The mechitza is a modern tradition pushed upon all Jews regardless of the traditions or beliefs of non-Orthodox Jews or even other Orthodox Jews. As I explained in part one, the mechitza comes from the supposed separation of men and women during the Simchat Beit HaShoevah (Water Drawing Ceremony) of Sukkot. Based upon the Talmud Orthodox rabbis believe that the balcony in the Temple was biblically ordained and therefore Orthodox Jews must not pray in a synagogue without a mechitza. There are some Orthodox rabbis who believe that the mechitza is an “ancestral custom” which cannot be changed.1
This balcony was made in the Court of the Women – a place where men and women were both permitted without a barrier between them. This was the furthest a woman could travel on the Temple Mount. It can be safely assumed that before the balcony was built men and women worshiped together in this court without a mechitza or other barrier. In addition during certain times of the year – especially Yom HaKippurim and Yom HaTeruah – the smaller Women’s Court would not be able to contain all the worshipers which meant the Outer Court (Court of the Gentiles) was utilized by worshippers where there is no indication of a mechitza.
There are late-nineteenth century drawings and early-twentieth century photographs of men and women worshipping at the Kotel without a mechitza. When Rabbi Rabinowitz is asked about the photographs showing men and women praying without a mechitza he rejects this argument stating that the photographs are meaningless since the Kotel wasn’t under Jewish sovereignty. “‘They couldn’t read Torah or blow the shofar,’ he said. ‘They could hardly pray there. The British did terrible things. You want to go back to that? The British didn’t establish local custom.’”2 However, if one goes back further in time to the Mishnaic and Talmudic period one will also find no archaeological basis for assuming the existence of a separation between the genders. The first mention of separation of men and women occurs toward the end of the Geonic era (eleventh-century CE) but from this point onward there is only a passing mention of such separation. It was not until the end of the nineteenth-century that a halakhic source requires the separation of genders in the synagogue. The Mishnah, Tosefta, and Talmud Bavli all state that the erection of the balcony in the Temple was a rabbinic enactment and it tells us nothing about the synagogues. There is however “considerable evidence of mixed prayer in the Bible and in the Apocrypha. With reference to the Second Temple period many sources indicate that mixing was the norm in the Women’s Court.”3
Some in the Orthodox world will argue that women simply did not attend synagogue so there was no need for separate seating. This argument is not supported by archaeological or literary evidence. In fact, there are plenty of proofs that women did in fact attend synagogue. There was a halakhic ruling that a non-Jewish woman can help prepare a meal until the Jewish woman of that household returns from the synagogue (Talmud Bavli, Avodah Zarah 38a-b). Women are mentioned as being included among the seven people called to read Torah on Shabbat (Tosefta, Megillah 3, 11-2). In addition the Talmud Yerushalmi tells of a woman from Tiberias who went to synagogue every Friday night. In the fourth-century there is a Christian source from John Chrysostom who mentioned women attending synagogue.4
The separation of men and women in the synagogue developed centuries after the Temple was destroyed. There is no archaeological evidence of a women’s section in any synagogue of antiquity. In addition, even though there are many synagogue inscriptions of the time naming various areas within the synagogue, there has been no evidence found stating that a part of any ancient synagogue was used to separate women from their fellow male worshipers. The majority of these synagogues had a single prayer hall but no balcony and even for those few that had a balcony there is no reason to assume that the balcony served as a women’s gallery. The balcony, even according to rabbinic sources, may have functioned as a meeting space, a place for the beit din (rabbinic court) to practice, meals, study, or even a hazzan’s (cantor) living quarters. Out of all the traditions in rabbinic literature that address the synagogue not one mentions a women’s section. The only rabbinic source that mentions a separation is the balcony used during the Simchat Beit HaShoevah (Water Drawing Ceremony) of Sukkot. However, it appears from this place in the Talmud that during the other times of year men and women mixed together in this portion of the Temple.4
So, with all of this evidence, why does Rabbi Rabinowitz defend the mechitza at the Kotel? I would dare to say that the issue is one of following man-made traditions which are treated as actual mitzvot. However, why does the rabbi and those at the Western Wall Heritage Foundation refuse to listen to reason? In addition to following man-made traditions instead of Tanakh I would dare say it is due to the fact that the rabbi and those at the Foundation have the power (given to them by the government) to turn the Kotel into a Haredi synagogue.
“The body which has been given the keys of the Kotel by the Israeli government is a non-democratic, non-elected body,” said Lesley Sachs, Women of the Wall’s director. “It’s not a body that gives any kind of representation to world Jewry or Israeli Jewry. They have turned [the Kotel] into a haredi synagogue.”5
Nowhere in the Tanakh is there a command to separate men and women during public worship or assemblies.
Assemble the people, the men and the women and the little ones, and your stranger that is within your gates, that they may hear, and that they may learn, and fear the Eternal One your God, and observe to do all the words of this law… (Deuteronomy 31:12)
And Ezra the priest brought the Law before the congregation, both men and women, and all that could hear with understanding, upon the first day of the seventh month. (Ezra 8:2)
…to be continued
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1Lisa Katz. “What is a Mechitza?” About.com Judaism, n.d. [http://judaism.about.com/cs/worship/f/mechitza.htm]
2Ben Sales. “Who controls the status quo at the Western Wall?” JTA, 27 November 2012. [http://www.jta.org/news/article/2012/11/27/3112941/the-foundation-keeping-the-kotel-orthodox]
3David Golinkin. “The Mehitzah in the Synagogue.” Responsa for Today, 1987. [http://www.responsafortoday.com/engsums/2_1.htm]
4Lee Levine. “In Search of the Synagogue Part V.” Reform Judaism Online, Spring 2009. [http://reformjudaismmag.org/Articles/index.cfm?id=1458]
5Ben Sales. “Who controls the status quo at the Western Wall?” JTA, 27 November 2012. [http://www.jta.org/news/article/2012/11/27/3112941/the-foundation-keeping-the-kotel-orthodox]