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"Guide for the Halakhic Minyan" is a work published to provide Jewish worship groups, especially Partnership minyans, with halachic (Jewish legal) sources that support the participation of women in leadership roles in traditional worship services, including the reading from the Sefer Torah (Torah scroll), Haftarah (biblical prophetic portions), and other special biblical readings, such as the Book of Esther on the Jewish festival of Purim.
Independent minyan is a type of lay-led Jewish worship and study communities that attempt to combine a commitment to traditional worship and egalitarianism in groups that normally avoid identification with one specific Jewish religious movement. The Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance (JOFA) refers to partnership minyan similar groups within the Orthodox Jewish community that attempt to involve women in worship services to the maximum extent possible in terms of traditional Jewish legal decisions, while still identifying with the Modern Orthodox community, within the larger movement of Orthodox Judaism.
The word minyan , used in both of terms, comes from the Hebrew word (מנין) for the prayer quorum traditionally required for a full Jewish prayer service.
In 2008, PhD candidates Michal Bar-Asher Siegal and her spouse Elitzur A. Bar-Asher Siegal, who were serving "as halachic consultants" to minyanim in Boston and New Haven, were approached "about formulating a guide for congregations looking to establish egalitarian minyans." [1] They subsequently published the "Guide for the 'Halakhic Minyan.'"
The Bar-Asher Siegals are "Israeli scholars," [2] who, at the time the guide was published, were PhD candidates in the United States. Elitzur A. Bar-Asher Siegal was a PhD candidate in Semitic Philology at Harvard University and lecturer in Semitics at Yale University’s Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations. Michal Bar-Asher Siegal was in the PhD program in the Judaic Studies program, Ancient Judaism at Yale University, a member of the Talmud department at Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a visiting lecturer in the department of Religion at Smith College. [1]
Their "Guide to the 'Halakhic Minyan'" lists sources that give some direct support to the participation of women in various parts of the worship service, and also includes suggestions—specifically described as carrying "no halakhic weight" (no legal status)--such as the procedure that might be followed for passing the Torah scroll through the men's and women's seating sections. The guide includes the following disclaimer:
This guide does not attempt to create a unified practice among different congregations. It means only to present to interested readers the conclusions reached by those who have founded and designed the various congregations. The guide outlines the practices that we have deemed permissible; each congregation should come to its own conclusions according to its reasoning and circumstances.
The guide is meant to help minyanim seeking halakhic justification for expansion of women in leadership roles in different areas of the service and in different ways, whether or not complete egalitarianism, equal roles, is part of the minyan's self-described vision or goals: "While many...minyanim aim to extend participation to women as far as Halacha permits, they are by no means egalitarian - hence the phrase 'halachic minyan' in the title of the guide, and not 'egalitarian minyan.'" [3]
One example of "partnership" which would not be considered "egal" is the suggestion that in minyanim where only men are allowed to "sound" the shofar (ram's horn), women could call out the commands that describe the pattern of sounds called for at that point in the service. [3]
The authors of the guide go on to say that, "We are engaged in a continuous process of study and clarification. Therefore, this guide should not be taken as comprehensive, and no inference should be made from silence.” [1]
The Guide's introduction includes the following description of three general categories of prayers as they relate to the leadership role of women:
From the perspective of the halakhic feasibility of women’s leadership, the prayer service may be divided into three categories:
1. Parts for which there is no reason to forbid women’s leadership. Typically these parts may be left out of the service, or may be led even by a child.
2. Parts of the service for which there is reason to think that women’s leadership would be problematic (devarim shebikdusha, sections that involve positive time-bound commandments or in which the leader fulfills the congregation’s obligation, etc.), but for which women’s leadership is in fact explicitly licensed among some (if in certain cases only a minority of) halachic decisors.3. Parts where women are apparently barred from fulfilling the congregation’s obligation, though even here halachic solutions can be advanced.
The Guide then attempts to apply these classifications to sections of the service, in the following areas:
Many readers welcomed the guide, and the Bar-Asher Siegals report that they "have received a constant flow of correspondence" since the Guide's publication. [2] A number of minyanim, like Minyan Urim at Yale, linked the Guide to their websites.
However, there were negative reactions to its publication, as well. For example, in a Jerusalem Post op-ed, Alan Haber wrote that the guide is "not a work of halacha" because:
Haber wrote that the final point reveals a "fundamental deficiency" of the Guide, because:
However, this is exactly the position the authors of the Guide seek to refute. Elitzur Bar-Asher Siegal states, “If you have the knowledge, you just don’t need a rabbi.... In fact, what you actually see is we will always be much closer to the text because if you have a mediator they manipulate the text.” [5]
“We say," he continues, "if you look very carefully at the sources ... if you look at them carefully, there’s a lot of opportunity for women to be incorporated or lead those prayer services....The problem is, if you’re dealing with the establishment, that’s much harder to do.” [5]
In terms of the charge sometimes leveled against them that the couple approaches halakhah "with an agenda," both Elitzur and Michal admit that this claim is true, and that they both are in favor of "gender equality." However, in their opinion there is nothing wrong with such a goal, so long as they respect the law:
Halakha is the collective body of Jewish religious laws derived from the written and Oral Torah. Halakha is based on biblical commandments (mitzvot), subsequent Talmudic and rabbinic law, and the customs and traditions compiled in the many books such as the Shulchan Aruch. Halakha is often translated as "Jewish law", although a more literal translation might be "the way to behave" or "the way of walking". The word derives from the root that means "to behave". Halakha guides not only religious practices and beliefs, but also numerous aspects of day-to-day life.
Jewish prayer is the prayer recitation that forms part of the observance of Rabbinic Judaism. These prayers, often with instructions and commentary, are found in the siddur, the traditional Jewish prayer book.
The role of women in Judaism is determined by the Hebrew Bible, the Oral Law, by custom, and by cultural factors. Although the Hebrew Bible and rabbinic literature mention various female role models, religious law treats women differently in various circumstances.
Modern Orthodox Judaism is a movement within Judaism that attempts to synthesize Jewish values and the observance of Jewish law with the secular, modern world.
In Judaism, a minyan is the quorum of ten Jewish adults required for certain religious obligations. In more traditional streams of Judaism, only males 13 and older may constitute a minyan; in more liberal (non-Orthodox) streams women are also counted.
Torah reading is a Jewish religious tradition that involves the public reading of a set of passages from a Torah scroll. The term often refers to the entire ceremony of removing the scroll from the Torah ark, chanting the appropriate excerpt with special cantillation (trope), and returning the scroll(s) to the ark. It is also commonly called "laining".
Rosh Pina is a lay-led independent minyan in Washington, D.C.. It meets for Shabbat morning services twice a month in the National Museum of American Jewish Military History (NMAJMH). It also meets occasionally for Friday night and holiday services, in addition to organizing social and educational events such as shabbatonim and parties to celebrate Hanukkah, Purim and other Jewish holidays.
The Union for Traditional Judaism, founded in 1984, is a traditional, Halakhic Jewish outreach and communal service organization. It initially called itself "The Union for Traditional Conservative Judaism" but dropped "Conservative" from its title when it broke with the Conservative movement. In 1985 Rabbi Ronald D. Price was tapped to lead the organization as Executive Director and later as Executive Vice President. He served in that capacity for 26 years until his retirement in 2011. He was succeeded by Rabbi David Bauman and then Rabbi Gerald Sussman who is currently (2018) the Executive Director. In 1988 after attempting to affect change within Conservative Judaism, the UTJ membership voted to drop the word 'Conservative' from its title. Following a two year period of negotiations, the Rabbinic Fellowship of the UTJ absorbed a modern Orthodox rabbinic organization, the Fellowship of Traditional Orthodox Rabbis. The merged rabbinic body is known today as MORASHAH. Some of the UTJ leaders at various times called themselves Conservative, Modern Orthodox or trans-denominational. The UTJ's Institute of Traditional Judaism (ITJ) granted semikhah to a number of rabbis, though as of 2018 there are no current semikhah students. The UTJ's Panel of Halakhic Inquiry has published three volumes of responsa titled "Tomeikh kaHalakhah." The UTJ produced the educational curriculum "Taking the MTV Challenge—Media and Torah Values" designed to provide high-school students with tools to respond to the electronic media. The UTJ is often viewed as representing a denomination or inhabiting an ideological space between Conservative and Orthodox Judaism.
Jewish feminism is a movement that seeks to make the religious, legal, and social status of Jewish women equal to that of Jewish men in Judaism. Feminist movements, with varying approaches and successes, have opened up within all major branches of the Jewish religion.
Shira Hadasha is a Jewish congregation in the German Colony neighbourhood of Jerusalem, which emphasizes a more expansive role for women in the synagogue. It founded in 2002 by a group of local residents, including Tova Hartman. Shira Hadasha's prayer service format has been adopted by a number of congregations in Israel, the United States, Canada, Europe, and Australia.
Daniel Sperber is a British-born Israeli academic and centrist orthodox rabbi. He is a professor of Talmud at Bar-Ilan University in Israel, and an expert in classical philology, history of Jewish customs, Jewish art history, Jewish education, and Talmudic studies.
Partnership minyan is a religious Jewish prayer group that seeks to maximize women's participation in services within the confines of Jewish law as understood by Orthodox Judaism. This includes enabling women to lead parts of service, read from the Torah, serve in lay leadership positions, sit in a more gender-balanced format, and in some cases count as part of a minyan ("quorum") of ten men and ten women. Partnership minyanim began in 2002 simultaneously in New York and Jerusalem, and have now spread to over 30 communities in at least five different countries around the world.
Conservative Judaism views halakha as normative and binding. The Conservative movement applies Jewish law to the full range of Jewish belief and practice, including thrice-daily prayer, Shabbat and holidays, marital relations and family purity, conversion, dietary laws (kashrut), and Jewish medical ethics. Institutionally, the Conservative movement rules on Jewish law both through centralized decisions, primarily by the Rabbinical Assembly and its Committee on Jewish Law and Standards, and through congregational rabbis at the local level. Conservative authorities produced a voluminous Responsa literature.
Criticism of Conservative Judaism is widespread in the Orthodox Jewish community, although the movement also has its critics in Reform Judaism and in other streams of Judaism. While the Conservative movement professes fidelity to Jewish tradition, it considers Halakha to be a dynamic process that needs reinterpreting in modern times. The criticism by Orthodox Jews and traditionalists within the movement itself revolves around the following:
David Hanoch Yitzchak Bar-Hayim is an Israeli Orthodox rabbi who heads the Shilo Institute, a Jerusalem-based rabbinical court and institute of Jewish education dedicated to the Torah of Israel.
Orthodox Jewish feminism is a movement in Orthodox Judaism which seeks to further the cause of a more egalitarian approach to Jewish practice within the bounds of Jewish Law. The major organizations of this movement is the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance (JOFA) in North America, and Women of the Wall (WOW) and its affiliates in Israel and internationally, known as The International Committee for Women of the Wall (ICWOW). In Israel, the leading Orthodox feminist organization is Kolech, started by Dr. Hannah Kehat. Australia has one Orthodox partnership minyan, Shira Hadasha, in Melbourne.
The DC Minyan is a lay-led Jewish congregation in the Dupont Circle area of Washington, D.C., with programs including Shabbat/Sabbath and Holy Day worship services, education, social events, retreats, and opportunities for tikkun olam, improving and transforming the world. The majority of its worship services, educational programs, and special events take place at the Washington, D.C. Jewish Community Center (DCJCC).
An independent minyan is a lay-led Jewish worship and study community that has developed independently of established denominational and synagogue structures within the organized Jewish community. Some began in the late 1990s and most since the year 2000, though some are several decades older. These new groups often combine a commitment to halakha/Jewish law with egalitarianism, and strive to create worship services where traditional prayer can become "spiritual experiences."
A yoetzet halacha is a woman certified to serve as an advisor to women with questions regarding taharat hamishpacha.
Aryeh Abraham Frimer is an Israeli Active Oxygen Chemist and specialist on women and Jewish law.