[Avodah] Tzeni'us and gender roles

[rabbirichwolpoe at gmail.com]

Dr. Shinar:
> The question, in stead, is finding the right model to accomodate reality
> - that an increasing part of many women's lives are not part of the home,
> and there should be some religious expression of that reality.

Agreed

> The easist (and most traditional and least revolutionary...) is that
> of copying men's roles -- not because of egalitarianism, but that is
> the model available. That isn't discarding what women do in the home as
> not valuable...

Two stories:

While in YU choir Prof. Perelshtayn had us singing a piece that sounded
lousy (he had conducted young boys choirs in Lithuania)

I told him:
"Look, the notes are within the range of our voices but the piece's
tessutura isn't. Plus it's a "feminine" piece and not fit for an
all-male choir".

The piece was dropped

Story #2
Background:
Looking for benchers for my daughter's BM
Scheduled for Labor Day weekend..

Me: Chana Yocheved, do you like this bencher with all the chaggim
of Tishrey?

CY: NO!!

Me: Why not?

It took a while but finally my sister told me the bencher *I* wanted was
too masculine for a girl! Hence my daughter's emphatic but inarticulate
rejection.

My opinion: women should not "ape" men but come up with feminine
alternatives for WTG's instead. This is not just about not being
egalitarian, it's about being an alternative and not an echo!
(Remember Barry Goldwater? :-)

Illustration:
Friday evening:
Have women sitting in a circle and alternating reciting p'suqqim in Shir
Hashirim - perhaps w/o a leader.

Then maybe Eishes Hayyil...

Morning do same for pesuqqei d'zimra.

Maybe skip Torah reading and go straight to haftara
- unless torah reading has a "shira" in it.

My 2 cents

KT
RRW
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