How Egalitarian is Egalitarian?

[debka_notion]

So in the last big-Jewish-post (on counting non-egal women in an egal minyan, where egal is gender-egalitarian, for my pickier readers), I remembered that Egal here also has an interesting attitude (which has been changing and vacillating: it's definitely an in-process thing) on people who don't use certain ritualwear. A lot of it is based on long-term social norms from the larger (read: Orthodox) community, certainly. But it certainly isn't gender-egalitarian in its assumptions there.

The particular issue I'm thinking of is divided into 2 areas, and I freely admit that I'm often as guilty of both as the next person. But I'm working on it.

Part 1: If a man shows up to the minyan, especially say, on a weekday morning, when people tend to assume that it's only people who are strongly committed to observance in an egalitarian setting who show up (little else will get a college student up to be somewhere at 7:45 when it isn't absolutely required), someone will dig up a spare kippah and offer it to him- and get offended if he declines (this has all happened). So for a man to be there with his head uncovered comes across as offensive or unacceptable at the very least. But there are generally several women there, often women who do wear a tallit or even tfillin at the appropriate times who don't cover their head in any way, and no one objects at all. No one offers them a kippah or other headcovering (and Egal is the only egalitarian minyan I've seen without a supply of the lace-doily-things. Kippot can pretty easily be seen as beged ish, even though I don't see them that way, especially the sorts that hand around in public-kippah-bins. Maybe minyanim (pl. of minyan) ought to keep a supply of cocktail hats*?). I know head covering is only minhag- but then why make such a fuss if a man chooses not to wear one?

Part 2: Both men and women are given assorted honors in the community, and with the exceptions of hagbah (lifting the torah) and candle lighting, these are given quite gender-neutrally. (I see another piece of writing coming up- but that is Off Topic For Now.) But when a man is given an honor and he is not wearing a tallit, he is often offered someone's for the period that he is specifically in public sight, and he will rarely refuse. There are men who don't wear a tallit customarily because they don't have one or think it is not necessary, and there are men who don't wear one because they wear a tallit-katan (a 4--cournered undergarment with the knotted fringes on each corner that fulfill the mitzvah-requirement that the tallit fulfills in a more decorative and prayer-time specific way), and don't believe that unmarried men should wear a tallit except when actively participating in a service. Either way, the offer is made, and usually accepted. Women (who yes, are less likely to wear a tallit: some folks feel like it's men's clothing, and therefore forbidden, or they jsut aren't interested in wearing one.) are less likely to be offered a tallit. I've noticed this even at mincha (the afternoon prayer) where no one besides the people actively participating wear a tallit. So a woman who normally wears a tallit in the morning will have an honor and not be offered a tallit when a man who doesn't wear one except when asked to will be offered one and accept. Here the folks at the minyan are getting better about offering- but it's an interesting statement that they/we have to think consciously to do so, when with men it's an assumption.


*Preferably the ones without veiling over the eyes: religious head coverings ought not to send sexual signals. I've swapped into footnotes here because I was stacking entirely too many parentheses.

Comments

[gimmelgirl.livejournal.com]

Realizing that the egal minyan I attend is probably atypical, I point out the following things:
- we have many women, rabbinical students, even, who wear tallit and tefillin, but do not wear a kippah or any type of head covering. I suppose that is because it is minhag, but I've never been able to figure it out.
- the tallit thing is also common - there are many at my minyan who wear tefillin, but no tallit because they are not married, or are wearing tallit katan. Usually it's both, though. Most of the unmarried folk in my minyan wear a tallit.
- my minyan is mostly comprised of rabbinical and cantorial students, with many education students and grad students who are also a little more committed than your average student... That being said, a number of the women present who are not rabbinical students (and therefore not required by the school to wear accept all mitzvot - i.e., be completely "egalitarian") do not wear tefillin.
-that brings me to my last point, I guess: to me, egalitarian is egalitarian is egalitarian. i do find it interesting to be in favor of being counted in a minyan, and in favor of accepting aliyot, but then not wearing tefillin. to me, if you are gonna take on the mitzvot from which one could argue women were halachically exempt, one shouldn't pick and choose.
-finally, as to hagbah, a woman can do hagbah, and a man can light candles.

Hag Sameach!

[navelofwine.livejournal.com]

I think the underlying issue is that Conservative Judaism is a halakhik movement, which means that past norms inevitably influence our current practice. I believe, as you probably do, that there is no reason today for women to have fewer obligations than men (with the possible exception of tallit katan). That is, however, a philosophical position, not a halakhik one. From a halakhik perspective, one can at most suggest that women should take on these obligations. Does this mean that Conservative Judaism isn't fully egalitarian, in some theoretical sense? Yes. Does that matter practically? Maybe not so much.

The minyan at which I currently daven requires women as well as men to wear tallitot when taking aliyot. I like your minyan's practice better. At present, not all women who pray in egalitarian settings are comfortable wearing tallitot. Wearing a tallit gadol to take an aliya is only a minhag, in the end, so I think it's more important to let people maintain their comfort levels. As more and more b'not mitsva are encouraged to wear tallitot, this will cease to be an issue.

You mentioned kippot. I think that kippot are a little bit silly to begin with. There is little, if any, halakhik basis for covering one's head, and if you ask me, kippot aren't even really head coverings. That said, the current practice among Conservative Jews is for men to wear kippot in shul, as a sign of respect. It's kind of like wearing a tie in other contexts. Women aren't expected to wear ties. Men are. So what.

My Two Shekalim.

[lordameth.livejournal.com]

To my mind, the rules of kipot and tallit apply to men in a "you must do this" kind of way, and, in an egal service, apply to women in a "you may do this" kind of way. In fact, seeing women wear kipot still bugs me, as it's a thing that men are meant to do.

For me, the idea of egal was never about how people dress; it was about being called before the Torah, and lacking a mechitzah.

While we may be allowing women to wear tallit now, and by allowing I mean not viewing it as strange or out of place, I really don't see it as that they need to; and I don't think they should have to. It's an expectation that, within a conservative service, men wear kipot, and tallesim, and women may if they wish.