RBG: May Your Memory Be For A Revolution

Notorious RBG 

1933~2020

Fight for the things you care about, but do it in a way the will lead others to join you.  RBG

We got the news just after the Senior Son and Mrs. Senior Son were signing off their zoom-in for Rosh HaShana kiddush and motzi with the family. I heard my IM-ding and glanced at the message. The breath was sucked right out of me. How could I say the words? How could I tell anyone? How could this possibly be true on Erev Rosh Ha'Shana? 

I've been making a Mi Shaberach for Ita Ruchel bat Tzelia Leah every morning at minyan for the last few years. I heard her interviewed right after one of the cancer bouts, and when asked about people praying for her, she chuckled and said, "Ita Ruchal bat Tzelia Leah...some people will ask." I began the next morning. 

I never met Justice Ginsburg, but I started reading some of her decisions (I love her writing style) and was ecstatic when she was named to SCOTUS. Ziggy and I actually celebrated. We thought it was the best nomination ever, and she was overwhelmingly approved. We couldn't wait to hear her first dissenting opinion. We were fans from the get-go.

Then there is the matter of my RBG sweatshirt collection. This has been going on for a while. I guess everyone knows I am a long time devotee of Justice Ginsberg. As her fame grew, so did the images that began appearing. It started with Notorious RBG, which, according to all reports, she loved. She was named as a patronus...and I adopted her as my own because, after all, I would want her to be the guardian between me and the Dementors running this administration. Who could blame me for wanting to stand against evil with her? In real life, she was the guardian for so many people and institutions.  

She was a Life Member of Hadassah. So am I. So is Mrs. Junior Son. Hadassah isn't a Jewish joke punch line; Hadassah is an organization dedicated to social service around the globe. Justice Ginsburg routinely met with the Hadassah Attorney's Council when they were sworn in at the Supreme Court. From Hadassah's obituary for Justice Ginsburg:

...she repeatedly credited Hadassah founder Henrietta Szold as being an inspiration to her, one of "the two Jewish women, raised in the United States of America, whose humanity and bravery inspired me" and who she credits for being a "Zionist even before Theodor Herzl came on the scene."

At her core, she was quintessentially Jewish. A few weeks ago, I wrote about Kenosha and used this for the tip o'the day:

צדק, צדק, תרדוף

Tzedek, tzedek tirdof

Justice, justice shall you pursue. 

(Deuteronomy 16:20) 

Justice Ginsburg had this same pasuk hanging on the wall in her Supreme Court office. "The demand for justice runs through the entirety of Jewish history and tradition," she said more than once. Although her personal religious observance was forever altered when, as a girl, she was forbidden to say kaddish for her mother because there were not ten men present for a minyan (prayer quorum), her commitment to Jewish values remained steadfast. Still she considered getting the court not to sit on the first day of Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur, with the help of Justice Breyer, one of her "big achievements." On one scale, that might seem small...but if you are Jewish, that is huge.

And that's what made her such an icon. She saw the big picture. Justice Ginsburg wasn't out there just for women's equal rights under the law...she was out there for gender equity. She understood at her very core the need to take apart patriarchy in order to secure gender equity for all. This is not how many of us see equal rights; we see it as a women's issue when, in fact, it is a gender issue that requires scrutiny. Ruth Bader Ginsburg led the way by tackling cases where men were denied because they were men. (The movie case, Moritz v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue was selected because it blended both personal and political intersection.) By stepping away from the normative process, Ginsburg the lawyer was able to see past the obvious in order to rearrange the depth of an issue so it became universal. That was the truly brilliant part. Her ability to present that every-person aspect of gender equity changed everything. 

Her appointment to SCOTUS was not a great surprise to many, but her renown as a jurist and champion of human rights grew exponentially once she had the fringe. (We'll talk about that in a moment.) She became an icon, a role model to be emulated by girls, a reminder to stay in the fight for people fighting for their rights, and a great source of sage advice for all Americans. 

Let's talk about dissents for a moment. I heard someone on the idiotbox refer to Justice Ginsburg as cantankerous. I must dissent from that opinion. She wasn't mean-spirited or arbitrarily harsh, rather she was intent on getting the opposing viewpoint on the record. She was good at that. Justice Ginsburg has written some scathingly brilliant dissents. And her rationale for composing eloquent dissent opinions is spot on:

"Dissents speak to a future age. It's not simply to say, 'My colleagues are wrong and I would do it this way.' But the greatest dissents do become court opinions and gradually over time their views become the dominant view. So that's the dissenter's hope: that they are writing not for today, but for tomorrow."

And not to be forgotten, one must write a bit about the humor of Justice Ginsburg. She was a fashionable lady. Her court clothes were always impeccable. But it was her love of the collar that got everyone going. Since there isn't a whole lotta wiggle room in designer judicial robes, Justice Ginsburg loved giving her audience a soupçon of what she was thinking or what was coming down the pike. And she did it in a way that became her trademark: the collar. She had a brilliant collection, each one with its own meaning, the most famous of which is the Dissent Collar. 

It was Banana Republic swag. It was in a swag bag at an event. I love it:

For years, Ruth Bader Ginsburg has used one accessory to channel her disapproval: a Banana Republic bib necklace, affectionately known as her "dissent collar."

The Supreme Court Justice has imbued multiple jabots with meaning, from her crocheted "majority opinion" collar to her favorite lace look. But it's the dissent collar that's garnered the biggest following—perhaps because RBG fans love to see their feminist Justice take a stand, even if she can't do so out loud.  

The now-famous necklace reportedly came into Ginsburg's possession through Glamour's "Woman of the Year" event in 2012, when it was placed in swag bags. And why did she choose it to show her disagreement? Ginsburg explained to Katie Couric that she chose it as her dissent collar because, quite simply, "it looks fitting for dissents."

The Justice is known to wear the necklace when the Supreme Court announces a decision she's against, but she's also donned it on other occasions—such as the day after Donald Trump's election in 2016.

I have Dissent earrings from Mr. and Mrs. Senior Son, and a Dissent pin from Ruthie, my coworker, who also gave me my RBG action figure. I guess this is my version of Star Wars figures or American Girl dolls. Except this is a real person who did real things in the real world that have had a tremendous impact on all of us, men and women alike. 

She fought for our right to control our own bodies, to marry the person we love, to get credit and loans in our own names, and to be treated equitably in the workplace. Her causes could be reduced to a single idea: Tikkun Olam. A while back, she was asked how she would like to be remembered, and Justice Ginsburg replied:

...as someone who used whatever talent she had to do her work to the very best of her ability. And to help repair tears in her society, to make things a little better through the use of whatever ability she has.

She accomplished what she set out to do, but I am certain there is lots left undone for us to take up where she left off.  The work doesn't stop because she isn't sitting there on the bench. It goes on. We must go on. 

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

Joan Ruth "Kiki" Ginsburg, you will be missed for so many reasons. 

Your memory will not simply be for a blessing; your memory must be for a revolution. 

Fearless Girl faces the NY Stock Exchange.
The collar is perfect.