Women and Tefillin - the Online Saga

Ever since mid-January, a small window of the Internet and Jewish blogosphere has been lit up by the "women and tefillin" conversation.

By all respects it is fascinating. From what I gather, two girls who identify with the Conservative movement (it seems) who attend what identifies as an Orthodox co-ed high school (SAR) were given permission to wear tefillin at the school's morning services. Another school (RaMaZ) was called to comment on how they'd respond to a similar situation, and they more or less said they'd do the same thing.

From the resulting responses that I have included below, a number of things become clear.

Some people have a handle on halakha, and some think they have a handle on halakha. Some make serious unprecedented jumps that open the door to conclusions that are more far reaching than an individual's choice to either follow halakha, not follow halakha, or think one is following halakha. [This is why I think the argument is not as much about tefillin – that is what Alfred Hitchcock would call the MacGuffin. The argument is about women's role in Orthodoxy... Tefillin is just a distraction to the "real elephant in the room"]

Some have a handle on emotions and sensitivity, and some do not. (Men telling women what their place is is kind of silly. But one author writes what I've been saying for a while as well – that all classes about "women in the bible" and "women in the Talmud" are overdone and insulting to women. Enough already. Just teach Torah and teach what halakha says about gender, without saying things like "a woman's place is in the kitchen." Really - can we move past that?)

Some will try to be defenders of tradition and truth, and some will do a poor job of it. Of course, what that even means is subject to debate. [Though I do have one complaint to the women who wear tefillin. If you're going to wear them, at least wear them properly (ie in the right position)! (see the photo here - way too low on the forehead!)]

http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/heart-of-stone-liberating-the-wall-for-women/

[For the record, at least 50% of the men I see also wear them incorrectly (see first comment in article for specifics) - sigh!]

Some will rank on people with whom they disagree. Some are decidedly more civil.

Some think that emotions rule the day in Judaism. Others think nothing could be further from the truth.

And the most sensible people (IMHO) are choosing to let it ride its course, because, bottom line, this is really not a big issue in the world of practical Jewish practice. Orthodox women are not scrambling to wear tefillin. And other Jewish women who do wear tefillin either do on a regular basis, or do not. Even those who start out at bat mitzvah (at age 13?!) don't often continue past a certain amount of schooling.

I suppose this debate will continue to ravage on. Suffice it to say, the discussion is about a lot more than whether women should be or should not be allowed to wear tefillin, and if yes, where. The discussion is about how the role of women in an ever-increasingly progressive and egalitarian world ought to be defined in Judaism.

I believe tefillin is the straw man for this conversation. And of all the things I've read here, I like Avital Chizhik's the best, because I think it addresses that question and issue most directly and from a very sensible and articulate perspective.  [While I won't address most of these issues directly, my dvar torah this week offers one perspective on where I think we ought to focus…]

I spent a little bit of time gathering the information, and have divided the links I present below into the following sections (in the following order):

* The news stories that broke

* Several responses – about why women do/do not wear tefillin, and the propriety/impropriety of such a practice – generally from a somewhat objective perspective. (Yes, I said "somewhat"). There are also responses from some of the rabbis involved most directly in the story

* Blogging rabbis weigh in

* Responses to those rabbis

* Blogging women (on left, right and center)

* Blogging men (on left, right and center)

Except for in one section, all rabbis are listed here without titles. And in a couple of places I added a small comment of introduction. This is merely presenting, without opining. I look forward to the conversation in the comments, or on Facebook. 

News articles

http://thesarbuzz.eu.pn/rabbi-harcsztark-allows-two-girls-to-lay-tefillin-at-sar/

http://forward.com/articles/191256/modern-orthodox-high-school-in-new-york-allows-gir/

http://www.timesofisrael.com/modern-orthodox-girls-fight-for-the-right-to-don-tefillin/

Several responses

An explanation of some of the issues: http://www.jpost.com/Magazine/Personal-Notes/Why-do-Orthodox-women-not-wear-tefillin-or-tallit

[And perhaps an important aside when discussing the issue:

http://www.ou.org/torah/machshava/tzarich-iyun/tzarich_iyun_rashis_daughters/ (Ari Zivotofsky)]

An educator group list discusses:

http://lookstein.org/lookjed/read.php?1,22142,22165,quote=1

[And a much older, related conversation: http://www.ottmall.com/mj_ht_arch/v19/mj_v19i30.html]

A principal defends: http://www.jewocity.com/blog/letter-from-head-of-ramaz-school/11367 (Paul Shaviv)

A rabbi/dean addresses in a sermon: http://www.ckj.org/docs/Sermon%20Much%20Ado%20About%20Something.pdf (Haskel Lookstein)

A Rosh Yeshiva talks about… (translated by Google)

http://www.maalegilboa.org/index.php?Itemid=45&catid=51%3Avezot-leyehuda-vol2-&id=442%3Aa-conversation-with-rabbi-moshe-lichtenstein&option=com_content&view=article (Mosheh Lichtenstein)

Fascinating - Rabbi Norman Lamm made a comment about this in 1972
http://brussels.mc.yu.edu/gsdl/collect/lammserm/index/assoc/HASH5498.dir/doc.pdf

Explanations from family members as to why he said what he said
http://www.torahmusings.com/2014/04/rabbi-lamm-on-women-and-tefillin-2/

And another commentary on it
http://moderntoraleadership.wordpress.com/2014/04/09/rabbi-lamm-on-woman-and-tefillin/

Some prominent blogging rabbis weigh in

Gil Student #1 and #2

http://www.torahmusings.com/2014/01/why-no-tefillin-2/?fb_action_ids=10152210120518738&fb_action_types=news.publishes&fb_ref=pub-standard&fb_source=aggregation&fb_aggregation_id=288381481237582

http://www.torahmusings.com/2014/01/the-real-discussion-gender-roles/?fb_action_ids=10152219870353738&fb_action_types=news.publishes&fb_ref=pub-standard&fb_source=aggregation&fb_aggregation_id=288381481237582

Eliyahu Fink #1 and #2

http://finkorswim.com/2014/01/22/women-wearing-tefillin-is-really-not-such-a-big-deal/ (Eliyahu Fink)

http://www.jewishpress.com/blogs/fink-or-swim/defenders-and-benders-of-roles-for-genders/2014/02/03/0/ (Follow up to previous, I guess)

Avi Shafran

http://forward.com/articles/191550/the-benefits-of-a-womans-place/ (Avi Shafran)

Efrem Goldberg

http://rabbisblog.brsonline.org/avoiding-religious-hubris/ (this one got a lengthy response and counter response – see below)

Marc Angel

http://www.jewishideas.org/blog/women-and-tefillin-blog-rabbi-marc-d-angel

Stephen Pruzansky

http://rabbipruzansky.com/2014/01/26/the-real-story/

Mordechai Torczyner
http://rechovot.blogspot.com/2014/02/of-daughters-and-tefillin.html

Responses to some of the above

To Rabbi Goldberg:

https://lettertorabbigoldberg.wordpress.com/ (Joshua Zvi Stadlan  - was even inspired to make a whole blog name in response!)

[And maybe this?: http://i.imgur.com/j0Qh5OP.jpg]

And Rabbi Goldberg's response

http://rabbisblog.brsonline.org/response-open-letter-josh-stadlan/

To Rabbi Pruzansky

http://dovbear.blogspot.com/2014/01/not-having-any-proof-wont-stop-stephen.html - not having a real name won't stop dovbear from being malicious

And of course, Rabbi Pruzansky's response

[get it?]

To both as well as to Avi Shafran

http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/educating-our-daughters-out-the-door/  (Shoshanna Jaskoll)

Blogs by women (on right, left and in between)

(as just mentioned…)

http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/educating-our-daughters-out-the-door/ (Shoshanna Jaskoll)

**BEST ONE http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/jewish-world-features/.premium-1.572170 (Avital Chizhik) **

[And, shockingly (IMO), a response to Avital's article: http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2014/02/04/laying_tefillin_while_female_modern_orthodox_judaism_will_not_survive_if.html]

http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/reigniting-prayers-passion/ (Atira Ote)

http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/if-you-cant-beat-em-join-em-or-at-least-the-discussion/ (Shira Lichtman)

http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/please-stop/ (Rachel Rosenthal)

http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/wrapped-up-in-tradition/ (Shira Harris)

http://www.chabad.org/theJewishWoman/article_cdo/aid/961107/jewish/Why-I-Dont-Put-On-Tefillin.htm (Ahuva Gamliel)

http://www.myjewishlearning.com/blog/the-torch/2014/01/22/women-tefillin-and-double-standards/ (Avigayil Halpern)

Blogs by men (on the right, left, and in between)

http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/dignity-and-difference-a-jewish-educators-views-on-women-wearing-tefillin/ (Pesach Sommer)

http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/sar-tefillin-policy-just-the-tip-of-the-iceberg-for-orthodox-women/ (Uriel Heilman)

http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/jewish-female-wrap-tefillin-and-the-history-of-the-role-of-women-in-public-aspects-of-communal-worship/ (Tuvia Book)

http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/thou-shalt-not-place-a-burden-between-the-eyes/ (Eric Kotkin)

http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/women-must-be-agents-not-objects-in-modern-orthodoxy/ (Avraham Bronstein)

http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-internet-of-really-important-things/ (Mark Korman – discusses a bunch of things. I think I get his point, though the style is a little "in your face" and the language… eh…)

http://blogs.forward.com/forward-thinking/191430/why-women-can-and-must-lay-tefillin/ (Will Friedman)

http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/gender-and-tefillin-possibilities-and-consequences/ (Ethan Tucker)

http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/gender-and-tefillin-a-reply-to-rabbi-ethan-tucker-2/ (Shlomo Brody - reply to previous piece by Ethan Tucker)

And THIS VERY Comprehensive, and, I think, BALANCED and COMPREHENSIVE, article, also by Shlomo Brody: http://www.torahmusings.com/2014/02/women-tefillin-and-the-halakhic-process/
[Best quote from this article is the paragraph that begins with this:
Jewish law, as liberal Orthodox figures certainly contend, can and does evolve. In this case, it evolved to almost universally ban women from donning tefillin.]

which inspired this chiddush - a little self-promotion in my own blog is justifiable: http://arabbiwithoutacause.blogspot.com/2016/01/chiddush-about-women-and-tefillin.html

http://www.torahleadership.org/categories/7aageneral.pdf (Aryeh Klapper - also a response to Ethan Tucker)

http://lifeinisrael.blogspot.com/2014/01/why-i-ignore-women-in-tefillin-and.html (Don't know the author, but probably the most sensible response to ALL of this)

http://haemtza.blogspot.com/2014/01/women-tefillin-and-burkas.html (Harry Maryles, coming to similar conclusions)

http://web.archive.org/web/20041207101038/www.rabbinicalassembly.org/cjmag/97fa/womtef.html (David Golinkin, Conservative scholar - a paper written in 1997)

LATER DEVELOPMENTS

Two pieces by Rabbi Shaul Robinson of the Lincoln Square Synagogue
Cherubim and Community
Women and Tefillin

Rabbi Herschel Schachter - Hashkafic comments on how Psak is rendered
(Same article translated to English on yeshivaworld.com)
Rabbi Joshua Yuter responds
Pesach Sommer's response to JY
Josh Waxman's response to JY
HaTzv"i Yissochar Katz response to RHS
Rabbi Mordechai Torzczyner responds to JY
Rabbi Mayer Twersky spells out the issues

(On a related topic, see Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein addressing a similar issue in a book critique - starting about half way down, the paragraph that begins with "The second primary object..."