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.