Mine!
This photo and extended caption from the New York Times (free registration required) is somewhat interesting and somewhat inspiring. It's also somewhat about men, but I've never been one to turn down a chance to ogle some shirtless men.
I'm very possessive about mikva'ot. I feel like men have been given so many mitzvot - tefilin, tzitzit, minyan, learning Torah (among others) - and we have been given so few. Yes, when the Temple stood mikva'ot were used by both women and men for ritual purification. But in those days many things were different, and I get the impression that gender roles were both more and less polarized. It's rather irrelevant today, as the Temple is not there and ritual purity for men is basically a nonissue. Today, only women are required to use a mikvah. Tumah and taharah are practical concerns directly for married women, and for their husbands only by extension.
When Orthodox women try to edge into the world of "men's mitzvot," they are often told to be happy with their roles as women, to appreciate the differentiation between the sexes and to first seek meaning in those mitzvot which are incumbent upon them before venturing into the world of the voluntary. Why, then, do these same men feel the need to share in our special mitzvah?
Comments
Do you feel possessive about dishes that are toveled? Does it bother you if men tovel dishes rather than women? They are going to the mikva for different purposes than the women are. The mikva itself is not the unique aspect of the mitzva for women; women's mitzva is "v'sofra lah."
I hear you, Michaela, but Elat Chayyim is a "Renewal" community that promotes an egalitarian approach to Judaism. It seems that the Elat Chayyim folks realize that egalitarianism cuts both ways: you can't say that women should be able to do everything that men do and then reserve some rituals just for women. It's mistake that proponents of egalitarianism often make, and in a way, the converse of your argument. (Of course this can't be taken to the logical extreme: women's mikvah use is related to female biology, so the way that men perform the ritual has to be somewhat different.)
The NYT caption is actually rather odd considering the context. It describes the Orthodox/ traditional Conservative approach to mikvah use (obligatory for women, non-obligatory for men), rather than the more liberal approach of Renewal Judaism, which would not use the language of obligation in a ritual context.
nona, dishes/utensils aren't people. The obligation to tovel your pots is incumbent on everyone. And it doesn't involve dunking your body and calling yourself "pure."
Ruchama, I was thinking more about the caption and less about the photo and its context. I was thinking about the men who use the mikvah every Friday, or every morning. About the ones who turn these dips into informal "Men's Club" meetings. About the guy Shifra talks about here, whose presence is making her uncomfortable (or so it seems to me, reading her post). About the men (not necessarily Shifra's mikvah-man) who go on and on about gender roles and tell us to be happy with what we have to do, to perfect ourselves in the required areas before looking for something extra (meaning, something that belongs to "the men") - and then go and take on a "something extra" for themselves.
I'm not saying these men are doing the wrong thing or the right thing, that they sould stop or they shouldn't stop. I'm just frustrated with the concept, and I wanted an outlet.
Your point is perfectly legit. I just thought it was worth pointing out the context of the photo, and mentioning the flip-side of your argument.
"nona, dishes/utensils aren't people. The obligation to tovel your pots is incumbent on everyone. And it doesn't involve dunking your body and calling yourself "pure.""
Of course. My point is that what's unique about women's t'vila isn't that they dunk their bodies; what's unique is that afterwards the woman is pure. In that respect (that the tvila accomplishes a change in halachic status), the tvila of dishes is actually more similar to women's tvila than men's tvila is.
If you are looking for a unique mitzva on women, it's not tvila, it's the mitzva of v'sofra la.
The larger point you make seems to come from the impression that these men are borrowing something from women, but of course the Orthodox ones are not; they are borrowing practices from earlier periods of Jewish history that applied to men.
It's rather irrelevant today, as the Temple is not there and ritual purity for men is basically a nonissue.
Though according to those who have a kabbalistic view of the world and whose practice of Judaism largely stems from kabbalah, "purity" is very much an issue, and in their eyes they have a real need to use the mikvah on a regular basis.