•■ •••••• ■ ••••••"'••••
•
22 Friday, January 3, 1986
•
THEI1ETROIT JEWISH NEWS
•
I
j.
Conservative Jewish
women in Detroit
are taking sides
over participation
in services.
BY ESTHER ALLWEISS TSCHIRHART
Special to The Jewish News
•
-
•
'It started out simply_ enough.
Ida katz had come to the synagogue
that morning to observe yahrzeit for
her mother: But there was a surprise
in store for the 95-year-old Katz. For
the first time in her life as a Jewish
woman, the shammos of a Conserva-
five Jewish synagogue was inviting
her to go up on the bimah to say
Kaddish.
Katz didn't decline.
"She enjoyed every minute of
it," relates Jeanette Tilchin, who ac-
companied her mother to the bimah
at Cong. Beth Shalom. "She said it
(Kaddish) with me and she said it
perfectly."
Returning toiler seat, high with
excitement, Tilchin says Katz turned
to her and exclaimed: "I'm going to
study and next time I'm going to do
it myself!"
There are two basic reactions to
this anecdote: one of them is plea-
sure, another is dismay,
The "battle lines" are drawn, it
seems, when it, comes to accepting
women's religious participation. As
Daniel J. Elazar and Rela Geffen
Monson say in their article "Women
in the Synagogue Today"
(Midstream Magazine, April 1981),
"Within the Reform movement,
equal participation of women is the
norm; while within the Orthodox
camp, sex-role segregation remains
overwhelmingly dominant." The
greatest division on this issue, they
say, appears among Conservative
Jews, who belong to the largest
branch of American Judaism.
Conservative Jewish women in
Detroit, as elsewhere, hold greatly
divergent opinions on the role of
women in the synagogue. Their vie-
wpoints run the gamut from liberal
to traditional. What unites them all
is the strength of their convictions
and their commitment to what is
best for Conservative Judaism. Some
of these women do not want to see
their sisters become equal to men in
the synagogue; they emphatically
prefer the status quo. But other
women just as strongly insist that
egalitarianism must be permitted
and may even be inevitable. Women,
they say, should participate as
equals in the religious life of a con-
gregation.
Because the Conservative
Jewish establishment has no blanket
policy on what women can and can-
not do in a ,synagogue, Conservative
congregations nationwide have felt
free to make their own decisions
about women's participation. In met-
ropolitan Detroit, congregations re-
flect a wide spectrum of philosophies
and practices in regard to women.
Mixed seating is universal, but other
types of participation are permitted
to varying degrees. Are women
counted in the minyan? Are they
permitted to have an aliyah? Can
they read the Haftorah? Each con-
gregation, with its own religious
leadership, makes these kinds of de-
To some observers, the individu-
ality of the congregations provides
an opportunity for Conservative
Jews to attend services where they
feel most comfortable. Other people,
however, are just as certain that the
more liberal congregations are
wrong, and tarnish Conservative
Judaism by broadening women's
'.
traditional religious roles. They see
no compromise.
The current Jewish feminist
movement started in 1972, according
to leaders Dr. Paula Hyman and Ar-
lene Argus, when a group of Jewish
women petitioned the Rabbinical As-
sembly (the professional association
of Conservative rabbis), meeting in
New York, to allow equal access for
women to Jewish religious experi-
ence, expression and education. Even
as' early as 1955, the Co ittee on
Law and Standards of the Rabbinical
Assembly, which issues decisions on
matters governing Conservative
Judaism, published a halakhic opin-
ion, authored by Rabbi Aaron Blu-
menthal, permitting the calling of
women to the Torah.
A unique aspect of the commit
tee, says Hyman, is that "it issues
both majority and minority reports,
and individual rabbis can accept
either one of them," Hyman said.
"Counting women in the minyan, for
example, was a majority decision in
1973."
• A longtime member of Cong.
B'nai Moshe in Oak Park, who calls
herself an ardent feminist, notes
that a minority decision can be re-
leased even if only one'person disag-
rees with the majority. So the major-
ity decision permitting women to
join a minyan (traditionally, a
prayer quorum of 10 men) by no
means had to be universally ac-
cepted throughout the Conservative
Jewish_ movement. That's been a
large disappointment to the B'nai
Moshe member and other Jewish
feminists who thought they had won
that right as early as 1973.
Neighboring Cong. Beth
Shalom, under Rabbi David A. Nel-
son, is the only major area Conser-
vative Jewish synagogue that per-
mits both sexes to join a minyan.
Rabbi Nelson said women in his
congregation began to be counted in
a minyan by 1977. The change was
made, he said, "as an official act of
(Beth Shalom's) ritual committee,
with the support of its rabbi."
B'nai Moshe, which currently' is
undergoing more than a little soul-
searching about women's participa-
tion, came close to allowing women
to join a minyan this year. In July,
the synagogue's leadership voted by
a 16-15 margin to let women play a
greater role at B'nai Moshe. "Women
would be allowed to do all things
that are halachicly permitted, given
that they're qualified to do so,"
explained Rabbi Stanley Rosenbaum.
But the strong feelings and lack of
consensus led to a compromise.
One B'nai Moshe .feminist bit
terly describes the compromise as al-
lowing women to 'open and close the
ark; they could have alternative ser-
vices, but never in the main
sanctuary; and there would be a
moratorium on further changes (for
women) for the next two years." Her
reaction?. "I now feel as if I've been
sold down the river."
Is there justification in Jewish
tradition for women to participate as
equals to men in the synagogue?
Yes, says Rabbi Aaron Blu-
menthal. In his article "An Aliya for
Women" published by the Rabbinical
Assembly in 1977, Rabbi Blument-
hal writes that there is Talmudic
precedent for women to be called to
.
,
,
-