“Partnership minyan”的意思、由来-开放百科全书

Some partnership minyanim also wait to begin parts of the service requiring a minyan until 10 women as well as 10 men are present. Such a service is also known as a Shira Hadasha-style minyan, after Kehillat Shira Hadasha in Jerusalem, among the first such prayer groups to be established, in 2001.

Various structural innovations have been devised to permit women to lead prayers while maintaining distinct men's and women's sections, such as separate shtenders (reader's lecterns) and a mechitza going down the middle of the room.^[4] Men can also be limited in which service parts they can lead.

In response to arguments that the halakhic underpinnings of the approach are stronger if done on a temporary and situational basis, some Partnership Minyanim, including Shira Hadasha, have deliberately chosen to meet in spaces that are not regularly or permanently used for synagogue worship, and some meet on a situational schedule rather than every Shabbat. In keeping with arguments that women are permitted to read only some but not all the aliyot on shabbat, Partnership minyanim generally do not permit women to be called for the two aliyot reserved to a Kohen and Levi if they are present, but only the last five of the seven aliyot on Shabbat, plus the maftir for the reading from the Prophets. In keeping with arguments that the Talmudic sources involved apply only to the seven aliyot on Shabbat, some partnership minyanim meet only on Shabbat or on other occasions, such as Purim, where other special halakhic arguments supporting greater women's participation have been made. (See Women and megilla reading on Purim.)

Some minyanim, especially in Israel, meet regularly on every shabbat and on every holiday.

A small number of partnership minyanim have been established in Israel, the United States, Canada,^[5] and Australia.^[6]

History

The first two partnership minyanim were established almost simultaneously without connection to one another in 2002: Shira Hadasha in Jerusalem and Darkhei Noam in New York City. Both described in their founding materials the goal of maximizing women's participation in prayer services within the boundaries of Orthodox understandings of Jewish law. According to scholar William Kaplowitz, within six years there were over twenty other similar synagogues around the world, including: Shira Hadasha in Melbourne, Australia, Darchei Noam in Modi’in, and others in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Toronto, New Haven, Cambridge, Washington, D.C., and several more, (including a cluster in the Tri-State area alone). By 2014, an additional dozen or so were created in communities such as Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Mazkeret Batya and Beersheba in Israel, two in the United Kingdom, several on college campuses, and more.

Some partnership minyanim differ over details—such as whether to wait for ten women or whether women can lead the hallel service—but they all retain certain basic practices. Within a partitioned service, women read from the Torah, make the blessing on the Torah, chant the weekly prophetical portion of the Bible known as haftarah, lead some parts of the service, teach Torah, make speeches, sit on boards, and take part in decision-making. But women do not generally lead parts of the service that are thought to require a traditional quorum, or minyan – such as leading prayers known as kaddish and kedusha which traditionally require the response of “amen” from ten men.

The spread of partnership minyanim, according to Kaplowitz, does not follow a pattern based on proportionality to size of Orthodox populations. Rather, there are certain regions with clusters and other places with none at all. In his 2008 thesis, he noted: "The Los Angeles area, with around two times as many Jews as the Chicago area, has one partnership minyan to Chicago’s three; Southeast Florida, with about twice as many Jews as Chicago, has none. New Haven has a partnership minyan, but Philadelphia, with around twelve times as many Jews, does not. Ann Arbor has a partnership minyan but neither Detroit, Cleveland, nor Baltimore, each with over twelve times as many Jews, does (United Jewish Communities, 2002). In fact, it is worth noting that there are no partnership minyanim in the Sunbelt except for that in Los Angeles; none west of the Atlantic seaboard and east of Michigan; and only one west of Chicago." In his research of this sprawl, Kaplowitz concluded that this is because the partnership minyan is a culture that is transferred one person at a time. The culture does not spread evenly; it spreads when one activist moves and decides to lead the new community towards change. The culture is carried by individuals who have developed an unwavering commitment to the model.^[7] In other words, the culture of partnership minyan is spreading because Orthodox people who participate in these kinds of prayer services often find that they can no longer be part of Orthodox services where women are relegated to "traditional" roles.

Orthodox discourse on "permissibility" according to Jewish law

Public women's prayer services, as well as women's participation in standard public services, are both innovations over the past generation. Many rabbis have weighed in on their permissibility. The permitting rabbis have interpreted various earlier talmudic and halachic sources to either provide conceptual or indirect support for public women's prayer. Other rabbis have analyzed these arguments, and raised various forms of refutation.

Support for partnership minyanim

The existence of partnership minyanim was preceded by an opinion by Modern Orthodox Rabbi Mendel Shapiro in 2001,^[8] subsequently joined by Bar-Ilan University Talmud Professor Rabbi Daniel Sperber,^[9] claiming that halakha (Jewish law) permits Orthodox women to be called to, and to read from, the Torah on Shabbat under certain conditions. These opinions rely on earlier authorities including the Magen Avraham. Dr. Joel B. Wolowelsky also expressed an opinion which, while not offering a formal opinion on the halachic issues, suggested that the partnership minyan enterprise was not necessarily inconsistent with an Orthodox hashkafah (outlook).^[10]

Rabbi Mendel Shapiro

Rabbi Shapiro's analysis focused on a Baraita in the Babylonian Talmud stating that:

Rabbi Shapiro's primary argument, based on the language of this baraita as well as traditional commentaries to it, was that women were only discouraged from performing public Torah reading based on a social concern for the dignity of the congregation ("Kevod HaTzibur"). While Jewish law usually demands that public rituals be led by those who are obligated in that particular ritual- and women are generally considered to be not obligated in public Torah reading- R. Shapiro demonstrated that public Torah reading is an exception, based on the baraita's explicitly allowing a minor, who is also not obligated, to lead. therefore, he argued, only "the dignity of the congregation" was invoked to discourage women from reading. He then analyzed the weight of the "dignity of the congregation" prohibition. Analyzing authorities on the law of Kevod HaTzibur, he noted a number of other situations which were rabbinically prohibited due to the "dignity of the congregation", such as rolling a Torah scroll in front of the congregation or having a person too young to have a beard serve as Hazzan. Citing authorities who held that congregational dignity could be waived in some of these matters, including the common practice of having teenagers lead the congregation in contemporary synagogues, he concluded that a congregation could waive its dignity on this issue as well, and an Orthodox congregation choosing to do so could call a woman to the Torah in much the same way that it could choose to have a teenager lead prayers at a Bar Mitzvah. Rabbi Shapiro also briefly addressed certain other objections, arguing for example that because some authorities have held that women can read the Megilla on Purim to men, chanting the Megilla, and hence the Torah, is not a kind of singing subject to restrictions on the issue of kol isha, the female singing voice.^[8]

Rabbi Daniel Sperber

Rabbi Sperber agreed with Rabbi Shapiro's argument that the baraita in Megillah 23a indicated that the Sages instituted "we do not call a woman" as a later prohibition, and that calling a woman was originally permitted. He focused on the concept of Kevod HaBriyot ("human dignity"), a Talmudic concept by which rabbinical prohibitions are sometimes waived in order to preserve honor or dignity. Noting that the concept had received modern applications by Orthodox decisors including an opinion by Rabbi Eliezer Waldenberg permitting wearing a hearing aid on Shabbat (based on a Talmudic opinion overriding the rabbinic prohibition against carrying on Shabbat to permit a person needing to defecate to carry wiping material), Rabbi Shapiro argued that the Kevod HaBriyot concept could be applied to override the rabbinic prohibition against calling women to the Torah on grounds of human dignity or respect.^[9]

Dr. Joel B. Wolowelsky

Dr. Wolowelsky wrote that although the Talmud appears to have an iron-clad rule that a Kohen should always be called to the Torah first and early practice gave precedence to Torah scholars, the Magen Avraham proposed the then-novel idea that individuals observing special occasions, such as a wedding or Bar Mitzvah, should have precedence. The Magen Avraham's view eventually prevailed, and subsequent commentators, including Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef, developed his ideas to the point of creating various exceptions under which a Yisrael observing a special occasion could sometimes be called first even if a Kohen is present and refuses to waive the first aliyah. Observing that it is important to be able to tell whether a new approach can be considered a legitimate effort to develop the tradition or an illegitimate attempt to manipulate it, he suggested that changes in traditional concepts of respect involved in the idea of sometimes calling a woman to the Torah based on the Magen Avraham's ideas, may not necessarily be any more radical or threatening to the tradition, from a hashkfic (outlook or worldview) point of view, than the changes involved in developments leading to sometimes not calling a Kohen first.^[10]

Objections to partnership minyanim

Orthodox leaders who express public support for partnership minyan and expanded roles for women are often delegitimized by representatives of the rabbinic establishment claiming to speak on behalf of "mainstream" or "majority" of Orthodox Jews.^[11] In some cases, rabbis supporting partnership minyan have been publicly humiliated and privately reprimanded, threatened with losing their status within rabbinic organizations or in one case even losing his title as rabbi.^[12] Below is a sampling of the rabbinic arguments against partnership minyan.

Orthodox objections

Rabbi Yehudah Herzl Henkin

Rabbi Yehudah Herzl Henkin objected to Rabbi Shapiro's claims, but the core of his argument was not about halakha but about social practices. In addition to point-by-point halakhic counterarguments, he also said:

Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis

In 2013 British Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis stated that a partnership minyan service was not something which could take place in synagogues under his auspices.^[14]

Rabbi/Dr. Gidon Rothstein

Rabbi/Dr. Gidon Rothstein (author of Murderer in the Mikdash^[15]), in an article in the Rabbinical Council of America's journal Tradition, analyzed Rabbi Shapiro's arguments and concluded that

Among other arguments, Rabbi Rothstein argued that even according to the lenient opinions that congregations can waive their "dignity", they can do so only on a temporary and situational basis, or as a concession to a particular circumstance after the fact, but not on a permanent basis. Even having a teenager as a regular Hazzan is not comparable, because:

Rabbi Rothstein also argued that only a few of the medieval commentators held that a woman could intrinsically read all the aliyot, that most held they could read only some and some major authorities held they could read only the last one. He argued that the authorities who held a woman could read only the last aliyah "carry greater weight" than the authorities who held they could read more:

Rabbi Rothstein concluded, therefore, that "granting all of Rabbi Shapiros points still only supports women reading the seventh portion."^[16]

Rabbi Rothstein also argued that women are not members of the public community with respect to Torah reading, and the dignity of the community would be affronted by "outsourcing" obligations to non-members:

Articles in The Forward

An article in The Forward (September 20, 2002) summarized Orthodox views immediately following the initial partnership minyan congregations:

A later Forward article (March 5, 2014) suggested that Orthodox authorities "have taken aim at the growing phenomenon of partnership minions," citing many recent statements and articles by Orthodox rabbis and scholars and a reported incident where a rabbinical student at Yeshiva University was reprimanded for hosting a partnership minyan. According to the article, "the only Orthodox institution in the country that seems open to the minyans is Yeshivat Chovevei Torah," a rabbinical seminary in Riverdale.^[18]

Rabbi Yaakov Ariel

Rabbi Yaakov Ariel, the chief rabbi of Ramat Gan, criticized these minyanim in Hazofe, arguing that they do not conform to Jewish law or to Orthodox ideals of prayer, in which men and women must be kept separate at all times. In his critique, Rabbi Ariel wrote that the violation of the "dignity of the congregation" involved refers to the sexual distraction that would be experienced if men and women were not kept separate. He argued that because this sexual distraction is part of human nature, waiving it is out of the question. He also wrote that there could be a problem of kol isha (hearing a woman's singing voice). He argued that partnership minyanim would cause a dispute that would result in a split in the orthodox community, and that women's participation harms the sacredness of the synagogue.^[19]^[20] Elitzur Bar-Asher wrote a rebuttal.^[21]

Rabbi Aryeh A. Frimer

Rabbi Aryeh A. Frimer, author of a number of scholarly works on the status of women in Orthodox halakha including Women and Minyan,^[22] wrote a critique of Rabbi Sperber's arguments in the blog post he entitled "Lo Zu haDerekh: A Review of Rabbi Prof. Daniel Sperber's Darka shel Halakha".^[23]^[24]

Rabbi Frimer briefly critiqued Mendal Shapiro's argument that kevod hatzibur can be waived, arguing that it was unwaivable both because women have been exempted from prominent communal roles out of considerations of modesty, and because since in his view women are not obligated to read while men are, women cannot fulfill the obligation for men.

Rabbi Frimer had two main disagreements with Rabbi Daniel Sperber. His first disagreement was with R. Sperber's view that the Beraita in Megilla 23a ("but the sages say we do not call a woman...") reflected only a recommendation or advice. He marshalled authorities who held that it was obligatory with permission a leniency available only for an emergency.^[25] In his view these authorities had the better argument.

Rabbi Frimer's second and what he characterized as his most important objection was to R. Sperber's argument that kevod hatzibur could be overridden by the principle of kevod habriyot. He strongly objected to the idea of kevod habriyot overriding a rabbinic decree in its entirety, arguing that the kind of embarrassment or shame that would make it possible to invoke kevod habriyot had to come from factors (such as excrement or nakedness) external to the decree that occurred only in limited circumstances. He argued that a rabbinic decree cannot itself be regarded as shameful or embarrassing. To permit a rabbinic prohibition to be characterized as an embarrassment, R. Frimer argued, would give anyone "carte blanch" to abrogate any Rabbinic prohibition simply by saying "This offends me." He said that "Such a position is untenable, if not unthinkable." Accordingly, he argued that "kevod ha-beriyyot cannot be invoked to nullify a rabbinic commandment, where the shame comes from the very fulfillment of the rabbinic injunction itself."^[23]

After noting that R. Sperber "did what a Torah scholar is supposed to do" in making a creative suggestion and presenting it to the scholarly community for criticism and discussion, R. Frimer finished by criticizing those attempting to enact R. Sperber's views into practice immediately. "Considering the novelty of this innovation, religious integrity and sensitivity requires serious consultation with renowned halakhic authorities of recognized stature - prior to acting on such a significant departure from normative halakha." He concluded with a reflection that "the halakhic process is a search for truth - Divine truth" and stressed the importance of not adapting an approach "simply because it yields the desired result."

Liberal objections

For some liberal Jews, partnership minyan does not go far enough in its drive towards gender equality. Because liturgical roles in partnership minyanim are still divided by gender, some liberal Jews find partnership minyanim are not egalitarian enough. The Reform and Reconstructionist movements, as well as most of Conservative Judaism, grant men and women identical roles in their synagogues, services, and leadership.

A test of the Partnership Minyan format at the Wesleyan University Hillel in 2005 led to significant objections among non-Orthodox students, with sophomore Erica Belkin calling it "a test of how far the Jewish community's pluralism and tolerance would extend" and junior Daniella Schmidt stating that "At Wesleyan, we make an effort to provide safe spaces for everyone, including those who prefer orthodox traditions like the mechitza. However, these traditions should not come at the expense of others’ safe space and inclusion."^[26]

Partnership Minyanim proposed Halachic Minyan guide

In February 2008, Elitzur and Michal Bar-Asher released a guide to partnership minyanim called Halachic Minyan^[27]

which the Jerusalem Post characterized as "the first official guide of its kind".^[28]

The guide, in addition to covering the issues of Torah reading and Shabbat services covered by the Shapiro and Sperber opinions, outlined women's participation in a variety of additional areas, the third aliyah to a daily Torah reading; serving as gabbai for a Torah reading; leading kabbalat shabbat and pseukei d'zimra,^[27] the tekiot for blowing the Shofar, leading piyuttim during the repetition of the High Holiday Amidah, and other areas. Audrey Trachtman, a board member of the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance, characterized it as "an exciting and important step" but as "a discussion, not intended to be uniform practice."^[28]

According to the Jerusalem Post, Ramat Gan Chief Rabbi Ya'acov Ariel responded to the publication of the guide by repeating a prohibition against taking part in a partnership minyan, saying that doing so is prohibited by Jewish law.^[20]

Alan Haber wrote an op-ed editorial in the Jerusalem Post criticizing the guide.^[29] He argued that the guide is "not a work of halacha" because:

Sociological research on the dynamics of partnership minyan

Dr. Elana Maryles Sztokman, in her book The Men's Section: Orthodox Jewish men in an Egalitarian World conducted research into the identities and tensions among men who belong to partnership minyans. She found that many Orthodox Jewish men choose to attend these settings due to dissatisfaction with the ways in which Orthodoxy socializes men into constructs of masculinites. Orthodoxy, according to the research, constructs a masculinity that is rooted in obedience, unquestioning performance, emotionlessless, conformity, and elitism. Men who attend partnership minyans are often disillusioned from those constructs and seek a space where they are welcome to think and act for themselves, to be warm and inclusive, to challenge socially-accepted conventions within Orthodox synagogues, and to act out a less exclusively-cerebral and more humanely emotional-spiritual variation of Jewish masculinity.^[30] This book, incidentally, won the 2012 National Jewish Book Council Award.^[31]

Issues and perspectives in application

In the JOFA 10th Anniversary International Conference on Feminism & Orthodoxy (February 10–11, 2007), three members of these minyanim (Elitzur Bar-Asher, Michal Bar-Asher Siegal and Alanna Cooper), in a session under the title: "Beyond Women's Issues: Partnership Minyanim Engages Orthodoxy," discussed issues they encountered and approaches to resolving them in implementing this style of worship, as well as their personal ideological approaches.^[32]

See also

References

1. ^{{cite book|last1=Kaplowitz|first1=William|title=Partnership Minyanim in The United States: Planning Theory in Action|date=2008|publisher=The University of Michigan|location=MA Thesis}}
2. ^JOFA Partnership Minyan Page
3. ^Ross, Tamar. Expanding the Palace of Torah: Orthodoxy and Feminism. Brandeis University Press, 2004, p. 97. {{ISBN|978-1-58465-390-5}}
4. ^[https://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http://www.geocities.com/shira_hadasha&date=2009-10-26+02:32:02 Website of Kehillat Shira Hadasha, Jerusalem]
5. ^"Thinking outside the ortho-box", Canadian Jewish News
6. ^Website of Shira Hadasha of Melbourne, Australia
7. ^{{cite book|last1=Kaplowitz|first1=William|title=Partnership Minyanim in The United States: Planning Theory in Action: A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Urban Planning (Urban and Regional Planning)|date=2008|location=The University of Michigan|page=18}}
8. ^¹Mendel Shapiro, “Qeri’at ha-Torah by Women: A Halakhic Analysis” (Edah 1:2, 2001) (pdf)
9. ^¹Daniel Sperber, "Congregational Dignity and Human Dignity: Women and Public Torah Reading” (Edah 3:2, 2002) (pdf)
10. ^¹Joel B. Wolowelsky, "On Kohanim and Uncommon Aliyyot". Tradition 39:2 (2005) {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070310213716/http://traditiononline.org/news/article.cfm?id=100781 |date=2007-03-10 }}
11. ^{{cite news|last1=Heilman|first1=Uriel|title=Partnership minyans require ‘delicate choreography’ Despite Modern Orthodox leaders’ condemnations, these more egalitarian prayer groups are on the rise among the grassroots|url=http://www.timesofisrael.com/partnership-minyans-require-delicate-choreography/#ixzz3JX763S3K|accessdate=June 1, 2014|publisher=Times of Israel|date=March 10, 2014}}
12. ^{{cite news|last1=JTA|title=YU threatens to block ordination over partnership minyan. Dean says student, whose identity has not been divulged, won’t be rabbi unless he defers to ‘recognized’ arbiters of Jewish law|url=http://www.timesofisrael.com/yu-threatens-to-block-ordination-over-partnership-minyan/#ixzz3JX6eUo1W|accessdate=June 1, 2014|publisher=Times of Israel|date=February 27, 2014}}
13. ^Yehuda Herzl Henkin, {{cite web|url= http://www.edah.org/backend/JournalArticle/1_2_henkin.pdf |title=“Qeri’at ha-Torah by Women: Where We Stand Today.” Edah 1:2, 2001 }} {{small|(259 KiB)}}
14. ^http://forward.com/articles/189556/british-chief-rabbi-ephraim-mirvis-slams-orthodox/#ixzz2seo9TOsL
15. ^[https://www.amazon.com/dp/1419607561 Amazon.com: Murderer in the Mikdash: Books: Gidon Rothstein]
16. ^¹²³⁴Gidon Rothstein, "Women’s Aliyyot in Contemporary Synagogues." Tradition 39:2, Summer 2005 {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060615084724/http://traditiononline.org/news/article.cfm?id=100780 |date=2006-06-15 }}.
17. ^*Eden, Ami. "Gender Taboos Fall at New Orthodox Prayer Services", The Forward, September 20, 2002
18. ^http://forward.com/articles/193860/partnership-minyan-spreads-among-orthodox-and-ra/
19. ^Rabbi Ariel Yaakov "Aliyat Nashim ba-Torah 'o la-Torah" (Women's Aliyot: In the Torah or to the Torah?") "Hazofe" August 8, 2007
20. ^¹Ramat Gan chief rabbi slams 'radical feminist' egalitarian minyanim Jerusalem Post February 20, 2008
21. ^Bar-Asher, Elitzur Avraham, "It is called a 'Halachic Minyan'" "Hazofe" August 8, 2007
22. ^Rabbi Aryeh A. Frimer, "Women and Minyan", Tradition, 1988.
23. ^¹the Seforim blog: Aryeh A. Frimer Review of Daniel Sperber’s Darka shel Halakha
24. ^For a fuller extensively documented presentation, see: “Women, Kri’at haTorah and Aliyyot (with an Addendum on Partnership Minyanim),” Aryeh A. Frimer and Dov I. Frimer, Tradition, 46:4 (Winter, 2013), 67-238.
25. ^R. Frimer cited as an example of a case where leniency was available the ruling of Rabbi Meir of Rothenburg holding that women should be called for the third through seventh aliyah in a minyan consisting entirely of kohanim on grounds that the prohibition against calling two kohanim in a row overrides the prohibition against calling a woman.
26. ^"A Mechitza Down the Middle" New Voices, November 25, 2005
27. ^¹Kobi Nahshoni, "New Guide for the halachic and Egalitarian Minyan". Ynetnews February 10, 2008
28. ^¹[https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/jpost/access/1433199031.html?dids=1433199031:1433199031&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Feb+20%2C+2008&author=MICHAL+LANDO&pub=Jerusalem+Post&edition=&startpage=04&desc=First+guide+for+inclusive+prayer+services+is+published.+New+book+outlines+halachic+borders+for+women%27s+participation+in+synagogue+services First guide for inclusive prayer services is published. New book outlines halachic borders for women's participation in synagogue services] Jerusalem Post, February 20, 2008
29. ^¹Alan Haber, "Egalitarian minyanim? Not authentic. Not Orthodox", Jerusalem Post, February 27, 2008.
30. ^{{cite book|last1=Sztokman|first1=Elana Maryles|title=The Men's Section: Orthodox Jewish Men in an Egalitarian World|date=2011|publisher=Hadassah Brandeis Institute, UPNE|location=Boston}}
31. ^{{cite web|title=Elana Sztokman Author Page|url=http://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/author/elana-sztokman|website=Jewish Book Council|accessdate=November 1, 2013}}
32. ^"Orthodox Conference explores "partnership minyan",The Jewish State

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