nettime's_yes_women(?!)_spam_kr!k!t(?!) on Wed, 30 Mar 2005 15:29:08 +0200 (CEST)


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<nettime> JEWISH WOMEN WATCHING HOAX STIRS UP JTS CELEBRATION OF WOMEN RABBIS


  [orig From and To: Jewish Women Watching <jww@jewishwomenwatching.com>.]


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Jewish Women Watching at 347-393-2307 or
jww@jewishwomenwatching.com

JEWISH WOMEN WATCHING HOAX STIRS UP JTS CELEBRATION OF WOMEN RABBIS
Conservative Movement Angrily Disavows Message of Equity and
Non-Discrimination

New York, NY (March 30, 2005) -- Jewish Women Watching (JWW), the anonymous
collective of feminist rabble rousers, has claimed responsibility for
infiltrating last night's Jewish Theological Seminary of America (JTS)
event celebrating twenty years of women as Conservative Jewish rabbis.
Unsuspecting attendees at a public panel discussion entitled "A Movement
Transformed: Women's Ordination and Conservative Judaism" enthusiastically
greeted a press advisory announcing JTS's plan to accomplish gender and
sexual equity in the Conservative Movement by the year 2010.  The press
advisory was a fake created by Jewish Women Watching.

"JTS has been talking for so long about their intention to fully
incorporate women in the rabbinate, we thought they might just need some
creative thinkers to figure out a plan to make it happen," said JWW's Adah
Menken. The three-step plan detailed in the press advisory committed the
Conservative Movement to ending exclusion of gays and lesbians from the
rabbinate, closing the $10,000+ pay gap between male and female rabbis,
and dismissing non-egalitarian synagogues from its roster. "If JTS had
wanted to claim the plan and commit to the actions outlined in it, JWW
would have been happy to step back and let them take the credit," said
Clara Lemlich, a JWW member.

In reality, the panel's moderator dissociated JTS from any proposal to
comprehensively embrace egalitarianism and equity. "The Conservative
Movement has a lot of chutzpah to celebrate 20 years of women's ordination
when they continue blatantly sexist and homophobic practices in the
rabbinate," said JWW's Sophie Tucker. "It's time for JTS to match action
to their rhetoric."

 # # #

To view the fake press advisory and JWW's candid assessment of the
Conservative Movement's rhetoric, go to:
http://www.jewishwomenwatching.com/actions/twofaces/twofaces.php

Jewish Women Watching aims to rouse the public to challenge and change the
sexist and other discriminatory practices in the American Jewish
community. We use biting satire and real-life facts to criticize our
community's narrow-minded priorities. Jewish Women Watching remains
anonymous to focus attention on the issues - not ourselves. For more
information, visit our web site at www.jewishwomenwatching.com

--------------------------------


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