Guide for the Halakhic Minyan
Encyclopedia
Guide for the "Halakhic Minyan" is a work published to provide Jewish
worship groups, especially Partnership minyan
s, with halachic (Jewish legal) sources that support the participation of women in leadership roles in traditional worship services, including the reading from the Sefer Torah
(Torah scroll), Haftarah
(biblical
prophetic portions
), and other special biblical readings, such as the Book of Esther
on the Jewish festival
of Purim
.
is a term used to describe a number of lay-led Jewish worship and study communities that attempt to combine a commitment to traditional worship and egalitarianism
, in groups that normally avoid identification with one specific Jewish religious movement. Partnership minyan
is a term used by the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance
(JOFA) to describe similar groups within the Orthodox Jewish community
that attempt to involve women in worship services to the maximum extent possible in terms of traditional Jewish legal decisions, while still identifying with the Modern Orthodox
community, within the larger movement of Orthodox Judaism.
The word minyan
, used in both of terms, comes from the Hebrew
word (מנין) for the prayer quorum traditionally required for a full Jewish prayer service.
They subsequently published the "Guide for the 'Halakhic Minyan.'"
The Bar-Ashers are "Israeli scholars," who, at the time the guide was published, were PhD candidates in the United States. Elitzur Avraham Bar-Asher was a PhD candidate in Semitic Philology at Harvard University and lecturer in Semitics at Yale University’s Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations; and his wife, Michal Bar-Asher Siegal was in the PhD program in the Judaic Studies program, Ancient Judaism at Yale University, a member of the Talmud department at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and a visiting lecturer in the department of Religion at Smith College.
The guide is meant to help minyanim seeking halakhic justification for expansion of women in leadership roles in different areas of the service and in different ways, whether or not complete egalitarianism, equal roles, is part of the minyan's self-described vision or goals: "While many...minyanim aim to extend participation to women as far as Halacha permits, they are by no means egalitarian - hence the phrase 'halachic minyan' in the title of the guide, and not 'egalitarian minyan.'"
One example of "partnership" which would not be considered "egal" is the suggestion that in minyanim where only men are allowed to "sound" the shofar
(ram's horn), women could call out the commands that describe the pattern of sounds called for at that point in the service.
The authors of the guide go on to say that, "We are engaged in a continuous process of study and clarification. Therefore, this guide should not be taken as comprehensive, and no inference should be made from silence.”
The Guide then attempts to apply these classifications to sections of the service, in the following areas:
However, there were negative reactions to its publication, as well. For example, in a Jerusalem Post op-ed
, Alan Haber wrote wrote that the guide is "not a work of halacha" because:
Haber wrote that the final point reveals a "fundamental deficiency" of the Guide, because:
However, this is exactly the position the authors of the Guide seek to refute. Elitzur Bar-Asher states, “If you have the knowledge, you just don’t need a rabbi.... In fact, what you actually see is we will always be much closer to the text because if you have a mediator they manipulate the text.”
“We say," he continues, "if you look very carefully at the sources ... if you look at them carefully, there’s a lot of opportunity for women to be incorporated or lead those prayer services....The problem is, if you’re dealing with the establishment, that’s much harder to do.”
In terms of the charge sometimes leveled against them that the couple approaches halakhah "with an agenda," both Elitzur and Michal admit that this claim is true, and that they both are in favor of "gender equality." However, in their opinion there is nothing wrong with such a goal, so long as they respect the law:
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
worship groups, especially Partnership minyan
Partnership minyan
Partnership minyan is a term used by the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance to describe a prayer group that, according to its adherents, conforms to the strictures of Orthodox Judaism while still allowing for parts of the services to be led by both men and women...
s, with halachic (Jewish legal) sources that support the participation of women in leadership roles in traditional worship services, including the reading from the Sefer Torah
Sefer Torah
A Sefer Torah of Torah” or “Torah scroll”) is a handwritten copy of the Torah or Pentateuch, the holiest book within Judaism. It must meet extremely strict standards of production. The Torah scroll is mainly used in the ritual of Torah reading during Jewish services...
(Torah scroll), Haftarah
Haftarah
The haftarah or haftoroh is a series of selections from the books of Nevi'im of the Hebrew Bible that is publicly read in synagogue as part of Jewish religious practice...
(biblical
Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible is a term used by biblical scholars outside of Judaism to refer to the Tanakh , a canonical collection of Jewish texts, and the common textual antecedent of the several canonical editions of the Christian Old Testament...
prophetic portions
Nevi'im
Nevi'im is the second of the three major sections in the Hebrew Bible, the Tanakh. It falls between the Torah and Ketuvim .Nevi'im is traditionally divided into two parts:...
), and other special biblical readings, such as the Book of Esther
Book of Esther
The Book of Esther is a book in the Ketuvim , the third section of the Jewish Tanakh and is part of the Christian Old Testament. The Book of Esther or the Megillah is the basis for the Jewish celebration of Purim...
on the Jewish festival
Jewish holiday
Jewish holidays are days observed by Jews as holy or secular commemorations of important events in Jewish history. In Hebrew, Jewish holidays and festivals, depending on their nature, may be called yom tov or chag or ta'anit...
of Purim
Purim
Purim is a Jewish holiday that commemorates the deliverance of the Jewish people in the ancient Persian Empire from destruction in the wake of a plot by Haman, a story recorded in the Biblical Book of Esther .Purim is celebrated annually according to the Hebrew calendar on the 14th...
.
New Lay-Led Jewish Worship Groups
Independent minyanIndependent minyan
Independent minyan is a term that describes a number of lay-led Jewish worship and study communities that have developed independently of established denominational and synagogue structures within the organized Jewish community. Some began in the late 1990s and most since the year 2000, though...
is a term used to describe a number of lay-led Jewish worship and study communities that attempt to combine a commitment to traditional worship and egalitarianism
Egalitarianism
Egalitarianism is a trend of thought that favors equality of some sort among moral agents, whether persons or animals. Emphasis is placed upon the fact that equality contains the idea of equity of quality...
, in groups that normally avoid identification with one specific Jewish religious movement. Partnership minyan
Partnership minyan
Partnership minyan is a term used by the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance to describe a prayer group that, according to its adherents, conforms to the strictures of Orthodox Judaism while still allowing for parts of the services to be led by both men and women...
is a term used by the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance
Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance
The Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance was founded in 1997 with the aim of "expand[ing] the spiritual, ritual, intellectual, and political opportunities for women with the framework of halakha," or Jewish law...
(JOFA) to describe similar groups within the Orthodox Jewish community
Orthodox Judaism
Orthodox Judaism , is the approach to Judaism which adheres to the traditional interpretation and application of the laws and ethics of the Torah as legislated in the Talmudic texts by the Sanhedrin and subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and...
that attempt to involve women in worship services to the maximum extent possible in terms of traditional Jewish legal decisions, while still identifying with the Modern Orthodox
Modern Orthodox Judaism
Modern Orthodox Judaism is a movement within Orthodox Judaism that attempts to synthesize Jewish values and the observance of Jewish law, with the secular, modern world....
community, within the larger movement of Orthodox Judaism.
The word minyan
Minyan
A minyan in Judaism refers to the quorum of ten Jewish adults required for certain religious obligations. According to many non-Orthodox streams of Judaism adult females count in the minyan....
, used in both of terms, comes from the Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
word (מנין) for the prayer quorum traditionally required for a full Jewish prayer service.
Background
In 2008, Elitzur Avraham Bar-Asher and his wife, Michal Bar-Asher Siegal, "an Orthodox couple" that was serving "as halachic consultants" to minyanim in Boston and New Haven, were approached "about formulating a guide for congregations looking to establish egalitarian minyans."They subsequently published the "Guide for the 'Halakhic Minyan.'"
The Bar-Ashers are "Israeli scholars," who, at the time the guide was published, were PhD candidates in the United States. Elitzur Avraham Bar-Asher was a PhD candidate in Semitic Philology at Harvard University and lecturer in Semitics at Yale University’s Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations; and his wife, Michal Bar-Asher Siegal was in the PhD program in the Judaic Studies program, Ancient Judaism at Yale University, a member of the Talmud department at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and a visiting lecturer in the department of Religion at Smith College.
Limits
Their "Guide to the 'Halakhic Minyan'" lists sources that give some direct support to the participation of women in various parts of the worship service, and also includes suggestions—specifically described as carrying "no halakhic weight" (no legal status)--such as the procedure that might be followed for passing the Torah scroll through the men's and women's seating sections. The guide includes the following disclaimer:This guide does not attempt to create a unified practice among different congregations. It means only to present to interested readers the conclusions reached by those who have founded and designed the various congregations. The guide outlines the practices that we have deemed permissible; each congregation should come to its own conclusions according to its reasoning and circumstances.
The guide is meant to help minyanim seeking halakhic justification for expansion of women in leadership roles in different areas of the service and in different ways, whether or not complete egalitarianism, equal roles, is part of the minyan's self-described vision or goals: "While many...minyanim aim to extend participation to women as far as Halacha permits, they are by no means egalitarian - hence the phrase 'halachic minyan' in the title of the guide, and not 'egalitarian minyan.'"
One example of "partnership" which would not be considered "egal" is the suggestion that in minyanim where only men are allowed to "sound" the shofar
Shofar
A shofar is a horn, traditionally that of a ram, used for Jewish religious purposes. Shofar-blowing is incorporated in synagogue services on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.Shofar come in a variety of sizes.- Bible and rabbinic literature :...
(ram's horn), women could call out the commands that describe the pattern of sounds called for at that point in the service.
The authors of the guide go on to say that, "We are engaged in a continuous process of study and clarification. Therefore, this guide should not be taken as comprehensive, and no inference should be made from silence.”
Content
The Guide's introduction includes the following description of three general categories of prayers as they relate to the leadership role of women:From the perspective of the halakhic feasibility of women’s leadership, the prayer service may be divided into three categories:
1. Parts for which there is no reason to forbid women’s leadership. Typically these parts may be left out of the service, or may be led even by a child.
2. Parts of the service for which there is reason to think that women’s leadership would be problematic (devarim shebikdusha, sections that involve positive time-bound commandments or in which the leader fulfills the congregation’s obligation, etc.), but for which women’s leadership is in fact explicitly licensed among some (if in certain cases only a minority of) halachic decisors.
3. Parts where women are apparently barred from fulfilling the congregation’s obligation, though even here halachic solutions can be advanced.
The Guide then attempts to apply these classifications to sections of the service, in the following areas:
- MinyanMinyanA minyan in Judaism refers to the quorum of ten Jewish adults required for certain religious obligations. According to many non-Orthodox streams of Judaism adult females count in the minyan....
(Prayer Quorum) - Weekday services
- Rosh ChodeshRosh ChodeshRosh Chodesh or Rosh ḥodesh is the name for the first day of every month in the Hebrew calendar, marked by the appearance of the new moon. The new moon is marked by the day and hour that the new crescent is observed...
(New Moon) - ShabbatShabbatShabbat is the seventh day of the Jewish week and a day of rest in Judaism. Shabbat is observed from a few minutes before sunset on Friday evening until a few minutes after when one would expect to be able to see three stars in the sky on Saturday night. The exact times, therefore, differ from...
(Sabbath) - The Three Major Festivals: Pesach (Passover), ShavuotShavuotThe festival of is a Jewish holiday that occurs on the sixth day of the Hebrew month of Sivan ....
(Feast of Weeks), and SukkotSukkotSukkot is a Biblical holiday celebrated on the 15th day of the month of Tishrei . It is one of the three biblically mandated festivals Shalosh regalim on which Hebrews were commanded to make a pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem.The holiday lasts seven days...
(Tabernacles/Feast of Booths) - ElulElulElul is the twelfth month of the Jewish civil year and the sixth month of the ecclesiastical year on the Hebrew calendar. It is a summer month of 29 days...
(the final month of the Jewish year) and the High Holy DaysHigh Holy DaysThe High Holidays or High Holy Days, in Judaism, more properly known as the Yamim Noraim , may mean:#strictly, the holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur ;... - Days of Thanksgiving: HanukkahHanukkahHanukkah , also known as the Festival of Lights, is an eight-day Jewish holiday commemorating the rededication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem at the time of the Maccabean Revolt of the 2nd century BCE...
, PurimPurimPurim is a Jewish holiday that commemorates the deliverance of the Jewish people in the ancient Persian Empire from destruction in the wake of a plot by Haman, a story recorded in the Biblical Book of Esther .Purim is celebrated annually according to the Hebrew calendar on the 14th...
, Yom HaAtzmaut (Israeli Independence Day), and Yom Yerushalayim (Jerusalem Day) - Tisha B'AvTisha B'Av|Av]],") is an annual fast day in Judaism, named for the ninth day of the month of Av in the Hebrew calendar. The fast commemorates the destruction of both the First Temple and Second Temple in Jerusalem, which occurred about 655 years apart, but on the same Hebrew calendar date...
(The Ninth of Av) and other Jewish fast days.
Response
Many readers welcomed the guide, and the Bar-Ashers report that they "have received a constant flow of correspondence" since the Guide's publication. A number of minyanim, like Minyan Urim at Yale, linked the Guide to their websites.However, there were negative reactions to its publication, as well. For example, in a Jerusalem Post op-ed
Op-ed
An op-ed, abbreviated from opposite the editorial page , is a newspaper article that expresses the opinions of a named writer who is usually unaffiliated with the newspaper's editorial board...
, Alan Haber wrote wrote that the guide is "not a work of halacha" because:
- The guide "utilizes sources selectively and partially, without regard to majority opinion or precedent."
- It sometimes issues rulings "in express contradiction to the conclusion drawn by the authorities they cite as proof."
- It assesses sources "tendentiously", seeking to find sources to justify a pre-determined agenda rather than to neutrally discern the intent of the earlier authorities.
- Its authors are not rabbis, and are seeking to determine by lay decision-making matters on which Rabbinic Judaism defers to rabbis. ".
Haber wrote that the final point reveals a "fundamental deficiency" of the Guide, because:
- More than anything else, Halacha requires submission to the authority of poskim - halachic decisors. One is free to choose a halachic authority who shares one's world view, and there is also room for debate about the exact scope and extent of the posek's authority. But Halacha is a system of law based on commandments; it is not source material for independent decision-making.".
However, this is exactly the position the authors of the Guide seek to refute. Elitzur Bar-Asher states, “If you have the knowledge, you just don’t need a rabbi.... In fact, what you actually see is we will always be much closer to the text because if you have a mediator they manipulate the text.”
“We say," he continues, "if you look very carefully at the sources ... if you look at them carefully, there’s a lot of opportunity for women to be incorporated or lead those prayer services....The problem is, if you’re dealing with the establishment, that’s much harder to do.”
In terms of the charge sometimes leveled against them that the couple approaches halakhah "with an agenda," both Elitzur and Michal admit that this claim is true, and that they both are in favor of "gender equality." However, in their opinion there is nothing wrong with such a goal, so long as they respect the law:
- "The important thing is that we are obligated by halachah and recognise that we can't actively change any existing rules. That does not mean there is anything wrong with searching to find out if there are things that sources allow women to do which they just don't tend to do."
See also
- Guide for the Halakhic Minyan, Hebrew edition.
- "Egalitarianism, Tefillah, and Halakhah." (Produced as a result of a project coordinated by Open Source:A Halakhah Think Tank, www.halakhah.org.)
Further reading
- Eliav Shochetman. Sinay 135-136 (2005), pp. 271–336 (Article by Hebrew University Law School professor criticizing Mendel Shapiro's analysis )
- Daniel SperberDaniel SperberDaniel Sperber is a professor of Talmud at Bar-Ilan University in Israel, and an expert in classical philology, history of Jewish customs, Jewish art history, Jewish education and Talmudic studies.-Biography:...
, The Path of Halacha, Women Reading the Torah: A Case of Pesika Policy, Rubin Mass, Jerusalem, 2007 (Hebrew) - Kevod Hatzibbur: Towards a Contextualist History of Women's Role in Torah Reading Nashim: A Journal of Jewish Women's Studies & Gender Issues - Number 12, Fall 5767/2006, pp. 261–288
- "Dignity of the Congregation" as a Defense Mechanism: A Halakhic Ruling by Rabbi Joseph Messas Nashim: A Journal of Jewish Women's Studies & Gender Issues - Number 13, Fall 5767/2007, pp. 183–206
- Tova HartmanTova HartmanTova Hartman is a Professor of Gender Studies and Education at Bar Ilan University of Ramat Gan, specializing in gender and religion, and gender and psychology...
, Feminism Encounters Traditional Judaism: Resistance and Accommodation. Brandeis University Press, 2007. ISBN 1-58465-658-1.
External links
- JOFA partnership minyan pages with minyan list
- Directory of Worldwide Partnership Minyanim
- Sources in Hebrew and English by Bar Ilan University Professor Meir Kalech
- JOFA Mixed Torah Reading Articles
- Cherney, Ben. JHCS 10, 57-75. Discussion of halakhic issues with men hearing women sing.
- Feldman, EmanuelEmanuel FeldmanEmanuel Feldman is an Orthodox Jewish rabbi and rabbi emeritus of Congregation Beth Jacob of Atlanta, Georgia. During his nearly 40 years as a congregational rabbi, he nurtured the growth of the Orthodox community in Atlanta from a community small enough to support two small synagogues to a...
. . Jewish ActionJewish ActionJewish Action is an American Orthodox Jewish magazine published by the Orthodox Union.The magazine generally presents a Modern Orthodox viewpoint, and covers "topics of interest to an international Orthodox Jewish audience.....
Winter 1999. Arguments that Orthodoxy and feminism are generally incompatible - Sugarman, Katriel . The Jewish Voice and Opinion July 2007, p. 8.
- Frimer, Aryeh A., Lo Zu haDerekh: A Review of Rabbi Prof. Daniel Sperber's Darka shel Halakha (The Path of Halakha)
- S. Riskin and M. Shapiro, "Torah Aliyyot for Women – A Continuing Discussion" Meorot - A Forum of Modern Orthodox Discourse - 7:1 Tishrei 5769 (September 2008)