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New user
Posts: 2
| What is your opinion about women wearing tzitzit and kippot, as I find that I feel more comfortable wearing them. |
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Member
Posts: 19
| Thank you for your recent inquiry. While I'd love to give you a quick and simple response, the answer to your question is not cut and dry.
When faced with a dilemma, Rabbi Israel Rosenberg, who was a founder of the Orthodox Union and who headed its Kashrus division for decades, would ask himself: "What does God want."
Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzatto opens the first chapter of his "Paths of the Just," by observing that the basis of righteousness and true service of God is for a person to recognize their purpose in this world.
So while I respect that you "feel more comfortable" wearing tzitzit and a kippah, I would suggest that it would be more germane to explore what God thinks about it, not what you or I think. And the response to that question depends on many variables, and I would not deign to respond without knowing you better.
That having been said, it would seem that there's a great difference between wearing tztzit and donning a kippah.
Even if one could justify a women's wearing tzitzit as her voluntary observance of a non-required positive commandment, that logic would not apply to a kippah, which is a binding custom that was never instituted for women.
And even with regard to tzitzit, numerous halachic authorities maintain that this is fundamentally "men's attire" and a woman's wearing them is a violation of the Biblical injunction against a woman's wearing men's clothing.
So, as I mentioned, the answer is certainly not a simple "Yes, it's great, go ahead and do it!" But nor is it, "That's terrible, it's an outrage, she's a heretic!"
If you'd like to know what God really wants, you may want to take a closer look how genuine classic Torah Judaism views the roles of men and women. I invite you to give us a call at 1-800-GET-TORAH so we can set you up with someone who will be able to discuss the matter with you at length.
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| There are things in judaism that women do and things that men do.
Each mitzvah is equally valuable to Hashem.
Women bring light to the world when they light shabbos candles each week, but men are the ones to light the menorah each chanukah.
Woman once they are married are meant to cover their hair and the average yalmalkah is not really large enough to qualify.
Rashi's daughter Bruriah wore tzitzis and had a really DREADFUL life. |
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Member
Posts: 5
| Women hold a higher place, one closer to Hashem (G-d). So the need to wear these items are not required of them as they are of the guys, who are not, by nature, as nurturing as women are. |
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| Hi, I'm usually just a spectator here, but just felt a need to add in my two cents. And I'll preface this by saying that I'm happily Orthodox and happily female (Honest!), so as not to mislead anybody.
$0.01)
One thing that always bothered me a bit about feminism and the theory behind it is this:
Assuming that one believes in God, (probably the most fundamental aspect of judaism) and His creation of the world and all that is in it, would anyone (of the aforementioned believers) deny that He created man and woman too?
Presumably not.
Once we got that straight, it should be perfectly obvious that men and women have totally different purposes in this world!
The proof: The physical differences between male and female. For example, a man was simply not created to bear children. God didn't intend for him to do so. [And why he'd want to is beyond me!  ] And a whole lot of judaism is about learning from physicality and elevating it.
So here's my burning question:
Why is it so hard to understand that the spiritual goals God created for each gender may differ greatly too? He gave each gender its physical and spiritual needs, along with a matching set of rules (Read: Mitzvas) necessary in order to properly play the game! Some games require dice, while others require spinners. And it would be silly for someone given a jigsaw puzzle to beg for some monopoly pieces!
It's like that with other things too by the way, and they may be better comparisons. So take talent, for example. Some people can sing and others are can't carry a tune to save their lives. Is this fair? Apparently, yes, because God is the one who distributed these gifts. Why don't we hear complaints about this? Tonedeaf of the world unite! But seriously, why don't people rage about this?
Probably because they view it as an unchangeable fact. But judaism's approach would probably be that the whole point of talent is to serve God, this individual needs that talent to achieve his purpose in life and I simply don't. And though he may be the singing expert, I might be the artist, or the super conversationalist etc. Because those are the criteria I have to meet in order to live up to my challenge. So in my mind, there's no reason to scream and yell or throw tantrums. Am I on the mark, Rabbi? Or way off?
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$0.01)
One of my high school teachers once answered a similar inquiry. She was discussing the topic of women and tefillin (phylacteries). She brought in a reliable commentary that outlined the reasons why women don't wear tefillin. One incredibly beautiful answer, complete with rabbinical sources was the fact that a woman's internal organs resemble tefillin (specifically the womb and umbilical cord), and that since tefillin are supposed to be a sign of faith, trust, and belief in God, men, who don't have the inner miracle of God's presence (ie. process of childbirth from a fetus' growth through birth) need to lay their tefillin externally. A woman naturally sees the hand of God through her fluctuating physical cycles. Woman are much more aware and in tune with spirituality. Men also wear yarmulkas for similar reasons (eg. to instill fear of God on a constant basis). See what I mean about learning to elevate physicality?Did I just make any sense?
= $0.02!!!!!!!
And sorry for rambling...I'm generally the one who has no patience for long posts....Tsk, tsk...
Happy Chanukah, people!
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| How can you blame rashi's daughter's life being "Dreadful" because she wore tefillin? I can name for you hundreds of orthodox women who had tough lives and they didn't wear tefillin. And what is dreadful? Dreadful to the outsider's opinion? But if you really believe in G-d, you know that everything He does is for the best. Rashi's daughter most certainly understood this, and thus realized that everything that happened to her was for the best. It had nothing to do with wearing tefillin. If tefillin makes a woman feel closer to Hashem, all the power to her. I don't think anyone has the right to criticize someone who is simply trying to have a better relationship with the Almighty. Additionally, there are different interpretations of the Torah. When you find in p'shat, in plain text, that a woman can't count for the minyan and cant wear a tefillin, I will be very interested to see it.
Have a good shabbos |
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| You seem to be mistaken about the idea that if something is not in Pshat, it's made up.
Neither is "aitz Hadar" understandable without the Oral Law.
I think that if you were to study Chassidut, especially Chabad you would come to appreciate the nuances in the Pardes, and the importance of each gender and the way they are meant to interact and their meaning as far as Israel and the Geulah.
Good Luck! |
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Veteran
Posts: 116
| For an in-depth study of the kabbalistic/intrinsic differences between man and female essence go to http://www.simpletoremember.com/index.htm and look up Dr. Akiva Tatz's lectures. This site is amazing for anyone really interested in exploring the truth of G-d; His People and our purpose in this world.
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 339
Location: Los Angeles, CA | jewish woman -- i agree with you that we should all be trying to get closer to the Amighty. the thing is, how do we get closer to Him? we do it by serving Him. service is not "ok, i want to be your friend, so i'm going to do (what i judge to be) nice things for you" it's "what do You require of me?" To form a closer relationship with anyone (Gd included) we need to find out what they "need" or want from us. Gd wants us to be the best us we can be by developing ourselves through His commandments. I'm not a Kohen, i could never serve in the Temple, I'm not a man, I don't wear t'fillin.
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| I think it might be important for someone contemplating taking on commandments proscribed for men to first clarify their motivations and goals, which will lend perspecitive and clarity to the issues. Understanding our own true motivations are difficult, and may sometimes take many long introspective sessions in solitude to arrive at an honest answer. I say this from experience!!
Do we wish to take on kippah etc to fulfill spiritual longing, or other longing? May this other longing possibly be related to feminist agenda (we can do the same as the men), feelings of anger or inferiority ( why am I less- I can be an even greater prayer leader, specifically because I am a woman!!), an agenda bent on modernization (today's world is egalitarian- how can anyone even suggest that our roles are different?) or a personal agenda based on negative experiences with the male gender or other groups in the past ( I can prove that...). The purpose of this self introspection is help us understand where our own motivations are coming from, taking them out from under the cover of "I wish to do this for purely spiritual reasons, to fulfill the will of our Creator".
It is doubful that women wish to fulfill men's commandments based on true spiritual longing to fulfill G-d's wishes, by directly contravening His intructions. If an individual scrupulously observes every commandment with dedication and eagerness, her desire to take on additional Mitzvot for spiritual purposes would be credible (although misplaced- there is a world of spirituality for a woman to achieve, with pride, which is a topic for another very long discussion!!!). If all the other commandments are being treated as a smorgasbord, cherry picking according to desire, it might be prudent to make a true attempt to discover our inner feelings and thought processes in relation to interest in Mitzvot geared toward men, thereby allowing us to present our questions/feelings as they truly are in order to acheive satisfactory resolution. Issues related to equality, inferiority, etc can all be discussed and resolved, as there are beautiful and intellectually satisfying answers to these issues, which can open up a world of beauty for us! From my own personal experience, I can say that being honest with ourselves, however difficult (and sometimes excruciating!) is the first step to truly gaining knowledge and understanding.
The role of a woman in Judaism is elevated, empowering, and incredible enriching and beautiful. We are all so lucky to be born (or converted into) such special priveledge! |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 339
Location: Los Angeles, CA | thank you A! i appreciated your last post! |
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wearing tzitzit & kippah - why not?
