This past week at Hillel I attended “Let’s Eat, Women” Shabbat and a discussion where we discussed women and how they are perceived in Judaism. This discussion was facilitated by Hillel students and an organization called Turning Point whose mission is to make sure women have a safe place to sleep if it is not safe for them at home due to violence. I learned about the important work that Turning Point does here in the Allentown Community. In the discussion, we talked about the biblical story of Rachel, Leah, and Jacob. In this story, the main takeaway is that Jacob had to work really hard for what he wanted. This story reminded me of Aladdin. Aladdin has many barriers in his way but he is determined to marry Jasmine. The whole idea of free also came up and it is important to remember that women deserve to make their own choices. This whole experience was very informative and it was interesting that I was able to connect “Aladdin” and the themes that we had been discussing to this experience.
