The Public Intellectual Assignment #1

Name: Tyresse Turner 

Institution: University of Southern California 

Rabbi Danya RuttenBerg

       The paradox of religion and civil society being inseparable among public intellectuals still prevails in America. Rabbi Danya RuttenBerg is one of the influential rabbi’s in the United States. This scholar is vocal and social media and has also authored seven books on important societal topics. This essay looks into her early life and contributions in her career as an educator. There is a further analysis of how her contribution to public discourse illustrates the problem of being influenced by religion. The career of RuttenBerg and her works illustrate and amplify the issue of religion being inseparable from the public intellectuals in America. 

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       Rabbi Danya RuttenBerg was born in 1975 in Chicago. She was born in a Jewish Family and attended religious teachings in a synagogue in Chicago. She grew up in an environment that was full of Jews and this impacted on her spiritual life and gave her an identity. At some point during her early life, she claimed to have been an atheist. Upon completion of High School education, she went to Brown University where she did her undergraduate studies.

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     RuttenBerg took religious studies at Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies and was ordained in 2008.As she took her studies at Brown University she practiced aspects of Judaism and they included early morning rituals. The death of her mother was a significant event in her life as she claims that she started questioning some of the aspects of religion. Rabbi Danya RuttenBerg works as a lecturer at Tufts University.

She is also an author of several books of spirituality and religion. Some of her books includes “Nurture the Wow: Finding Spirituality in the Frustration” She has also written other books on religion, parenting and other aspects of life and society. 

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     RuttenBerg is an individual that I view as a public intellectual based on her influence of many young people in America. She has authored books that articulate religious ideas and social life. She has also contributed on blogs, which are read by thousands of her followers. On social media she also has a huge following, and she continues to voice her views and contribute towards public discourse.

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      RuttenBerg’s early background is rooted in Jewish religion. This means that religion had a profound influence on her from the early age.  She started participating in Jewish traditions as a young girl and this started impacting on her worldview. This has grown more into her higher education where she was involved in Jewish rituals that continue to impact on her views about spirituality and feminism. This implies that when she talks about feminism in America, she is more likely to be influenced by her religious views because they started impacting on her at an early age. 

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     RuttenBerg is an epitome of religious inspired feminism.  Her brand of feminism has been seen in her books and her social media posts.  She has demonstrated activism on various social issues that affect Americans. For instance, RuttenBerg has been vocal on the abortion debate in the United States using her Tweets. She seems to be in support of abortion rights and has been recorded championing for women to access abortion care in their states. 

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     Her commentary on marriage issues has also shown her feminism that is grounded on religious beliefs. In an interview, RuttenBerg argues that some of the Jewish marriage traditions tend to favor the husband than the wife and they can be equated to acquisition of slaves, animals or property by their masters.  She also argued that Jewish marriage traditions only recognize marriage in terms of the relationship between a man and a woman. The tradition of kiddushindoes not recognize same sex marriages. Her sentiments on such controversial topics are definitely influence by her religious background. This is why she can speak from an informed position about the weaknesses of her religion regarding the issue of marriage in the society.  However, it is worth noting that her feminism believes may be destructive in the society as warned in the essay on public intellectuals. 

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     When individuals like RuttenBerg comment on issues about marriage, their views are read my many people in the United States. She is therefore a public intellectual based on the manner in which she has contributed to the discussion on marriage and LGBT rights in the United States. There is a danger of such sentiments because of her strong Jewish background.  Her sentiments may sound poisonous and destructive to the marriage union in the United States. Young people who read Rotenberg’s articles on marriage are more likely to be swayed into her line of thinking, and this may contribute to the spread of more LGBT marriages that are perceived to be a threat to the traditional marriage and family unions (Ruttenberg, 2014). 

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     Public intellectualism is also about democratic rights in the society. In her career and public life RuttenBerg has been an advocate for equality in the society. For instance, her feminism is about women empowerment in the United States. She has commented and written about the rights of women to access equal employment opportunities just like men. She has also raised her voice about the plight of women workers to ensure that they get equal treatment. Her views are in line with democratic values in the society. RuttenBerg offers a good illustration of how public intellectuals are contributing towards discourse on democracy and individual rights in the society. 

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     Through the work of Winthrop, it’s stated that the codependence of religion and civil society is mutually destructive.  This is well illustrated in the works of RuttenBerg. Her contribution towards the abortion debate tell a lot about the codependence of religion and civil society.  She has made efforts to try and influence the law on abortion in the United States.  This has been evidenced through her writings in the media. In one of the opinion articles published in Newsweek, RuttenBerg argues that the right to abortion is not only an issue of the 14th Amendment as ruled by the Supreme Court, it is also permitted under the Jewish law.  She uses the book of Exodus to make a case in support of abortion. She asserts that according to Exodus, in the case where an individual inadvertently causes a miscarriage, the Torah states that the guilty party should be held responsible for manslaughter only if the pregnancy caused the death of the mother, otherwise monetary compensation should be paid for the damages. In such sense, the Torah does not treat the fetus as a person.  Some Christians have misinterpreted such as a passage and poorly translated some of the words, but in Hebrew the text is plain and simple in meaning.  RuttenBerg claims that there are more authoritative Jewish texts that do not grant the fetus the status of personhood, and they call it as a mere fluid. This is the reason why some rabbinic leaders state that there should be leniency when permitting abortion.  For example, she cites a Rabbi Eliezer who said that abortion should be a valid choice in the event that the failure to terminate it may make the mother to go through suffering and emotional pain. 

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     In such a context, the views of RuttenBerg on the issue of abortion are strongly anchored on Judaism teachings.  She supports abortion based on the way Judaism views the issue. This illustrates properly the codependence of religion and civil society.  Without her background in Judaism RuttenBerg would not have expressed such strong sentiments in support of abortion, when most of the Christian clergy seem to be against it.  Her good understanding of religion also makes her to point out the misunderstanding surrounding the issue of abortion. For instance, the case of Christians misinterpreting the Book of Exodus teachings on abortion explains how those who oppose abortion and access to reproductive health are misinformed because of the wrong translations of some of the Hebrew words. 

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     RuttenBerg’s participation in such controversial debates in the United States is also a demonstration of the continuation of the debate about religion and politics. Evidenced from her role as a public intellectual new laws permitting abortion are likely to emerge based on the influence that such public intellectuals have on the public. For instance, there are so many girls looking upon RuttenBerg and she will definitely influence their thoughts about abortion. 

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     RuttenBerg has also contributed towards political discourse in the United States.  Some of her articles about democracy have criticized the Federal government during the Trump administration for not protecting human rights. Specifically, she stated that as Trump was in Office human rights violations continued to happen. Notable atrocities were committed in the United States by homeland under the instructions of Trump. By this she refers to the immigration policies and enforcements that were done under the Trump administration and how they amounted to human rights violations. Families were separated during the enforcement of Trump’s immigration policies and he achieved this by pushing out Kirstjen Nielsen, who was his secretary of Homeland Security (Ruttenberg, 2019). As RuttenBerg exercises her democratic right and contribution towards discourse she consistently makes reference to her religious values that define her reason.  She therefore brings out a good illustration of how public intellectuals cannot engage in discourse without the influence of their religious values. 

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     To wrap it up, RuttenBerg is a public scholar who is having a profound impact on the society. She grew up as Jew and tried atheism, but she ended up in religious studies and a teaching career that has made her a public intellectual. RuttenBerg is influential in the society based on her contribution to public discourse on various issues affecting the society. Her background and training on Judaism, has made her to have strong religious values that she portrays in discourse. Her books, articles and tweets are a reflection of her religious values. She is an abortion supporter and has written articles in support of abortion justifying her position based on the teachings of Judaism. RuttenBerg is a perfect illustration of the issue of codependence between religion and civil society. Her feminism and activism are largely informed by her religious values. Her contributions to discourse on human rights, civil rights and democracy show that her reason is dependent on her religious values. 

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References

Ruttenberg. D. (2014). In Which a Man Is Not Acquiring a Woman: A Wedding Redesign. The Atlantic. 

Ruttenberg. D. (2018).https://twitter.com/theradr/status/998904556993089536?lang=en

Ruttenberg. D. (2019). Why Passover’s stories of resistance and redemption resonate so strongly today, The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/04/19/why-passovers-stories-resistance-redemption-resonate-so-strongly-today/

Katz, S. & Ruttenberg. D. (2020). The Jewish Case for Abortion Right, Newsweek. https://www.newsweek.com/abortion-jewish-right-scotus-june-medical-services-louisiana-constitution-1514214