The Spiritual Joys of Womanhood

I am involved as a mentor in Young Women Leaders Program (YWLP) at UVA in which a group of female university students gather with a group of 7th grade girls at a local middle school each week and engage in discussions and activities emphazing the amazing potential of feminine spirit. At least that's how I see the program...

I am a facilitator of one of the groups this year, and I make an extreme effort to focus on the hidden spirituality of developing into a woman. Because we have only had one mentoring group meeting so far, I don't know how many of my little and big sisters have actually picked up on this tone of my leadership while in group, but in the coming weeks, I hope to make it more obvious.

Why is the development of a girl to a woman a spiritual journey?

Because it takes courage. It takes strength. And it requires a girl to come up with a new version of who she is and what she believes.

In Words On Fire: One Woman's Journey into the Sacred, Vanessa Ochs tells of one Rabbi who founded a school for women to study Talmud in Jerusalem. Rabbi Brovender reveals, "Women's education has to do with creativity, sensitivity. Woman aren't constrained by studying legalisms. If they want to be, that's fine, but they can study other things. The test is not if women can learn like men, but if men will say, 'I wish we could learn like women.'"

The journey from girl to woman is one of great struggle and incredible learning. Not only does the transformation from girl to woman suggest that self-knowledge has been acquired, but also a new perspective of the world and one's place in the world is adopted. I agree with Rabbi Brovender that women learn through creative expression that taps into their inner sensitive souls.

Nayeli, my new little sister in the YWLP program, has already shown me so much about what it means to be on the quest for womanhood. While we were painting at a table under the trees on the Downtown Mall yesterday, she confided in me about the importance for honesty and kindness in day-to-day relationships.

It hurts me when I hear rumors, she said quietly, so that's why I always try to tell the truth.

I cannot wait to learn more from her. Even though I just turned twenty-one years old on Saturday, I still feel as though I am just now learning to embrace the spiritual joys of womanhood.