Leiv Esther reviewed MikvahCalendar, a new website for married Jewish women who use or want to use the mikveh. You can specify whether you prefer the customs of Chabad, YU/Rabbi Willig, or “choose from available options.” The site looks easy to use, but I could do without the flowery copy: “May divine blessings of spiritual and material well-being continue to rain down and permeate your marriage and your home.”
The Rebbetzin’s Husband has an excellent post on bringing your children to the synagogue without disturbing others.
This prayer of the SheLa”h is supposed to be said by parents before Rosh Chodesh Sivan (new month of Sivan) this Sunday. Yesterday and today were the days to say it, as prayers making specific requests are usually not said on Shabbat. If you know of another translation, please send it along.
In my previous post I mentioned that the upcoming holiday of Shavuot is associated with bridal imagery. According to Artscroll we say the prayer now because on Shavuot, we also remember that we are God’s children. Shavuot commemorates the day the Jews received the Torah.
Today is Erev Pesach (the day before Passover), the busiest day in the Jewish calendar filled with halachic and practical tasks to eliminate all chametz (unleavened bread) from our homes and prepare for the Seder tonight. This year we also commemorate an event that takes place once every 28 years.
According to the Torah the sun was created on the fourth day of the week. The sages calculated that since the sun takes 365 and a quarter days to do a full rotation, it returns to its original position every 28 years (4 years to make up an entire day, times seven cycles to get back to Wednesday). The text of the recited blessing is the same as that said upon seeing other natural phenomena, like lightning.
The choice of April 8 as the correct day for the blessing has been discussed extensively by Rabbi David J. Bleich on the OU website, where you can also download the text of the blessing, Josh Waxman, and DovBear.
One of the synagogues in the neighborhood broadcast the ceremony on a loudspeaker at 7 AM this morning. Oh well, it’s only once every three decades.
As for Pesach preparations, i have a note to @jugglingfrogs and my other Twitter followers: I was not looking for chametz behind the tile under the dishwasher. Before kashering it I moved it to clean underneath and the nearby gap that collects dirt and crumbs. I had to do that, right? A loose tile fell over, and when I put it back I noticed the pupae. Eww. I don’t know if they were alive or not.
Our main crisis so far has been losing one of the pieces of bread we hid last night for bedikat chametz, the traditional search for unleavened bread. (We declared it null and void.) That and the laundry, of which I still have too much despite my complaints about Pesach excess. And my back hurts–was that from moving the dishwasher? Please remind me next year.
Wishing a chag kasher ve-sameach, a happy, kosher and meaningful holiday, to all.
The secular newspapers like to report on the weekly talks of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the leading rabbinic arbiter of the Sephardi/Mizrachi community in Israel. Occasionally he says outrageous things, but this time he made a ruling likely to please a more liberal readership.
On the upcoming holiday of Purim both men and women are required by Jewish law to hear the entire reading of the biblical book of Esther, known as a Megillah (scroll) twice– once in the evening and once the next morning. It is almost always read by a man in the synagogue. But since most rabbinic authorities agree that women can fulfill their obligation by hearing a woman read, it’s common for communities to hold all-women readings. Some girls learn it as part of their bat mitzvah celebrations.
Haaretz reports that Rabbi Yosef went further, ruling that not only can men listen to a women reading, which is surprising in itself, but that they fulfill their religious obligation by hearing a woman chant. Rabbi Yosef explained that he does not consider everyday speaking or chanting from a scroll to fall under the prohibition of “kol isha,” which only relates to a man hearing a woman singing. He doesn’t recommend a woman reading as the ideal, but in a small settlement with no man qualified to chant “kemo ben adam,” like a human being, a qualified woman is preferred. Chanting the ten-chapter megillah from a scroll containing no vocallization, punctuation, or cantillation symbols requires many hours of preparation, and I can attest that the congregation suffers from a poor reading.
The report added that Rabbi Yosef also permits the use of megilloth written by female scribes.
This ruling is sure to make waves in the Orthodox community in Israel and elsewhere.
A video of Rabbi Ovadia’s talk can be found here. Rafi listened, and confirmed Haaretz’s report. He shares his thoughts here.
See below for background information and glossary.
Commenter Abbi sent me her response to a discussion about prayer for girls in a
mixed school. Should girls pray in the minyan alongside the boys, or as a separate group? What should be our goals for educating girls about tefilla and minyan, given that most grown Orthodox women will not attend a minyan, especially during the early childbearing years?
Abbi Adest wrote:
The following was in response to a query on the Lookjed Jewish educators list that asked how to help middle school girls who were having trouble with tefilla. The response included the following quote:
“A majority of our girls do not daven in women’s only tefilla groups, nor are most of them likely to do so. Thus, it is important to teach them to have a meaningful tefilla in the context of a minyan.”
[Abbi continues] You say that your quandary is that tefilla is simply harder for girls. Then you make two assumptions: that the majority of your girls don’t daven in women’s tefilla groups nor are they likely to do so in the future. Have you asked the girls why tefilla is hard for them and whether they would be interested in davening in a girls’ tefilla group occasionally? Sometimes a heart-to-heart with students will elucidate many of the issues.
Second, let’s be honest about grown-up Orthodox women and tefilla: If and when they grow up to be such women, b’ezrat Hashem (God willing) and if and when they are married with small children, just making it to shul on Shabbat for kedusha or even the last bits of musaf will be a huge triumph. For many (certainly not all) a few mumbled brachot in the morning is all that can be managed. So, the connection between Orthodox women and minyan is tenuous at best. But why should those future circumstances have any bearing on their tefilla experience now, when they aren’t encumbered by family and/or work responsibilities?
I think the biggest problem is that you are approaching girls’ tefilla as a corollary to boys’ tefilla. Boys are practicing to become active participants in adult tefilla, which makes sense. Girls are practicing to–what? Practicing to get 3 kids out of the house for shul Shabbat morning would be an interesting challenge, but not really appropriate for middle school girls.
I think the goal of tefilla for girls in middle and high schools should be to develop their own personal spirituality and relationship with tefilla and Hashem, and part of that is feeling involved and invested in some kind of group tefilla. If you already have a group leaving to study the deeper meaning of tefilla a few times a week, I’m not sure why it would be a problem to have a girls’ tefilla group leaving once or twice a week. Having it on Rosh Chodesh would make the day and the tefilla experience even more special, in addition to emphasizing the connection between women and Rosh Chodesh.
Finally, it’s essential for girls to have a female spiritual role model, within the context of tefilla, to provide them with a dugma ishit (personal example) of how to balance the challenges and responsibilities of being an Orthodox woman. From my memories of growing up in day school, tefilla was the sole domain of rabbis. You might want to involve female staff, if that’s not already the case.
The idea is help them strengthen and develop their spiritual selves for when they are faced with the responsibilities of the grownup world, and for when they can’t make it to minyan because of child-raising responsibilities.
I’d also like to point out that girls who study in single-sex schools like Bais Yakov never daven with a minyan, (and actually daven (pray) in de facto girls’ tefilla groups, when you think about it) and they seem to have no problem davening with a minyan when appropriate. [MiI: i.e. they are able to follow the expanded service.]
Background and Glossary:
According to Jewish law, men are required to pray three times a day with a minyan (quorum) of ten men. Women are obligated in prayer, but exempt from the public requirement.
Tefilla: Prayer.
Minyan: Quorum of ten men, required for certain public prayers.
Shul: Synagogue.
Kedusha, Musaf, Brachot: Examples of Jewish prayers.
Rosh Chodesh: The first day of the Jewish, lunar month.
Daven (Yiddish): Pray
Hashem: God.
Women’s tefilla group: A group of ten women praying together that may add some, but not all, additional prayers that are recited when men gather for a minyan. In the discussion above, it is presented as a compromise between having girls or women pray individually, or having a secondary role in a minyan of men. However, there are a limited number of such groups around the world. My town has 300 Orthodox synagogues and no women’s prayer group, except on some Jewish holidays.
Please let me know if you found this glossary/background information helpful.
For women who grew up in an Orthodox background, what was most helpful (or not) in shaping a positive attitude toward prayer?
Photo Credit: Brett Wagner
List Updated April 5, 2009.
B”H Several IDF Soldiers and Israeli Civilians are feeling better
and their names have been taken off the list of injured.
The injured listed are in long-term rehabilitation and still need
our prayers and Psalms said on their behalf for a refuah shelaima–a complete recovery.
IDF Soldiers:
Aharon Yehoshua ben Chaya Shoshana
Ben ben Keti Shifra
Ben ben Netiva
Daniel ben Sophie
Dvir ben Leah
Eitan ben Sarah
Eyal ben Yehudit
Gal ben Aliza
Ido ben Rachel
Li’el Hoshea ben Miriam
Mor Mordechai ben Orna
Moshe Izzy ben Chana Malka
Neriya ben Rivka
Noam ben Elsa
Roi ben Dina
Ron ben Amnon
Ron ben Varda
Shai ben Rachel
Snir ben Chaim
Yosef ben Yaffa
Yosef Chaim ben Ziva
Israeli Civilians:
Moshe Refael ben Aliza Aisha
Or’el ben Angela
Yair ben Michal- Injured in axe terrorist attack in Bat Ayin
Please daven for the safe and prompt return of Gilad Shalit:
Gilad ben Aviva
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