OMG, I can't believe I'm even reading this right:

[kettunainen]

I told the mother that in being so devoted to her son, she had committed the cardinal sin of marriage, which is to put someone else before her spouse, even if that someone is your child. Furthermore, I said, her obsession had turned one of her most attractive body parts into a feeding station, an attractive cafeteria rather than a scintillating

Comments

[lepke]

wow.

[alexisyael]

I've said it before in other communities (most) but the really weird thing about this is that traditional Judaism is REALLY pro-breastfeeding. Sarah (whom we call "Imeinu" -- our mother) nursed her son Issac for two years, which is considered the gold standard. (There are other biblical moms who nursed longer, so one is OK to nurse longer, but two is considered the minimum

[kettunainen]

having the father in the other room praying because this is what their religion prescribes AND because they're BOTH ok with it, is completely different from what Mr. Schmuley is saying.

He's saying that it's not good for the husband to see the baby physically come out of the mother because then there's no doubt that her role in life has changed: she's a mother and not just a wife. He *wasn't* praying in the other room like one would think a rabbi should be doing. He was with his wife for the births of their 8 children, just not seeing the 'business end' of things because he didn't want the actual purpose of that part of the body to make itself readily apparent. No reality for Schmuley Boteach. Just a heavily misogynistic attitude towards women and keeping their sacred/erotic/sensual bits only in the realm of husband-devoted sexuality.

Ugh.

I don't disagree with the reasoning you provide for the husband to not be present at the birth. I disagree with Boteach's "reasoning".

[alexisyael]

oh, totally... that's what i'm saying is that boteach is just an ASS plain and simple and has no religious reasons to back it up!