[Avodah] Tzeni'us and gender roles

[T613K at aol.com]

From: "Chana Luntz" _chana at kolsassoon.org.uk_ 
(mailto:chana at kolsassoon.org.uk) 

>>Let  us just think for a moment about what it means to be either a 
litigant
or a  witness in any court system.  Basically, the aim of the other side is
to  demonstrate that any opponent is, in the case of a monetary case, a liar
and  probably a thief...., 
 

The whole exercise is, has to be, one of public humilation....   
....any sensible man would
logically avoid having to be a witness or a  litigant.... And that is
why we have halachos that compel witnesses to come  to court.

It is in this framework that the gemora on Shavous 30a  discusses the fact
that women do not generally come to court, even as  litigants ....
And it also implies that this is the basis for the exclusion of
women as  witnesses....
 
What this seems to allow is for women, for the most part, to
avoid cross  examination and public humilation in a court setting.>>



>>>>
That is exactly what my father said about women being  witnesses, that the 
halacha protects their dignity.  He added that their  ne'emanus is not in 
question, as a woman's word is trusted in matters of  critical  halachic 
importance like taharas hamishpacha and kashrus.
 
For those who are new to Avodah I will mention that my father was R'  
Nachman Bulman, zt'l.  This Shabbos, 26 Tammuz, is his seventh  yahrzeit.  Still 
sadly sadly missed.
 
--Toby  Katz
==========



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