To valuate a woman based on her ability to "do whatever a man can," is to dishonor womanhood, and all the unique qualities it brings to the table.
6 Comments Posted
I so very much appreciate the diplomatic and insightful way Rabbi Posner deals such gender sensitive issues such as this one. I donned a tallis one single time, just to see if I could, and for me, it quite simply felt as wrong as it did when I bought a pair of women's dress slacks and wore them out, just to see if I could. While I enjoy the friendship of many conservative and reform women who wear them, I frankly cannot. Rabbi Posner conveyed so nicely, in very few words, all the reasons and some additional ones, why I may have felt so uncomfortable. May he continue in strength and health to write such great articles.
|
I feel "embraced by arms that love me" when I don my Tallit. I was a Bat Mitzvah at age 74 and worked hard to attain this privilege. I am not a feminist nor competiong with men. I was the only woman with a Tallit recently and the stares did not bother me. Ihis is part of the way I keep MY religion. I wore it at my grandaughter's new husbands auf rauf. I felt like I was the true matriarch of my family as I sat in shul. with my family from all over the country in attendance.
|
Indeed, why do we weare kippot at all times when the Torah does not tell us to? The Torah makes no mention of them. Post-biblical law only requires us to wear a kippah at prayer (Mishneh Torah, Ahavah, Hilkhot Tefilah 5:5). The custom is completely minhag. It is also a beautiful act of Kiddush HaShem. Should a woman wish to do something that NONE of us are actually REQUIRED to do, and in doing so also sanctifies the name, why shouldn't she?
|
i believe it should be appropriate for women to wear Talith during private prayer.
It should serve the mentioned purposes in the Torah, to remind us :
"Hashem Echad" -- G‑d is One, the G‑d in Heaven who watches over our every action,Omnipresent,
hears our prayers, especially the ones of repentance.
Tal= tent ith= little
It should be a personal meeting place with HaShem closing oneself off from the rest of the world thus taking refuge in the shadow of His wings preventing us from following the inclinations of our heart and eyes which tend to lead us to faithlessness.
It would make one aware of How precious His kindness is, Satiating us with the delight of His House, knowing he will give us to drink from the river of His bliss. For He is the source of life; in His light we see light. He bestows His kindness upon those who know Him, and His righteousness on the upright in heart. Not for show to man or woman, but for shutting out the rest of the world.
|
There are many reasons I wear a tallit. I have been growing Jewishly, and when I saw a fabric pattern (gorgeously blooming flowers) I bought it and made my first tallit to express my growth and my delight in my heritage.
When I am in shul, it is my *soul* that counts, and my soul has no gender. It isn't a matter of "doing anything a man can do," but of doing anything a JEW can do. I am a Jew.
The articles above speak of men's and women's differing talents: are there no differences then among men? What specific feminine traits disqualify women from davening or layning Torah? Why should these delights be restricted to males? Or, in some shuls, why may men daven, layn, etc before mixed groups (even when separated by a balcony or mechitzah), when women are restricted to doing so only in all-female groups?
I "have a yearning" to fulfill many mitzvot, while at the same time I do protest against discriminations which have no basis in fact or Torah.
|
In Hilchot 3:9, Maimonides states that a woman can wear a Tallit if she chooses, she is not required to say the blessings, although other sources say she is. It is a matter of choice for women, obligation for men.
|
|
LOGIN
ASK THE RABBI
Read this article
