Surprising Renewal: Are Women Really Exiled from the Religious-Walking Space?

If you wanted a hot spot for discussion within the Orthodox halakhic realm, then the degree of equality between men and women is surely one. The reference to this matter is really polarizing. Surprise of the week: Women are allowed time for the food blessing and some refuse to oblige like the men

Women in Slichot at the Western Wall (Photo: Noam Moskowitz)

Slavery at the Western Wall, Jerusalem, October 2016 (Photo: Noam Moskowitz)

If you wanted a hot spot for discussion within the Orthodox halakhic realm, then the degree of equality between men and women is surely one. The reference to this issue is really polarizing: alongside communities where a woman makes a difference to her family, even though her husband is and can differentiate, you will find on the other side communities where women in the synagogue are not allowed to take a foothold, or even open space, in a space outside a women's area.

I will not forget a visit to the "New Poetry" synagogue in Jerusalem, where I was first exposed to a woman who teaches Torah, raises men to the stage reading the Torah, takes the Torah scroll out of the closet for a tour of the synagogue before and after reading the Torah, and more. Women sit alongside men as they face the Holy Ark with a temporary partition along the synagogue. Be assured that this form of sitting is unthinkable at all in ultra-Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox synagogues.
Today, synagogues can be found as new poetry in a number of places in the country, especially in immigrant-based communities from the United States, where the social agenda of women's equality in the synagogue and the Orthodox halachic area is particularly strong.

And what did we learn on the daily page this week? When three men who have eaten together want to bless the blessing of food after the meal, they must oblige. To say - "gentlemen blessed ... with permission ... blessed with our own food ... blessed with our own and for the good of our lives." Anyone who has been to a feast of observance knows this word. And what about three women who ate together? Well, although many women are exempt from this commandment, the situation is different: there are opinions that say they can summon but do not have to, and some are far-reaching and even decisive: they have a duty to summon and say "gentlemen bless" just like men.

So if you thought that the sages of Israel throughout the ages have excluded women from halakhic roles traditionally belonging to men - you have been wrong. When it comes to food, the woman's place is long ago not only in the kitchen - it is also summoned to the food pool like the men, provided the diners are women. What happens when the feast involves women and men? Here's where the business gets more complex, but let's just enjoy the thoughtfulness of it.

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