There’s a principle in Judaism that you should try to judge someone for the good. And in the defense of Adina Sash, AKA Flakbush Girl, I think the one thing you can say about her is that she has made an effort to promote the mitzvah of Lefne Iver low-titin Mirchol. This is in Vayikra, Leviticus.
And what that means is you shall not put a stumbling block before the blind. What she is trying to do is to warn women of the dangers to their freedom associated with the current state of Jewish marriage. She feels that people don’t know and she wants to warn them.
So far so good. Here’s the problem. When you put yourself out there and you say this is such a bad situation in Judaism that we now need to, God forbid, tell young girls to show their skin to commit adultery, all sorts of evil things to intermarry.
And if you don’t do these things or agree to these things, you’re a domestic abuse enabler. These are things that Adina Sash is saying. If you object to my tactics, you enable domestic abuse.
This crosses a line between reasoned advocacy and literal insanity. That’s the first thing. The second thing is when your case studies are provably wrong, they’re provably wrong, and you’re chasing around men who haven’t done anything and you turn their lives into absolute hell and you stick to that line because you don’t want to look bad.
That also crosses a line. You can’t do these things. Now again, in Sash’s defense, I believe that the rabbunim have not done their part to promote the solutions that are available.
I still hear about the prenup. If you sign it, you’re not committed to marriage. This is complete nonsense.
I think the rabbunim should denounce her tactics. I hope she does Tshuva, and if she doesn’t, I do think she should be excommunicated.
Writing by Dr. Dannielle Blumenthal 