Swumdokli

Let us say I act in a certain way. When you ask me why, I answer "It is Swumdokli". You don't understand and say "Come again?" I say "Swumdokli". You think I am weird.

We live in a world where the concept of "kedusha" - holiness, is foriegn to even many religious Jews. They have no idea what it means to be holy, don't strive to live a life of holiness and often belittle those who do attempt live there lives according to the standards of kedusha. They say "Be religious but be normal" where normal means to be unholy.

What is keudusha? That is beyond the scope of this post and would require a full length book to scratch the surface. One basic aspect of kedusha is to be פרוש מן העריות - Separation of the genders. Anytime you have a mixture and mingling of the sexes it is by definition an unholy gathering.

Recently, an outspoken feminist made the news because a man didn't want to sit next to her on a plane and she was offended. This shouldn't be newsworthy. There is not a frum man or woman on the planet earth who wants to sit next to someone of the opposite gender. I spend much time on buses and never ever sit next to a woman and no woman ever sits next to me [my wife is a notable exception]. Nobody is offended. Everybody understands that there is a difference between the sexes. That is why nobody objects to a men's room and a women's room. That is an ontological fact of creation.

Every normal man is attracted to attractive women from time to time. To be attracted to a woman other than one's wife is Jewishly obscene. Sitting in close proximity to a woman increases the likelihood of dual attraction.

Feminists say "When will men stop looking at us as --- objects?" The answer of course is "The moment they cease being men...." Men aren't bad people. They are exactly the way Hashem made them. He created men with qualities that attract women and women with qualities that attract men. That is why we are all here today together with 7 billion others. The Good Lord knows what he is doing. If men were not physically excited by women then they would almost never marry. Women cost too much, take up too much time, and are much too complicated to be worth a man's while. The physical attraction sparks the interest and he suddenly overlooks the obstacles and strongly desires a relationship. It helps that she cooks, cleans and keeps home. When a woman wants to get a man interested in her, she knows that the secret is NOT to read a tome of Shakespeare and wow him with her literary analysis but to dress nicely [in the outside world this is done differently than in the religious world ודי למבין].

Ideally, as the relationship develops, a man sees a woman for who she really is - a G-dly soul, suffused with holiness, a sensitive being with many positive qualities and other traits which she must work hard to polish and perfect. But step one is not so holy. Sorry.....

A woman too wants a male in her life not only for his G-dly soul but also for his financial support, emotional strength and physical attraction. He can make her feel special in ways her roommate at Stern cannot. He can also help provide her with her most desired gift - children. This makes a man quite a desirable commodity in the lives of females.

To sum it up: Seperation between the genders is holy but so many people have no conception of holiness so they are quick to criticize [of course the separation must always be acheived with the highest level of sensitivity for the feelings of the women. I am not advocating offending people].

Men and women are often attracted to each other. This may not be denied. There are seven billion proofs to this:-).