Women’s participation in holiness and prayer

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asked 9 years ago

Sharing something I witnessed last week and would love to hear your thoughts on it:

I attended an event attended by a large number of Torah scholars and their wives. At the end of the event, a mincha prayer was held on one side of the hall while the women sat and talked on the other. When we arrived at the Kedusha, not one of the women stood, and although the hall was not large and it can be assumed that they heard, they did not stand for the Kedusha, which was very noticeable.

Is this because of the gap in public prayer between men and women? Something to do with education in prayer? Maybe just learning a lesson for not hearing (although as someone who was present, this is unlikely)

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מיכי Staff answered 9 years ago

Since you’re asking about holiness, why don’t you ask about the prayer itself? On one side, people are praying, and on the other side, women are sitting and chatting. Why don’t they join in the prayer? Apparently, “shared space” is defined not only on the physical level (you wouldn’t crowd two courts in “one city” these days). Beyond that, it’s certainly possible that they didn’t hear (i.e., didn’t pay attention to what their ears were hearing through the conversation). —————————————————————————————— Asks (differently): When the ethos upon which girls and women are educated is that they are exempt, exempt, and exempt, it is no wonder. I like to do with my students a count of the positive commandments that time has made possible out of the total number of necessary commandments from which there is no exemption… and in this way emphasize the obligation and the educational problem of the accumulation of exemptions. —————————————————————————————— Rabbi: Maybe I didn’t make my words clear. I have no criticism of them. I’m actually in favor of their behavior. If they are exempt, then what’s the problem with them not joining the prayer? I was just arguing that if they are already sitting on the sidelines, they have made a space for themselves and are engaged in something else and are not really hearing the sacredness and are not joining in with it. If I were exempt, I would also sit on the sidelines. The Mincha prayer (and in general) doesn’t really “do it for me.” It is an obligation, like any other obligation.

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