84

Friday, March 15, 1985

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

BACKGROUND

Israeli Orthodox Feminist

BY CARL ALPERT
Special to The Jewish News

Haifa — Penina Peli.was born
in New York, the daughter of an
Orthodox rabbi who ministered
to a Chassidic type shtiebel on
New York's West Side. She -mar-
ried an Orthodox rabbi, and the
two moved to Jerusalem in
1952, where they today main-
tain an Orthodox home.
But Penina Peli is not the typ-
ical rebbitzin. She has studied
Jewish law and lore, and has
come to -the conclusion that the
rigid interpretation of halacha
(traditional Jewish law) in our
times is doing a great injustice
to women in Judaism. While she
strictly observes Shabbat, kash-
rut and the many mitzvot of a
full Jewish life, she calls for
greater participation by women
in the mitzvot which are usual-
ly reserved for men only.
Relegation of women to the
balconies, or to seats behind cur-
tained partitions (mechitzot) is
not only an unjust indignity, she
maintains, but actually contrary
to traditional Jewish practice.
Up to the 14th century, she
says, there is no evidence of sep-
aration of the sexes at worship.
She cites a Hebrew University
scholar, Prof. Shafrai, who de-
clares that the Catholic Church
was the first, in medieval times,
to separate the sexes, and in-
deed Christians were warned not
to enter synagogues where men
and women sat together. Later,
when Jews adopted galut (Dia-
spora) patterns, they picked up
many Christian habits, among
them in the matter of seating.
The whole subject of keeping
women apart is a social issue,
Penina Peli told us, not a reli-
gious or theological one. She
cites the Talmud to the effect
that women can even be called
to the Torah, and she asks that
this right be restored to them. It
inevitably follows that women
can be counted in a minyan, and
if properly educated, even func-
tion as rabbis — all this in the
name of traditional, orthodox
Judaism. Her program is not a
revolutionary one, she insists. It
is a renewal of the status of
women in Judaism.

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She favors freedom for the
Conservative and Reform in Is-
rael, but does not subscribe
either to their theology or their
practice.
The argument that women are
excluded because at certain
periods of each month they are
impure is nonsense, she main-
tains. Men, too, are often im-
pure. She observes that former
Chief Rabbi Goren, Rabbi Jo-
seph Soloveitchik and the late
Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook did not
hesitate to extend their hands,
of their own volition, to shake
hands with her, contrary to the
practice of Orthodox extremists.
She claims to have covert sup-
port from many rabbis who fear
to say so lest they incur the
wrath of the religious establish-
ment. She cites Rabbi David
Shapiro, of Milwaukee, as ap-
proving the halachic accuracy of
her contention that woman is
not under the "authority" of her
husband, thus opening the way
for her demand for equal rights
for women in Jewish religious
practices.
Aside from homekeeping, she
leads a full and busy life. She
heads the Mitzva Organization,
which assists women to obtain
their rights in rabbinical courts
in matters of divorce and aguna.
She is program director of a
Shabbat Retreat program, con-
ducts a halachic study group of
women, is called on to lecture,
and of course continues with
systematic study of Jewish law
and tradition.
She has taken steps to put her
beliefs into practice, and since
no Orthodox synagogue in Jeru-
salem is prepared to accept
women on an equal basis, she
has established an all-women's
minyan, which meets periodical-
ly on Shabbat. They wear prayer
shawls, follow the full Orthodox
prayer services, read from the
Torah scroll and call their mem-
bers to the Torah. There is no
problem of mixed seating, since
all those present are women.
When her daughter was twelve,
she conducted a formal Bat
Mitzvah service, with an all-
women's minyan, and her
daughter read from the Torah.
Her husband, and any other
men who were present, sat be-
hind a mechitza. Her husband
was quoted as saying that he
found it a very unpleasant ex-
perience to follow the service
from behind a curtain.
Penina Peli told us that there
are many women who believe as
she does. She is aware of Ortho-
dox groups in Brooklyn, Wash-
ington Heights and Riverdale in
New York, Portland, Oregon,
and Baltimore, which already
hold limited women's services,
including Torah reading.
There is much more to tell.
She plans to call an internation-
al conference of women in hala-
cha, to be held in Jerusalem, and
invites all who are interested in
the conference or in her program
to write to her — Penina Peli, 9
Brenner Street, Jerusalem.

Remember the
1 lth Commandment:

"And Thou
Shalt be
Informed"

■ —•

N e7

■ ••

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