Social Attitudes Disguised as Halakhah: Zila milta, Ein havrutan na'ah, Kevod hatzibbur

SOCIAL ATTITUDES DISGUISED AS HALAKHAH: ZILA MILTA, EIN HAVRUTAN NAAH, KEVOD HATZIBBUR Rochelle L. Milien The status of women in halakhah is determined by a central rule - their exemption from positive, time-bound mitzvot1 - and by the great number of exceptions to this rule.2 Confounding this enactment and its many apparent inconsistencies is the seemingly tangential pronouncement, "Greater is one who is commanded and performs the command than one who is not commanded and performs the command."3 Thus, woman, by virtue of her exemption, can never be as "great" as man. Even if she were voluntarily to obligate herself in all the mitzvot that a man generally performs, her reward for performing these mitzvot could never match his. Since he instinctively rebels against the requirement to do x, actually doing ? is seen as manifesting a stronger conquest of the human predisposition to disobey and be contrary.4 In addition to this maxim, which almost by definition regards the woman as, in some sense, of lesser value, one finds in the halakhic sources disparaging comments about women and women's company which serve to exclude her in cases where the halakhah itself does not. These statements manifest social attitudes that emanate from a clearly defined social hierarchy and lead to strictures on female behavior. For example, on strictly halakhic grounds a woman should be able to make kiddush (the benediction made over wine on the Sabbath) for a roomful of guests5 or read the Scroll of Esther for her female friends.6 However, rishonim and aharonim, former (mid-eleventh century to mid-fifteenth century) and latter-day (mid-fifteenth century on) legal experts, rule that she should do neither. ZiIa milta, they claim; doing so is not "dignified." One must refer to the use of these words in another context entirely to begin to 178Nashim:A Journal ofJewish Women's Studies and GenderIssues, no. 4. ©2001 SocialAttitudes Disguised as Halakhah understand how this pronouncement of social convention is used to enjoin halakhic prohibition: R. Kahana said, "Even if one needs to strip carcasses in the marketplace [to support oneself and one's family], one doesn't say "I'm an important person and this work is disgraceful/contemptible [zila milta] for me." (BT Baba Batra 110a) A similar use of social convention to enjoin halakhic prohibition occurs in the lengthy discussions of women and zimun, the "invitation" to the Grace after Meals said in the presence of a fellowship of three or more persons. The phrase ein chavrutan na'ah occurs several times in these discussions. Meaning "the company of women is not fitting" or "is inappropriate ," it is invoked even to prohibit a woman from forming such a fellowship, or mezuman, with another woman and her husband. But if men form a mezuman, women are required to participate; in that case the inclusion of women is not deemed inappropriate. A lag between cultural change and religious legal texts is to be expected; indeed, it is characteristic of the development of religious legal texts in all traditions and is a safeguard against radical and untoward change. But when the changes in the culture are long in existence and the lag appears to be due to a refusal to share power and an unwillingness to recognize individual autonomy outside of oneself and one's group, trust in the religious authorities diminishes. Many of the instances that demonstrate this theoretical legal analysis relate to the status of women within Jewish society. One thus becomes cognizant of the enormous political and social power wielded by the male community as it struggles with permutations of the notion of "the equality ofwoman"7 and manifests a decided reluctance to acknowledge women as equals in positions of professional and communal authority and of leadership. This extends to their participation in some religious acts that are largely unproblematic from this point of view in the rabbinic sources. This paper will examine the concepts of zila milta and ein havrutan na'ah as they appear in halakhic sources, serving there as a means of prohibition where permissibility seems otherwise indicated. A third concept, kevod hatzibbur, in some ways is different from the first two notions, but in...