Where are the men?

I wish to state my disagreement with your feature article on feminism and the Jewish community (“Who stood at Sinai?” February 6). Contrary to article’s premise, there have been some negative effects in the Jewish community.

First of all, partly because of feminist deprecation of child rearing, we have shrinking numbers in the Jewish community. More and more Jews are choosing not to have children; if you exclude the modern and charedi Orthodox communities, the numbers are even worse. In discussing the triumph of feminism within most of the Jewish community, this is a problem that should be discussed.

Secondly, in the world of egalitarian services, there has been an exodus of men. More and more of these Shabbat services are becoming more and more female. As the joke goes, women go to synagogue and men go to play golf or tennis. If the only emphasis is on kos shel Miryam, women’s services, or breaking the glass ceiling for women, why should they come?

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It seems to me by failing to address any of these problems, the feminist has become as doctrinaire and fundamentalist as charedi Judaism. Indeed, my question to the author is whether feminism trumps everything, including a concern for the Jewish future.