Q&A: Changes within Jewish law regarding women
Changes within Jewish law regarding women
Question
Have a good week, Rabbi Michi, You wrote to me some time ago that in principle you support changes within Jewish law regarding women. You meant women being called up to the Torah. Do you think there is also room to change the Jewish law regarding head covering and a woman’s singing voice, since today they are not considered nakedness / an erotic matter? Or are the psychology and sociology in this case fixed? Thank you,
Answer
Why are head covering and voice not considered nakedness / an erotic matter today?
If you mean that it has become the practice of Jewish women to sing and not to cover their heads, that is indeed a relevant argument. But here it would be difficult to change things, since something established by formal count requires another formal count to permit it. By contrast, women being called up to the Torah is not a halakhic change. There is no halakhic problem with it at all (the dignity of the congregation is a very weak argument and not relevant today).
Discussion on Answer
I don’t understand the question. If we’re not talking from a halakhic perspective, then go dance the hora. What does my opinion have to do with it? What’s the point of praying or observing modesty if not from a halakhic perspective?
Maybe you mean what my halakhic opinion would be were it not for the problem of authority. It seems to me that all this is unnecessary anachronism.
Why is head covering an anachronism? After all, it’s not only because of modesty (single women are permitted)… What was it connected to that could change?
The fact that single women are permitted does not mean there is no issue of modesty here. Almost all commentators speak about this in terms of modesty (already from the verse in the Torah, “and he shall uncover the woman’s head”). In any case, if all you want is to mark who is a married woman, that can also be done in various other ways.
Yogev
Can the Rabbi explain what he means by, “What’s the point of praying or observing modesty if not from a halakhic perspective”? It sounds as if Jewish law has no connection to reality and there is simply binding Jewish law so you have to obey, but that is not so. Besides the fact that there is binding Jewish law, there is also a reason to observe modesty, because we want to live that kind of lifestyle, because we believe in it for all kinds of reasons that seem unnecessary to spell out.
Thank you very much, Rabbi
4 months ago
Michi
What is there to explain here?! You ask whether women can be called up to the Torah not from a halakhic perspective. What kind of being called up to the Torah are we talking about? Not a halakhic being called up, but a moral one? And as for head covering, in my opinion there is nothing modest about it if Jewish law were not to require it.
4 months ago
In your opinion, is it also not the right thing to permit a woman’s singing voice and head covering? (That is, is it against God’s will—leave aside the issue of formal authority for a moment?)
And do you think women should be called up to the Torah and serve as prayer leaders?
In short, I’m asking you personally what you think, not from a halakhic perspective.
Thanks