A clandestine undertaking on behalf of Israel, the Jets and the Jews.

 
Gary Rosenblatt's Response to Wendy Shalit

In his column in this week's Jewish Week, Gary Rosenblatt, supporting Tova Mirvis, takes issue with Wendy Shalit's original Times piece. Rosenblatt writes that "I know what it feels like to be marginalized, based on religious observance (or alleged lack thereof) rather than substantive argument." Yet, he then goes after Shalit on grounds related to her religious observance, rather than substantive argument, writing:

"Part of the problem, I suspect, is that Shalit, in her own religious development, went from being a largely uninvolved Reform Jew to a fervently Orthodox baalat teshuvah, skipping a big chunk of modern and central Orthodox life along the way, which makes her - to use her terms - an outsider even when she thinks she's an insider."

I'm not sure why this argument is really relevant, though Rosenblatt is not the first to have made this point. In any event, it is not accurate. During the period that she was a major media figure, Shalit was gradually becoming more observant and only years later went to learn in Israel. It's not true that she suddenly "went from being a largely uninvolved Reform Jew to a fervently Orthodox baalat teshuvah."
posted on 2/17/2005