Purpose of Prayer

Why do Orthodox Jews pray in synagogue? Jews, like followers of many other religions, use prayer to get in touch with G-d. They believe that prayer allows them to communicate with G-d. Through communicating with G-d, both men and women have the power of healing, can get help solving their problems and become more perfect.

In an Orthodox synagogue, women either sit in a balcony above where men sit or they sit across the aisle from men but cannot see the men praying because there is a curtain dividing the two genders. One reason for the separation between men and women in Orthodox Judaism is that many people say that women are more connected to their feelings than men are. This means that women are more connected to G-d and do not need to attend prayer services as frequently. On the contrary, men need to pray more often to connect with G-d and to know what is going on within themselves. I believe that some women are more connected to their feelings and know what is going on within themselves, but men can also be connected to themselves and their feelings. When I started my research, I did not think that gender affects how much a person knows him/herself; rather I thought it is up to the individual person to be in tune with his/her own feelings. According to Orthodox Jews, however, women are more connected to themselves than men, which explains why women are only required to pray once a day when men have to pray three times each day. After learning this, I now think that women can be more connected to themselves than men. However, the connection to oneself depends on the person and how well that person knows him/herself. If a women does not know herself very well and is not in touch with her inner feelings, it is still acceptable for her to pray only once a day. On the other hand, a man could be in touch with his inner feelings more than a woman, but he would still have to pray three times a day. I think that each individual person should choose how many times a day he/she prays based on how in tune he/she is with his/herself, with some guidelines from Jewish laws.

Sources:
Gureck, Jeffrey S. Orthodox Jews in America. Indiana University Press. Bloomington, IN, 2009.

A Brief History of Women in Orthodox Judaism

In this blog, I will explain the role of women and how they are separated from men in synagogues. Orthodox Judaism is predominantly male-dominated; only men can be rabbis. Men are commanded to pray separately from women. The Talmud, rabbinic discussions on Jewish law, states:

“And the land shall mourn, every family apart: The family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart. The family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of the Shimeites apart, and their wives apart. All the remaining families-every family apart, and their wives apart.” Zechariah 12:12-14

This passage of Zechariah explains that in a house of G-d, husbands must sit separate from their wives. Women sit in a balcony above where the men sit or in a separate section than men. Either way of separation is acceptable and the divider between men and women is called a mechitzah. The mechitzah is a curtain or wall of some sort and can have varying heights. Some mechitzahs allow women to see men but men can never see women praying. The mechitzah is meant to eliminate distractions and limit contact between the genders during prayer so both men and women are able to concentrate more. Some people believe that women are demeaned when in fact they are equal to men. Most people believe the separation allows men and women to concentrate more on prayer because there are less distractions. Similarly to how each person is able to choose his/her beliefs and religion, we can choose how we pray. Because of where my family lives and has roots, I attend a Conservative Jewish synagogue. Other people in my town choose to go to the Reform synagogue or the Orthodox synagogue. Because of its degree of worship and being of a different denomination, each synagogue has different customs in prayer. As I will explain later, the Orthodox synagogue in my town separates men and women during prayer, but the Reform and Conservative synagogues are egalitarian, meaning that men and women are equal and pray together. I think that people should have the choice of which synagogue they attend because people should be happy and should feel comfortable when they pray. People will always have an opinion about their likes and dislikes of separating men from women during prayer.

Sources:
Kresel Housman. “On Equality.” Kresel’s Korner. Kresel’s Korner, n.d. Web. 22 March 2010.
Tzvi Freeman. “Women in the Synagogue.” Chabad.org. Chabad Lubavitch Media Center, n.d.
Web. 22 March 2010.

Introduction

For my first blog post, I want to explain the purpose and reasoning behind this blog. I am taking an Introduction to Cultural Anthropology course this semester and one of my assignments for this course is to blog about a cross-cultural encounter. I am interested in the topic of men and women being separated in Jewish synagogues because I grew up in an Conservative egalitarian Jewish synagogue in my hometown of Lexington, Massachusetts. I spent many years studying Hebrew and the Jewish customs in my religion school and even learned a little about the practices of other Jews. However, I never fully understood and have always wondered why Orthodox Jewish women sit in separate sections than men during prayer. Each branch of Judaism has slightly different beliefs and interprets the Torah and Tanakh (the Hebrew Bible) a bit differently. As a Conservative Jew, I want to understand the practice of separating men and women during prayer. It always amazed me that people of the same religion can have such different practices and I wish to understand why Orthodox Jews follow certain practices that other Jews do not follow. After thinking about why Orthodox Jews might separate men and women during prayer services, I came to the conclusion that the culture that Orthodox Jews live in must be different than Conservative and Reform Jews' culture. In my blog, I hope to explain the meaning behind this gender separation during prayer, including understanding the history behind the practice and what makes this people follow this practice in a secular world where everyone strives to be equal with everyone else.