WOMEN'S PRAYER SERVICES - THEORY AND PRACTICE'

PART I: THEORY

R Joseph B. Soloveitchik has described prayer as "a basic experiential category in

Judaism," one through which our fore- fathers achieved a covenant with God and
through which we expect eventually to realize that covenant. The people of Israel
is "a prayerful nation." It comes as no surprise, therefore, that both men and
women are enjoined by Jewish law to pray daily, though there is some difference
of opinion as to the extent of the obligation. Yet, despite this basic requirement to
pray, women need not fulfill their obligation within the context of communal
services—tefilla be-tsibbur. Moreover, ten women who join together in prayer—as
opposed to ten men—cannot constitute the minimum quorum of ten individuals, a
minyan, necessary by law to recite certain passages and texts generally reserved for
public worship, including, inter alia, the kaddish, kedusha, barekhu or the thirteen
attributes of God, the repetition of the amida, and the reading of the Torah and the
haftara with their attendant blessings. While there are occasions within Jewish
practice where women do count towards a minyan, public prayer is not among
them.' As a result, the synagogue service has historically remained almost
exclusively male-oriented. In the early 1970's, however, the Women's Liberation
Movement stimulated within traditional Jewish student circles a re-examination of
the role of women in Judaism. This coincided with an accelerating growth of
higher-education opportunities for women in all areas of Jewish studies, including
Talmud, halakha, Tanakh, and Jewish thought. The combined effects of this
religious and educational exploration were eventually felt in the general, more
established Jewish community as well. One manifestation of this trend was the
development of women's prayer services. Women would join in all-female groups
on a particular Shabbat or Rosh Hodesh morning or afternoon in order to recite
together the Shaharit or Minha prayers. Similarly, these women would gather on
Purim for a women's reading of Megillat Ester or rejoice together on Simhat Torah,
separate from the men, often dancing the hakafot with their own Torah scrolls.
Two different groups supported these women's services. For some participants, a
women's tefilla was an act of rebellion against the traditional male-oriented ritual.
Such individuals or groups were not terribly concerned with the halakhic propriety
or parameters of their prayer forms. On the other hand, numerous other women,
who articulated a commitment to the halakhic process, at the same time expressed
their desire for a more active and meaningful involvement in the spiritual moments
of public prayer. In addition, they argued, the prayer group could serve for them as
a learning experience—an opportunity to study the relevant laws, to act as gabbai,
read the Torah and the haft-ara, lead the services as hazzan, lift and roll the Torah
(hagbaha and gelila), etc.—affording them a greater appreciation of the symphony
communal prayer is meant to be. These women further explained that their
identification with Orthodox Judaism prevented them from joining Conservative
shuls or egalitarian minyanim. An all-women's prayer group was consequently an
attractive alternative. This latter group turned to members of the Orthodox
rabbinate for rulings and guidance on the halakhic permissibility of such women's
services. Some rabbis, while sympathetic to the religious sentiments expressed by
these women, objected to the very idea of separate women's prayer services, citing
various halakhic and sociological arguments to support their position. Other rabbis,
though, advised these women that they could have their service provided they
forgo saying all those texts which required a minyan quorum; they were, after all, a
women's prayer group, not a women's minyan. In our extensive discussions with
participants in such services, we have found that a significant percentage report the
experience enriching, moving, and edifying, despite the halakhic limitations. Many
testify to davening (praying) with greater kavvana (religious devotion) or to
discovering new meaning in their prayers. Satisfying what is perceived by the
members as a real spiritual need, women's prayer groups have continued to meet in
various communities on a regular basis for close to 25 years. The recognition that
women's prayer services are not a passing fad has compelled rabbinic scholars to
confront and address the issue with increased earnestness. Yet, the years have not
brought the halakhic authorities any closer to unanimity; if anything, the opposite
is true. Essentially, three fundamental halakhic approaches to the subject have
emerged. The first and most lenient position maintains that women may carry out a
full service, including all those rituals and texts which normally require a minyan
quorum. The second school is more stringent and openly opposes women's prayer
groups on a host of halakhic and sociological grounds. The final approach argues
that women's prayer services, if properly performed and religiously motivated, can
be halakhically sanctioned, although some question their advisability on hashkafic
and public-policy grounds. Our survey and in-depth analysis of the responsa on
this subject will be divided into two sections. In the first part of this paper (entitled
"Theory") we will explore the basic question of the halakhic permissibility of
women's tefilla groups. However, even if one should conclude that women's tefilla
groups are fundamentally permissible, a host of practical issues arise that must be
faced if such services are to be carried out within the guidelines of Jewish law. We
discuss these latter issues in the second section of this paper (entitled "Practice"),
which will be published in the future. Needless to say, the views presented in this
work are those of the authorities cited by the authors, and not necessarily those of
Tradition or the Rabbinical Council of America. Let us turn now to the responsa
themselves and the threshold question of whether women's prayer groups can be, in
principle, halakhically permitted.