Unsurprisingly, this is making massive waves in the Jewish community, especially among the Orthodox, where the concept of modesty (or at least female modesty) is a primary focus. Even if many are willing to admit that something must be done to ease the plight of agunahs, there is hesitancy about whether Sash is helping the cause or hurting it, and whether responding to one age-old law necessarily requires actively shunning another.What has fascinated me about this controversy is that there is really no significant angle to this matter that relates to Israel or antisemitism. It is a wholly internal debate. And, as a beleaguered Canadian Jew, this fact alone, regardless of the many opinions Sash has elicited, has brought me a measure of relief.Just as an agunah is trapped in circumstances beyond her control, the global Jewish community remains equally trapped in an October 7 mindset. For closing in on three years, we have thought about little else: the horror of that bloody day, the wars in its aftermath, the co-ordinated, relentless campaign of violent Jew hatred in our cities, the media and academia, not to mention the rash of misinformation disseminated daily on social media that is lapped up by haters and the uninformed.Of course Jews and their allies feel trapped by it all. How could we not when our very existence seems to be on the line?And yet, we must not allow ourselves to be fully enmeshed in an October 7 frame of reference any longer. After all, that is exactly what our enemies want — to trap us into constantly litigating the one thing they are obsessed with. We are playing into their game.No doubt, Jews need to be safe given what has happened and is continuing to happen, but it is not healthy for our community to act as if nothing else matters beyond October 7 and antisemitism. We have other work to do, and we can do it by ourselves, for ourselves.That doesn’t mean we should forget October 7 or not orient significant parts of our community infrastructure toward fighting against this manifestation of violent hatred. We are doing so, and will continue to fight against the masses who are threatening our way of life. But it does mean that we should once again make room in the conversation for other matters that inform our connection to Judaism.The timing for this shift in mindset couldn’t be more significant. On Thursday, Jews around the world will celebrate the holiday of Shavuot, which commemorates God’s handing over of the Torah to the Jewish people on Mount Sinai. In that story, the Jews failed at first, resorting to idolatry when they believed Moses had abandoned them. But God gave them a second chance to recalibrate and to grow.Shavuot is traditionally marked by all-night study. At synagogues and community centres throughout the country, many Jews will participate in conversation, the exchange of knowledge, the asking of questions (and the eating of cheesecake, the well-regarded staple food of the holiday) well into the early hours of the morning. We will return to Sinai, investigate the progress of Judaism through the centuries and consider what comes next.A traditional story about how God chose the Jews as the recipients of the Torah goes like this: God first went to every other group on earth to offer his seminal work, but each responded with questions: “Is murder really outlawed?” “What, we aren’t allowed to steal anymore!?” Eventually, after everyone else had turned God down, he offered the Torah to the Jews and their answer was simply, “We will do, and we will listen.”I used to have a problem with that response. After all, isn’t the Jewish way to debate and investigate, not to blindly follow? But now I think I understand it a bit better. It’s the doing that’s the most important thing. If we don’t actively further Judaism at every opportunity, what’s the point?There is always time for listening, for quiet contemplation, even for fear. But Jewish action is what counts most. Since October 7, it feels like we have been engaged in too much listening — especially to our critics — and not enough doing.We should be concerning ourselves with building new institutions of Jewish thought, new permutations of organized religion, new ideas to carry us forward as a people — because the message of Shavuot, like most Jewish festivals, is not simply that something seminal happened a long time ago, it’s that it is still happening now. If we lose our momentum, we lose one of our best traits.The agunah crisis may never be fully resolved, and neither may the situation in Israel or the violence and hate that is taking over our streets. We have to fight to make change, but we also have to move forward on our own, and stop giving extra oxygen to our enemies.It would be the most Jewish thing we can do right now, and to the severe detriment of those who seek to define who we are. The moment to start doing Judaism has arrived. It’s time to step outside the box and start living for ourselves again.National Post Join the Conversation This website uses cookies to personalize your content (including ads), and allows us to analyze our traffic. Read more about cookies here. By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.