Re: Kol Ishah again

[robert wiener <wiener...>]

When we approve the position of halakhah we brag about how enlightened
we were/are (e.g., the ketubbah as a women's rights document, the de
facto prohibition of capital punishment, the humane treatment of
slaves).  But when we don't approve, rather than working to change the
halakhah has it has always changed in the past, many say that it's not
Jewish or even that we should resist outside secular influences.

Bob

-----Original Message-----
From: Lori Cahan-Simon <l_cahan (at) staff(dot)chuh(dot)org>
To: World music from a Jewish slant <jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org>
Date: Thursday, March 09, 2000 5:35 PM
Subject: Re: Kol Ishah again


>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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>