Re: Kol Ishah again

[Lori Cahan-Simon <l_cahan...>]

Here's the problem I have with this.  If I understand correctly, there is 
nothing
in the Tanach that prohibits men from hearing women sing during specific prayers
or any other time.  At some point in history, some man was distracted by a 
woman's
voice and decided to make it a law to not hear it.  It is always a goal in 
prayer
that one's kavanah be centered wholly on the prayer, but so many things might
distract any person.  Maybe this man had a personal problem, but that was way
before Freud, so he had an alternate, testosterone-empowered way of dealing with
it - rub it out.  From my admittedly incomplete studies, I don't believe this 
was
an original intention of our maker.  The laws of Judaism, while enlightened as 
to
Humanity, can be repressive to women and this, again IMHO, was a male
interpretation of the divine intention.  We are imperfect and have not 
represented
perfection perfectly.  It is up to humanity to strive for continual 
approximation
of this perfection.  Mistakes should be corrected; apologies and retribution 
made
to those wronged.  That is the Jewish way.

TROMBAEDU (at) aol(dot)com wrote:

> In a message dated 3/9/00 9:35:54 AM Eastern Standard Time,
> physchem (at) earthlink(dot)net writes:
>
> << Pressure applied gently but firmly helps.  Judaism survived events like the
>  destruction of the Temple, and evolved in response to historical changes,
>  because it is not inflexible.  We have seen it in my lifetime.  The Orthodox
>  were opposed to Zionism; now, only a tiny minority are firmly anti-Zionist,
>  and many more are the most fervent Zionists.
>   >>
>
> As I have made clear in many of my posts, I am not against change. I am
> opposed to automatic rejection of Orthodox positions just because we do not
> like them. I have a more subtle approach. I do not believe in applying any
> pressure whatsoever.  I do not believe in changing Halacha to fit in to our
> more enlightened times. What I do believe in is that when change is
> necessitated by grass roots strivings, then people of honest intent and open
> minds have an obligation to work the Halacha as much as possible to allow
> those people to fulfill their aspirations. I do not believe in making women
> Rabbi's. I believe in responding to the aspirations of women to be Rabbis by
> finding as much room in Halacha as possible to allow them to do it, without
> rejecting traditional Halachik jurisprudence.
>
> Jordan
>

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