Comments on: The Voice of Women-The Importance of Leniency and the Leniencies that come from being Strict -By Rabbi Hyim Shafner

By: Making Sure Jewdaism is Fair -By Rabbi Hyim Shafner « Morethodoxy: Exploring the Breadth, Depth and Passion of Orthodox Judaism

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 15:48:29 +0000

[...] and as I have written http://morethodoxy.org/2009/07/31/the-importance-of-leniency-and-the-leniencies-that-come-from-being... leniency can be a very important halachic factor and indeed a stronger one than strictness. [...]

By: oh brother « But Mostly Hers

oh brother « But Mostly Hers — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 00:45:51 +0000

[...] http://morethodoxy.org/2009/07/31/the-importance-of-leniency-and-the-leniencies-that-come-from-being... [...]

By: Michael Makovi

Michael Makovi — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 15:59:39 +0000

Rabbi Avraham Shamma, in his wonderful article on kol isha, makes an exquisite deadpan about how v'ahavta l'reakha kamokhah (hereafter: VLK) applies to even women as well. Rav Kook notes that ideally, the mitzvah of VLK would mean that men and women should be completely equal in every way. However, he says, the vicissitudes and vagaries of life, and the nature of sexuality mean that we must be strict on tzeniut and lenient on VLK. However, Professor Dov Berel Lerner, in The Ten Curses of Eve notes that ordinarily, a curse from Hashem is something for us to overcome; if women bear children in pain, then we must develop painkillers. If Rabbinic literature frankly admits that women are cursed to domesticity, then it is our task to overcome this curse. If so, then Rabbi Yuval Cherlow is surely correct in taking Rabbi Yehuda Herzl Henkin's inurement thesis to its logical conclusion, saying that ideally, men and women will be so inured to each other that we will be able to have a fully integrated mixed-sex society without compromise.

By: MC

MC — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 19:11:32 +0000

What I want to know is why according to some of those who hold that women should not sing in shul allow for male Rabbis to teach college and/or high school girls?

By: MP

MP — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 02:03:07 +0000

a very nice piece, Rav Hyim. My personal view has always been that kula should be the goal–if only to make Jewish practice more available to people and to make Jewish experience a more positive one. What bothers me is the comment the shul attendee made: why is it that he is so bothered by women’s extra participation? The sad part about all of this is that for many people, the higher the mehitza–the more kosher is the shul–while my guess is that the mehitza height beyond halachic minimum of 10 tfachim has probably very little halachic meaning. Same goes for women’s singing–G-d forbid a woman sings Shir haMaalot. In my experience, in more haredi circles, this is actually not allowed in presence of men. Worst yet, women cannot talk in front of men. I was once told that a certain woman used to give Divrei Torah, but after moving to another community had stopped doing so because in that community this is not considered acceptable. I am not sure exactly why–but to me, this goes far and beyond any tzniut bounds. At another Shabbat table conversation, I was once told in all seriousness by a bachur of one of well known Baal Tshuva yeshivot that women should be not be teaching Torah to men. In that man’s mind, I guess, Nechama Leibowitz was committing heresy. Seems that to many how harsh and restrictive we are to women is a determinant of how frum we are. This is rather sad to me.

By: menucha chwat

menucha chwat — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 21:24:31 +0000

Flawed Halachic logic.

As opposed to the case of Rav Chaim zt”l, in this case there are not two halchic issues in conflict. Women have no halachic obligation of public prayer.