[Avodah] mechitza

[Zev Sero]

kennethgmiller at juno.com wrote:
> R' Gershon Dubin wrote
>> Much more likely that women never even showed up in shul;
>> those few who did were probably in a separate room.

> I've heard this many times. But it only makes sense to me 99% of the
> time. How recent is it that women come to shul for Parshas Zachor and
> Megillas Esther and Tekias Shofar? It is difficult for me to imagine
> women crowded by the doors and windows, when the number of women might
> be similar to the number of men.

Parshat Zachor?  Extremely recent.  It was almost unheard of mere decades
ago.  Shofar?  Women are not obligated, and in those days they probably
didn't hear it.  Which leaves only megillah, and my guess is that their
husbands read it for them at home, and those whose husbands didn't know
how would go to the home of someone with a more learned husband.


-- 
Zev Sero               Something has gone seriously awry with this Court's
zev at sero.name          interpretation of the Constitution.
                       	                          - Clarence Thomas