Re:

[janeen kobrinsky <janeenk...>]

Dear Brian,

having spent a big chunk of my adult life as a frummer yid (shaitel and all) I
can tell you that no orthodox shul gives women equal participation...kol ishah
being just one little part of this.

The reason that few women go to Friday night services is because they're home
benching licht and keeping shabbos dinner...I rarely attended any services
(except for yomim tovim) because we had no eruv so I could not carry a child or
push a stroller, and we have 6 children so there was always a baby around.  My
shabbos day went kind of like this...my husband went off to shul early and
arrived home about 1pm.  Whichever children could walk the two blocks to shul 
got
to go with him...the rest stayed home with me. We  then had shabbos lunch, a
little shluf and then he went back to shul for shalosh seudas by 3 or 4 for
learning and mincha...he'd return after shabbos and make havdalah for us.

This scenario doesn't make equal participation in services possible.

We had a michitzah...you could see through it... but the Torah was not allowed 
in
the women's side - not because of impurity because my understanding is the the
Torah has the characteristics of ash/fire and cannot be made impure - but 
because
none of the men were willing to pass it to the womens' side - they claimed it
disturbed their kavannah.

Now I sing from the bimah...wearing a (chas v'chalilah) tallis and kipah and my
husband sits ...sometimes next to our now grown daughters...and listens to me
sing.  We've come a long way.

shabbat shalom
janeen





Chazzzan wrote:

> Rachelle, are you familiar with the thinking behind the mechitzah, separating
> men from women in a traditional synagogue?  In our shul, almost no women
> attend of Friday night, while we have a full house on Shabbat morning.
>
> In many Orthodox synagogues, women are no longer relegated to the back of the
> room or a balcony.  In our synagogue, women have an equal view and
> participation in the services.  We wanted people from all backgrounds to feel
> comfortable in our shul.
>
> The only drawback is that I cannot sit with my wife, as we used to in the
> Conservative synagogue, and hug and kiss a lot.
>
> Shabbat Shalom
>
> Brian