Daughters of the King: Women and the Synagogue (A Survey of History, Halakhah, and Contemporary Realities)

Two: HALAKHAH

Two HAJLAKHAH Classical halakhah (Jewish law) defined the aspirations and social roles of women and men, assigning separate roles to each. Today, all branches ofJudaism aregrappling with the tension between contemporary values and traditional observance, the acceptance of the ideals of equality and the tradition of role differentiation. The changing role of women in the synagogue has served as a catalyst for greater study of a number of relevant halakhic issues. A fundamental issue is that ofbiyuv, the obligation to observe religious commandments. The fact that halakhah has distinguished between women's and men's obligations has had a major impact on women's functioning in the community. A related issue is kavod ha-tzibbur, the honor ofthe community. This term has been used to limit women's active participation in synagogue services, with some people using the argument that women's participation insults and embarrasses men. The concept ofturnah, ritual impurity, has also been used to limit women's religious lives, by seeming to imply that menstruation renders women impure and, therefore, unfit to enter a synagogue or touch a Torah scroll. A number ofhalakhic categories are concerned with ensuring that men are not sexually aroused during prayer by being made aware of the presence of women. Consequently, the sexes are traditionally separated during prayer by a 86 Halakhah mebitzah, a physical barrier. Women are also prohibited from having their voices heard by men (kol ishah) and having parts oftheir bodies such as hair and arms seen by men. The concept ofmodesty, tzniut, has also been an important factor in determining the height ofthe mebitzah and in limiting women's publicfunctioning. Irwin Haut and Shaye Cohen both examine the distinctions between lawand custom regarding women, prayer, and the synagogue. 1. Haut discusses the existential meaning ofprayer and demonstrates that, according to classical Jewish law, women's obligation to pray is as important as men's. He criticizes attitudes that lead women, as well as men, to assume that the synagogue is rightfully the domain ofmen. Cohen traces the development ofcustoms dictating that menstruants may not enter the synagogue nor touch the Torah scroll. He shows that these customs are not rooted in Jewish law. Rather, they may have been an outgrowth ofwomen's efforts to express their piety by distancing themselvesfrom the holy when they felt themselves to be ritually impure. Anotherfactor distancing womenfrom the sacredcenter ofJudaism has been the me1;litzah. Today it distinguishes Orthodoxyfrom the other branches ofJudaism . Norma Baumel Joseph discusses the laws surrounding the mebitzah, concentrating on the views ofthe late leader oftwentieth-century traditional Orthodoxy , Rabbi Moshe Feinstein. Rivka Haut, Judith Hauptman, and Annette Daum examine how the decision -making processes ofeach oftheir movements have handled attempts to expandthe role ofwomen in synagogue-related ritual. R. Haut describes thegrowing efforts of Orthodox women who, dissatisfied with the secondary role of women in the normative Orthodox synagogue, have created alternative prayer groups for women only. Despite severe criticism from the Orthodox rabbinate, these groups have continued to grow, producing a generation of Orthodox women learned in Jewish law andcomfortable with leading prayers and reading the Torah. Hauptman chronicles the struggles ofthe Conservative Movement to afford womengreater ritual involvement in the synagogue, culminating in the decisions to ordain women as rabbis and invest them as cantors. She analyzes the social status of women in the time ofthe Talmud and how the social view of women determined their secondary role in the synagogue. She asserts that the changing status ofwomen in contemporary society should be a consideration in the ongoing development ofJewish law. Daum discusses one ofthe majorfeminist issues ofthe Reform Movement: the inclusion offeminine imagery in the prayer book. This takes two forms: includ- 87 Halakhah ing female experience and role models and moving toward agender{ree representation ofGod. She surveys the current prayer books ofthe Conservative, Reform , and Reconstructionist Movements, showing the advantages and deficiencies ofeach in this regard. These articles show that while women in all the major movements ofJudaism areforging new paths, they stillface disabilities. Readers may be led to ask whether limitations imposed upon women are an inherent aspect ofJudaism or, rather, a reflection ofsocial realities ofparticular times and places. Fundamental to this issue is whether one views halakhah as a reflection ofeternal. unchanging truths, as a constantly evolving system influenced by changing social realities , or, paradoxically, as both timeless and changing. ...