[Avodah] Tzeni'us and gender roles

[T613K at aol.com]

From: Arie Folger <afolger at aishdas.org>
>  And it also  implies that this is the basis for the exclusion of
> women as witnesses -  see eg Tosphos there (although of course this is 
from
> a pasuk, so no  reason need really be given, so even that one cannot say 
for
>  definite).  What this seems to allow is for women, for the most part,  to
> avoid cross examination and public humilation in a court setting.  [--R'n 
CL]

Beautiful hypothesis. However, lacking strong proof, you  should keep
in mind that you may or may not be right. Data point: the  maamar
'Hazal I quoted from Rashi states melamed she-ein la-isha  *reshut*
ledabber bifnei ha-ish.

According to your beautiful theory,  the maamar should have taught:
"she-ein ha-isha *tzerikha*" or "*'hayyavet,*"  "le-dabber bifnei
ha-ish."

Kol tuv,
-- 
Arie  Folger,
 
 
 
>>>>
My father addressed that point, too.  I can't  remember his exact words but 
the idea was that if you gave the women the option  of either serving or 
not serving as witnesses, you would not have an equitable  system.  It would 
introduce a level of arbitrariness to the legal system --  a male witness who 
is subpoenaed /must/ testify, but a woman gets to decide case  by case 
whether she wants to testify or not?  Quite unfair, and it makes  the whole 
legal process unpredictable.  Plus, maybe more important, it  would remove from 
the woman the element of protection of her dignity and tznius,  since if she 
/can/ testify at her own discretion, she will be pressured to do so  in 
many cases.
 
 
 

--Toby  Katz
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