[Avodah] women lighting candles

[Micha Berger]

On Fri, Dec 19, 2008 at 04:00:40PM +0200, Eli Turkel wrote:
: 1. Is there any other mirzva where we apply ishto kegufo?
: Certainly a woman can shake a lulav with a beracha (Ramah) even though
: her husband already did it

Is there any other mitzvah where we argue the details of mehadrin min
hamehadrin? You're comparing it to lulav, where the question is basic
fulfillment.

On Sun, Dec 21, 2008 at 03:37:37PM -0500, T613K at aol.com wrote:
: In today's Huffington Post, there is an article, "Religious Enough for You?
: Women Light the Holiday," by Leora Tanenbaum. She makes an impassioned plea
: for Orthodox women to take control of their own lives and light Chanuka
: candles.

Then RDS being the CS to explain why how the mehadrin lemehadrin couldn't
have ever intended to include women who could have men light for them --
kol kevudah would limit the value of women lighting neiros outside.

After that, I failed to see new points being raised, just the same "new
feminist 'chumrah'" vs "the norm defies the codification of the din"
reiterated. Both appear to be true. We have many innovations proposed
to conform to new egalitarian sensibilities, as well as many new chumros
that simply ignore the din as historical pesaq.

The most one can make from this exchange is that if someone sits down
with her poseiq and realizes that her motivation matches Ms Tananbaum's,
she should rely on the general heter since she isn't looking for increased
avodas Hashem. However, if she really is from a textualist mileau, she is
just as likely to be motivated by the Brisker chumrah as her husband's
choice not to rely on the local eiruv. For her to (RnTK doesn't raise
the same argument WRT talmidei RYBS who don't carry...) I see RET's
argument that to ignore that positive motivation for the sake of blind
anti-feminism is also problematic and for the very same reasons. Although
I'm not sure it's as big of a problem, as the anti-feminism is from a
desire to preserve Sinai culture.

It would need to be an individual decision, after much introspection. As
should any other decision to be machmir. Although here the issue is a
desire for egalitarianism, whereas usually it's yuhara.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
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