Q&A: What Is the Ruling?
Originally published:
This is an English translation (via GPT-5.4). Read the original Hebrew version.
What Is the Ruling?
Question
Hello Rabbi.
- Is it permissible for men and women to pray together, without a partition, in mixed seating?
- Assuming the answer to #1 is yes, what about women’s singing being heard in the background?
- Can a woman be called up to the Torah? And what is the ruling regarding the blessing for a Sephardi woman [after all, this is a positive commandment dependent on time (Torah study), from which she is exempt]?
- Can a woman give a Torah class in the synagogue?
Answer
- The custom is not to do this. Strictly speaking, there is no prohibition, except in a case where the women are not dressed modestly, in which case you are praying facing nakedness.
- In my opinion, there is no problem with that kind of women’s singing, for several reasons: it is together with men, and there is much more here than just two voices. In a synagogue, when prayers are being sung, it does not seem that the impulse is aroused (and not only in a synagogue). When you do not see the women, there is also room to permit listening.
- According to Talmudic law, a woman may be included among the seven people called up to the Torah. But they said not to do so משום the dignity of the congregation. In my opinion, nowadays there is no issue of congregational dignity when a woman is called up to the Torah.
- Absolutely. Why not?!