Bess Myerson (women, religious, reject, Israel)

[manhattangirl]

I actually found while reading an article about Nina Davuluri.

This Week in History - Bess Myerson crowned first Jewish Miss America | Jewish Women's Archive

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Former "Miss America" Bess Myerson has maintained the emphasis on communal affairs that began with her year as a public figure. She ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination for the United States Senate in 1980 and then served as New York City Commissioner for Cultural Affairs.
Institution: The Miss America Organization




Just months after the shocking revelations of the Holocaust's devastation of European Jewry, Bess Myerson was crowned the first (and still only) Jewish Miss America on September 8, 1945.
Her victory was seen by many as a symbolic statement of America's post-war rejection of the crimes and prejudices that ravaged Europe as well as a representation of the vitality of the American Jewish community. Raised in a Jewish cooperative in the Bronx, Myerson was unfamiliar with the anti-Semitism that confronted her throughout the pageant. Myerson refused to adopt the suggested less-ethnic pseudonym, Beth Merrick. "It was the most important decision I ever made," she recalled. "It told me who I was, that I was first and foremost a Jew."
Myerson received a scholarship award accompanying her title, but she did not receive automatic acceptance. Three of five sponsoring companies withdrew their support from her post-pageant tour, and there was little demand for Myerson on the speaker circuit frequented by past winners. When an invitation to speak at a country club was revoked because of her religion, Myerson began to distance herself from the usual pageant scene, and instead began lecturing at schools and other venues about discrimination and the consequences of prejudice, under the sponsorship of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).



(She is still alive).

[iwishiwerethin]

Beth Merrick. "It was the most important decision I ever made," she recalled. "It told me who I was, that I was first and foremost a Jew."

If she considered herself foremost a Jew, why is she posing in her underwear?

[theflipflop]

I wonder if any of her grandchildren are Jewish? She sounds like a courageous and ambitious woman. Not exactly Torah values to pose in your underwear. But hey, maybe that wasn't what she was interested in.

[Pruzhany]

....was crowned the first (and still only) Jewish Miss America.....

She is wearing what she is wearing based on this comment. Again what this have to do with how Jewish is was?

[theflipflop]

Some Jews view everything thru the lenses of Torah, other Jews do not. A bas yisroel would never be seen wearing clothes like that in public. Not tznius. A non bas yisroel does what she wants, not what the Torah asks of her. That's pshat.

I do admire her desire to attempt to do the right thing by standing up for her "Jewishness." She seems ripe for doing t'shuva. Maybe she already has. Maybe that spark of Jewish pride translated in a desire to come closer to Hashem.

[Pruzhany]

Originally Posted by theflipflop

A bas yisroel would never be seen wearing clothes like that in public. Not tznius. A non bas yisroel does what she wants, not what the Torah asks of her. That's pshat.

Please enlighten us where in the Torah this is stated?

[theflipflop]

Originally Posted by Pruzhany

Please enlighten us where in the Torah this is stated?

We learn out most of the laws on modesty in Bereishis, and all the portions dealing with Sara. The meforshim have written tens of thousands of pages on the subject.

MOD CUT

[usuario]

Originally Posted by theflipflop

Some Jews view everything thru the lenses of Torah, other Jews do not. A bas yisroel would never be seen wearing clothes like that in public. Not tznius. A non bas yisroel does what she wants, not what the Torah asks of her. That's pshat.

I do admire her desire to attempt to do the right thing by standing up for her "Jewishness." She seems ripe for doing t'shuva. Maybe she already has. Maybe that spark of Jewish pride translated in a desire to come closer to Hashem.

Originally Posted by theflipflop

We learn out most of the laws on modesty in Bereishis, and all the portions dealing with Sara. The meforshim have written tens of thousands of pages on the subject.

MOD CUT

Glossary:
bat yisrael: (literally: daughter of Israel), a female Jewish person. TFF is saying that Bess Myerson is not Jewish despite the Torah definition that if your mother is Jewish, you are Jewish no matter what you do.

peshat: the plain meaning of a biblical verse, evident without reading commentaries.

tzniut: modesty, most commonly used to define acceptable clothing and humble behavior for women.

teshuva: repentance

Hashem: how Jews refer to God outside of ritual prayer, without using the Tetragrammaton.

Bereish-i-t: the first book of the Written Torah, known in English as "Genesis".

meforshim: commentators of Jewish religious texts

[Cephas40]

Originally Posted by manhattangirl

I actually found while reading an article about Nina Davuluri.

I'm showing my age but I remember her on I've Got A Secret on TV. Intelligent, sophisticated come to mind, always looked like a million dollars.