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Aug 12, 2018
banning WoW from blowing shofar at the Kotel
headlines like these bother me so much. If it happened anywhere else, everyone would be screaming anti-semitism and that it evokes memories of the British Mandate period andd of other difficult times in Jewish history.
Kikar has a report about the monthly Rosh Chodesh fighting at the Kotel between the Haredi community and the Women of the Wall members and supporters. Today seems to have been a little bit unique because the WoW people wanted to bring in shofars to blow, as per the custom during the month of Elul at the end of davening.
The event turned violent, as it often does, and someone (on WoW's side) was arrested for acting violently against young protesting the WoW prayer service. Because they were expected to bring in shofars for blowing, the lawyer representing those opposing WoW requested from Avichai Mandelblit, the Attorney General, to ban WoW from bringing and using shofars at the Kotel.
The article does not say if he acceded to the request and banned the shofars or not, but implies that the women were doing something wrong and against the rules.
Even if I think the approach used against WoW is wrong and counter-productive, I can at least understand the opposition to women wearing tefillin in public and reading from torahs when making a minyan. I do not get what is wrong with women blowing shofar. As far as I am aware, the Shulchan Aruch and poskim do not call it yohara or haughtiness, as by teifllin, and there is seemingly nothing halachically inappropriate or disturbing about a woman blowing the shofar. Women are allowed to blow the shofar, especially for themselves and for other women, and according to many even for men. And, the blowing of the shofar now is custom, not obligation, so it is even much more minor of an issue than, say, on Rosh Hashana itself. So, Israelis trying to ban Jews from blowing shofar at the Kotel reminds me of the stories of the British arresting Jews for blowing shofar at the Kotel on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, and I do not understand what the opposition to it is about. They should just continue to focus on opposing the torah reading and tallis/tefillin wearing which makes more sense.
Kikar has a report about the monthly Rosh Chodesh fighting at the Kotel between the Haredi community and the Women of the Wall members and supporters. Today seems to have been a little bit unique because the WoW people wanted to bring in shofars to blow, as per the custom during the month of Elul at the end of davening.
The event turned violent, as it often does, and someone (on WoW's side) was arrested for acting violently against young protesting the WoW prayer service. Because they were expected to bring in shofars for blowing, the lawyer representing those opposing WoW requested from Avichai Mandelblit, the Attorney General, to ban WoW from bringing and using shofars at the Kotel.
The article does not say if he acceded to the request and banned the shofars or not, but implies that the women were doing something wrong and against the rules.
Even if I think the approach used against WoW is wrong and counter-productive, I can at least understand the opposition to women wearing tefillin in public and reading from torahs when making a minyan. I do not get what is wrong with women blowing shofar. As far as I am aware, the Shulchan Aruch and poskim do not call it yohara or haughtiness, as by teifllin, and there is seemingly nothing halachically inappropriate or disturbing about a woman blowing the shofar. Women are allowed to blow the shofar, especially for themselves and for other women, and according to many even for men. And, the blowing of the shofar now is custom, not obligation, so it is even much more minor of an issue than, say, on Rosh Hashana itself. So, Israelis trying to ban Jews from blowing shofar at the Kotel reminds me of the stories of the British arresting Jews for blowing shofar at the Kotel on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, and I do not understand what the opposition to it is about. They should just continue to focus on opposing the torah reading and tallis/tefillin wearing which makes more sense.
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Kotel,
Women of the Wall
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As political as WoW itself is, the opposition has become another front in the fight against women. The louder the opposition, the more support WoW will get.
ReplyDeleteI believe that we should oppose WoW for everything - even acts which may not be halachicly problematic. This is because they are meta-halachicly problematic. It is most definitely a breach in the mesorah - and that in itself deserves opposition.
ReplyDeleteIt is most definitely a breach in the mesorah - and that in itself deserves opposition.
ReplyDeleteAre you going to rip out 50%+ of Shacharis, then? Stop saying Yekum Purkan on Shabbos? How about Av Harachamim before Mussaf? Kapporos?
There's so much we do that were changes to the Mesorah until they were introduced. Breaching the Mesorah is itself a Minhag with a very long pedigree.
You are conflating Mesorah and Minhag. I am referring to the tradition that has been held by all of the Jewish people from time immemorial. Never in history was it practiced that women blew shofar in a public area heard by all. This is a grave breach in tradition and is considered חדשים מקרוב באו לא שערום אבותיכם.
ReplyDeleteAnd the examples you brought are very poor ones. I myself, being Sephardic, never say Yekum Purkan or Av Harahamim. Kapparot is also not a universally accepted minhag - being one that is shunned by Rav Yosef Karo. These are all specific minhagim that have been accepted by portions of Kelal Yisrael with various degrees of acceptance. This has absolutely nothing in common with proper protocol between men and women which is a foundational tradition in Judaism.
I didn't know that Sefaradim don't say Yekum Purkan.
DeleteYou can't have a negative Mesorah. You can't say that just because it's never been done we have a Mesorah not to do it. Otherwise all sorts of Minhagim (and blowing during Elul is just a Minhag) would have to be discarded because, until people practiced them, there was a "Mesorah" not to do them. It's exactly the same thing. WoW isn't reading from the Torah or blowing Shofar for men. They are doing it for themselves.
This is not merely a "negative Mesorah" as you call it. We have a specific Mesorah to keep men's roles for men and women's roles for women.
DeleteWoW is not starting a new minhag from a point of holiness. They are starting a new minhag from a point of:
1) egalitarianism
2) provocation
3) non-halachic feminism
4) breaching the traditionally-held Mesorah
Any comparison to respected customs is a non-starter.
We have no Mesorah that a woman blowing a Shofar is solely a men's act. Kal v'Chomer during Elul, when it's a Minhag.
DeleteThat WoW is politically motivated is precisely why you would do better ignoring them. Most Jews aren't Orthodox and most Jews don't know who WoW is. However, the more noise you make, the more people become aware. Eventually, the Orthodox will be told to shut up and take it. The Charedi parties will be able to maintain their extortion for only so long.
avi, you are pretending to be ignorant of an obvious issue, and therefore ignoring it. minhagim that are started by legitimate streams in judaism are intended to express and reinforce the values of the messora. you can argue about whether or not they succeed in their goal, which is why some minhagim are indeed subject to dispute, or put in place only under certain circumstances.
ReplyDeleteon the other hand WOW are undertaking their activities specifically for the purpose of undermining the values of the messora, in which case their is no grounds for a religious jew to tolerate them.
this is obvious and it is very disingenuous of you to pretend that you weren't aware of that fact.
minhagim that are started by legitimate streams in judaism are intended to express and reinforce the values of the messora.
ReplyDeleteEven if that were true, your definition of legitimate is entirely self-serving, and I wouldn't expect WoW to agree with it.
In any event, I am perfectly aware that WoW is political. I wrote as much in my first comment. The question of Mesorah and Minhag is a digression, and one I believe is fundamentally flawed.
Once and for all, if everyone would accept that WoW are a 'political' feminist group and know about Torah Judaism, as much as they know about Taoism, Buddism, etc. (sure they know more about those avoda zoras than any Jewish law). This is pure provocation on their part, simply to go against the Halacha and chip away at whatever they can in our mesora and laws. Anyone who doesn't see this or understand their motivations yet and what's behtind their wicked goals is really asleep!
ReplyDelete