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chapter eight 8 The Role of Women in Religious Life and in Family Ceremonies M edieval Jewish society saw the fulfillment of the mitzvot as the highest religious value. The community was understood as a“holy congregation ,” with all that implies for the public and private life. In such a society, the participation of members of the community in religious life, whether at home or in the synagogue, was of great significance. Moreover, the synagogue became the most important institution, not only for the community ’s religious life, but also of its social life in general, serving as it did as the meeting place of members of the community for discussion of matters of common concern. In practice, the synagogue served as that institution of the Jewish community that gave expression to Jewish existence and partial independence within the framework of its exilic existence. The active participation of women in religious life, particularly in the synagogue, would raise their image in the eyes of society and in their own eyes. On the other hand, their removal from this aspect of life would damage that image. 1. The Biblical and Talmudic Heritage In the Bible, women did not play any official role in the functions that accompanied the holy service in the Sanctuary,the Temple,or outside them.Even the daughters of the priestly families did not participate in this service. Nevertheless, there were women prophetesses and they came to pray in the sanctuary and the temple. The Talmudic tradition regarding this point is more complex. In the Talmud, women are frequently grouped together, in a not particularly flattering way, with “servants and minors”—that is, non-Jewish slaves and children. The most important Talmudic ruling on this subject is:“Regarding all time-bound positive commandments, women are exempt [from performing them]” (b. Berakhot 20b; Qiddushin 29a). This rule excluded women from the performance of many positive precepts, and in practice led to their exclusion from the circle of those who were obligated in many commandments that gave a special flavor to religious life, such as wearing tefillin, reciting the Shema morning and evening, dwelling in the Sukkah, hearing the shofar on Rosh Hashana, and many others . Another ruling, that a woman may not read the Torah due to “the dignity of the public” (b. Megillah 23a), removed women from a major focus of religious activity in the synagogue. One who believes in the holiness of the Torah but is not allowed to bless over it or to read it is likely to feel cut off from one of the most moving moments in the entire service. Not only were women not obligated in the fulfillment of many mitzvot,but they were included in the same category as servants and minors, a fact that likewise affected their image.The relationship between this exemption and the prohibition against teaching Torah to women, discussed in the previous chapter, led some of the medieval sages to utilize negative terms vis-a-vis women (see our discussion of the image of woman; above, chapter 1). However, examination of the halakhic underpinnings of the exemption from time-linked positive commandments,and the rabbis’ own testimony concerning those women who did fulfill these commandments on a voluntary basis, serves to somewhat soften their sting. Indeed, in the halakhic literature itself,the exemption of women is rooted in halakhic principles that are based upon biblical language. But the public as a whole, both men and women, were not conscious of these detailed discussions and not all of them understood that this was the reason for women’s exemption. Non-observance of the mitzvot thus placed women,in the eyes of many,on a lower level than the man. The central subject to be discussed here is those changes that occurred during the period under consideration in the religious life of the Jewish woman. In various points in this work, we have observed the considerable changes that occurred in the economic and social status of women, particularly in Christian Europe. The question that needs to be asked is this: To what extent did these changes, which measurably improved the status of women, also impact upon her role in religious life? We shall begin by noting the religious status of women in Christian society, due to the close relation between the situation in Jewish society and that which prevailed in the neighboring non-Jewish society. The status of the Muslim woman vis-a-vis prayer in the mosques was a...

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