On cranial attire
Two nights ago I found myself talking with a classmate about the issue of women and kippot. More particularly, we were discussing her personal discomfort with wearing said Israelite beanies,* which she has lately worn while serving as sha"z due to what she perceives as the community's insistence.**
We were joined after a short while by a yeshiva student who felt that head coverings ought to be required of all women in egalitarian synagogues. He was answered with the idea that it might not be a halakhah that applies to women, but countered that a non-Jewish man who walks into a traditional shul is offered a kippah and is expected to wear it. As such, he reasoned, the issue is clearly not one of ritual halakhah, which non-Jews are not bound to follow.
I was only able to raise a question for discussion before I had to leave: Is it beyond the pale for self-described Egalitarian Jews to consider that there may yet be halakhic differences between men and women?
To clarify: To the extent that the Shulhan Arukh represents a model for unchanging observance — a matter not to be discussed just now — men's head coverings are indeed mandated by halakhah. The difference between that and tefillin, to pick an example, is that there is no scriptural or ritual basis for the practice. So far as I can tell, the halakhah serves roughly the same function as the prohibition against spitting at the dinner table.*** It has, for quite a few centuries and in quite a few places, been the way in which Jewish men conducted themselves respectfully.
Back to women: Should the halakhic field be utterly leveled, with women and men given identical responsibilities?
Women are exempt, we learn, from a few negative commandments of the Torah. One is the prohibition against "rounding" the corners of one's beard.† Women are not bound by this mitzvah for the simple reason that women do not have beards (Women who do have significant amounts of facial hair are nonetheless categorically exempted.) Logically, if we are to render identical women's and men's obligations, this ought to be overturned.
I raise that particular halakhah for three reasons: (1) It doesn't strike me as likely to catch on as a major point of feminist rhetoric; (2) it resembles the kippah issue in that it is a prohibition††; (3) its origin is biblical. If rabbinic injunctions prohibiting certain behaviors by men must be taken up by women, then kal vahomer biblical statutes must be followed.
If you feel that this is a perfectly reasonable course of legislation, best of luck to you. If not — if, perhaps, you find that it's getting a little silly — then you might agree that requiring a woman to cover her head with a kippah or anything else has more to do with sociology than with religious law. That's why I prefer to view the whole thing as a matter of kavod hazzibbur, and therefore to let individual congregations decide.
* She also has concerns with other sorts of hats, but for unrelated reasons.
** This community insists upon many things, some of which contradict others, but there is definitely a contingent that wants all shelihei zibbur to have covered heads, regardless of gender.
*** I don't have a Mishnah Berurah just here with me, but this one can be found in the Makor Hayyim 74:3.
† Lev. 19:27. This is understood to mean cutting certain parts of one's beard down to the skin with a blade.
†† Head coverings are mandated for men in a negative form: one should not say a berakhah bareheaded, etc.
We were joined after a short while by a yeshiva student who felt that head coverings ought to be required of all women in egalitarian synagogues. He was answered with the idea that it might not be a halakhah that applies to women, but countered that a non-Jewish man who walks into a traditional shul is offered a kippah and is expected to wear it. As such, he reasoned, the issue is clearly not one of ritual halakhah, which non-Jews are not bound to follow.
I was only able to raise a question for discussion before I had to leave: Is it beyond the pale for self-described Egalitarian Jews to consider that there may yet be halakhic differences between men and women?
To clarify: To the extent that the Shulhan Arukh represents a model for unchanging observance — a matter not to be discussed just now — men's head coverings are indeed mandated by halakhah. The difference between that and tefillin, to pick an example, is that there is no scriptural or ritual basis for the practice. So far as I can tell, the halakhah serves roughly the same function as the prohibition against spitting at the dinner table.*** It has, for quite a few centuries and in quite a few places, been the way in which Jewish men conducted themselves respectfully.
Back to women: Should the halakhic field be utterly leveled, with women and men given identical responsibilities?
Women are exempt, we learn, from a few negative commandments of the Torah. One is the prohibition against "rounding" the corners of one's beard.† Women are not bound by this mitzvah for the simple reason that women do not have beards (Women who do have significant amounts of facial hair are nonetheless categorically exempted.) Logically, if we are to render identical women's and men's obligations, this ought to be overturned.
I raise that particular halakhah for three reasons: (1) It doesn't strike me as likely to catch on as a major point of feminist rhetoric; (2) it resembles the kippah issue in that it is a prohibition††; (3) its origin is biblical. If rabbinic injunctions prohibiting certain behaviors by men must be taken up by women, then kal vahomer biblical statutes must be followed.
If you feel that this is a perfectly reasonable course of legislation, best of luck to you. If not — if, perhaps, you find that it's getting a little silly — then you might agree that requiring a woman to cover her head with a kippah or anything else has more to do with sociology than with religious law. That's why I prefer to view the whole thing as a matter of kavod hazzibbur, and therefore to let individual congregations decide.
* She also has concerns with other sorts of hats, but for unrelated reasons.
** This community insists upon many things, some of which contradict others, but there is definitely a contingent that wants all shelihei zibbur to have covered heads, regardless of gender.
*** I don't have a Mishnah Berurah just here with me, but this one can be found in the Makor Hayyim 74:3.
† Lev. 19:27. This is understood to mean cutting certain parts of one's beard down to the skin with a blade.
†† Head coverings are mandated for men in a negative form: one should not say a berakhah bareheaded, etc.
posted by Lawrence | 8:11 AM
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