Ironic
In his rant here, Harry Maryles complains,"Are we going to see female rabbis preaching from behind the Mechitza . . . "
It doesn't seem ever to have occurred to him that, from an Orthodox woman's perspective, male rabbis have always preached from "behind the mechitza," in the sense that, in some Orthodox synagogues, it's just as difficult for a woman to see a man preach as it would be for a man to see a woman preach.
Besides, this wouldn't be the first time in Jewish history that a woman taught men, and not just in modern times, either--hasn't Harry ever heard of B'ruriah or the Maid of Ludmir?
It doesn't seem ever to have occurred to him that, from an Orthodox woman's perspective, male rabbis have always preached from "behind the mechitza," in the sense that, in some Orthodox synagogues, it's just as difficult for a woman to see a man preach as it would be for a man to see a woman preach.
Besides, this wouldn't be the first time in Jewish history that a woman taught men, and not just in modern times, either--hasn't Harry ever heard of B'ruriah or the Maid of Ludmir?
posted by Shira Salamone at 1:46 PM
2 Comments:
Good points. Also, in he Hasidic Shteible I attend the curtains are pushed back for the rabbi's drasha during the kiddush (after the services are over) so the women can hear clearly. So I'm not sure why Rabbi Maryles even thinks that such a thing is necessary, much less undesirable.
I love this point.
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