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of Young Israel of Southfield who
attended the Skokie conference.
"Specifically, it does bother me
that we have no access to the Torah.
In our shul, on Simchas Torah, the
women don't even bother showing
up. I was one of 10 on the first night,
but most say 'Why bother?' and that's
sad to me because this is supposed to
be a Torah that matters to us, yet we
have no access to it, we have no
access to kissing it as it walks by. It's
a powerful symbol," she said.
In Riverdale, N.Y., Ronnie Becher
chairs the Woman's Tefillah of
Riverdale at the synagogue of Rabbi
Avi Weiss. When it began in 1979,
theirs was the first Orthodox
women's prayer group in the United
States to be housed in a synagogue.
On a regular Shabbat, 50-70
women show up to daven together,
said Becher, who spoke about women's
prayer groups at the conference. They
follow the regular Orthodox service,
take out the Torah and read it. But
they leave out those prayers that
require a minyan, such as Kaddish,
Barechu and Kedushah, because,
Becher said, "We are not a minyan."
They even have a mechitzah — for
the men. That way, male guests who
want to can come and witness a bat
mitzvah. The tefillah group celebrates
baby namings, engagements and
other events of import to women.
They have egalitarian megillot read-
ings on Purim eve and dance with the
Torah on Simchat Torah. The
Riverdale Tefillah also runs a "kosher"
little league team for girls.

Changing the norms is what Shira
Breuer, a conference speaker, has
been trying to do for two decades,
but she acknowledges that it takes
time. Breuer, who made aliyah 20
years ago and is principal of the
Pelech Religious Experimental High
School for Girls in Jerusalem, has
encountered plenty of resistance to
her ideas.
"Today, nobody will attack
[Pelech] for Gemara reading, but they
will attack us for Megillah reading on
Purim. We are the only school in
Israel to deal with feminist issues
within the parameters of Halachah."
At Pelech, the 245 female students
can learn everything — Talmud,
Tanach, math, sciences, the arts. And
yet in some circles in Israel and the
United States, including locally in
Detroit, even adult women are barred
from learning Talmud or other
advanced Torah topics.
Breuer noted that it is "impossible
to have [feminism and Orthodoxy]
separate. Halachah is what allows
Judaism to live as long as it has. The
Halachah was always encountering
new situations, social, economic,
spiritual. The vitality of Halachah is
that it goes along."
Some of the issues that are most
troubling to feminist-thinking
Orthodox women are those which
require women to do more than men.
For example, the issue of modesty, or
sneut (pronounced "sneeyis"), carries
a double standard, requiring females
to cover their knees and elbows and a --
married woman to cover her hair.
Women are not allowed to sing in
public, and some don't even bentsch
Above: Ronnie Becher, watching Ruth
(pray) aloud after meals when men
Gleicher speak about women's prayer
are present. Women cannot dance in
groups.
front of men, but men can dance in
front of women.
Left: Rabbi Dovid Silber: Girls should
The rabbinic precept of kol ishah
have the same access to Torah as boys.
"a woman's voice leads to
ervah
licentiousness" — is highly problem-J)
atic for Greenberg.
"When my daughter was born, we
"To me, kol ishah seemed nothing
named her Shira in the main shul. I
but an overt slur on the female sex,
held the baby, my husband had an
an arbitrary curb on women in the
aliyah. Then we went into the
name of a one-sided modesty meter,"
women's tefillah, Michael held the
she said.
baby, and I had the aliyah," Becher
At the Skokie conference last
said. Her daughter is now 12 1/2.
month, equal numbers of women
Is this a separate but equal
wore hats, sheytls (wigs) which entire,
arrangement? Not quite. It's more
ly hid their real hair from view, or
donned nothing at all on their heads.
separate and distinct.
For starters, Becher said, "Women
A session on hair covering, led by
don't have the same level of comfort
Seattle educator Rivy Poupko
davening as men do; it's a new skill
Kletenik, did not yield any answers as
we're learning. When men daven,
to why some women cover their hair
there's a buzz in shul. When women
and others don't, nor why some inter-
daven, [it's silent]."
pretations of Jewish law direct mar-

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12/12
1997

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