Women at Prayer : A Halakhic Analysis of Women's Prayer Groups

by Weiss, Avraham

• ISBN13: 9780881257199
• ISBN10: 0881257192
• Edition: Revised
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-09-01
• Publisher: Ktav Pub & Distributors Inc

Table of Contents

Preface	xi
Introduction	xv
Introduction to the Expanded Edition	xvii
The Role of Women in Judaism	1	(12)
The Image of God	1	(2)
Equality and Identity of Roles	3	(1)
The Complementary Tasks	4	(3)
The Only Place	5	(1)
The Secondary Role	6	(1)
The Primary Obligation: The Most Cogent Explanation	7	(3)
The Home Role and Jewish Continuity	10	(3)
Women and Private Prayer	13	(20)
Shemoneh Esreh	13	(9)
Maimonidean Prayer	14	(4)
Nachmanidean Prayer	18	(1)
The Rationale	19	(2)
Rashi and Tosafot	21	(1)
Shema	22	(2)
Birkhot ha-Shahar	24	(1)
Pesukei de-Zimra	25	(1)
Birkhot Shema	26	(2)
Blessings Before Shemoneh Esreh	28	(1)
Concluding Prayers	29	(4)
The Emergence of Communal Prayer	33	(9)
The History	33	(4)
The Legal Perspective	37	(4)
Devarim she-bi-Kedushah	37	(2)
Tefillah be-Zibbur	39	(2)
Public Torah Reading	41	(1)
Women and Communal Prayer	42	(15)
The Exemption of Women from Communal Prayer	43	(1)
Women and Minyan	44	(13)
The Legal Exclusion	45	(1)
The Correlation Principle	46	(7)
Pirsuma: The Joining of Ten for Publicity	53	(4)
Women and Torah Study	57	(10)
The Exemption	57	(7)
The Mishnah in Sotah	57	(2)
Rambam's View	59	(2)
Women and Talmud Torah	61	(3)
The Obligation	64	(3)
``Whoever Does Not Learn Will Not Do''	64	(1)
In-Depth Knowledge	64	(3)
Women and Aliyot	67	(18)
Kevod Zibbur	67	(4)
The Shame of Ignorance	68	(2)
Modesty	70	(1)
The Key Definition: Equality of Obligation	71	(6)
Private and Public Torah Study	71	(4)
Kevod Zibbur Defined	75	(2)
Women and Public Torah Reading	77	(3)
Torah Blessings at Women's Tefillah Groups	80	(5)
Women and Sifrei Torah	85	(14)
The Talmudic Sources	85	(5)
``Words of Torah Are Not Susceptible to Tumah''	85	(2)
Ba'al Keri and Niddah	87	(3)
The Halakhah	90	(9)
The Difficult Rema	90	(1)
Tumah and Uncleanliness: A Conceptual Analysis	91	(2)
The Rema: A Possible Explanation	93	(1)
A Synopsis of Halakhic Sources	94	(5)
Additional Issues	99	(24)
An Incomplete Fulfillment of Prayer	99	(7)
Kavvanah in Prayer	101	(5)
The Appeal to Contemporary Torah Scholars	106	(6)
Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik	107	(1)
Rav Moshe Feinstein	108	(4)
Imitation of Non-Jewish Practices	112	(3)
Offshoots of the Feminist Movement	112	(2)
While Performing a Mitzvah of the Torah	114	(1)
Minhag: A New Practice in Synagogue Custom	115	(3)
Prohibition Based on Novelty	116	(1)
Improper and Insincere	116	(1)
Approbation of Noted Scholars	116	(1)
``We Never Saw''	117	(1)
Location: In the Home or the Synagogue?	118	(5)
The Rationale	118	(1)
The Legal Preference	119	(4)
Conclusion	123	(2)
Women and the Reading of the Megillah	125	(24)
Traditional Authorities and Sources	149	(8)
Bibliography	157	(4)
Index	161