[Avodah] Serrarah

[Zev Sero]

Joseph Kaplan wrote:
> The discussion back and forth on this issue has my head spinning. So I 
> would find it very helpful (and perhaps others as well), if we could go 
> back a step or two and someone could present the elements of serrarah; 
> that is, to have serrarah there must be a, b c, & d. 

RMF seems to define it as the authority, in ones own right rather than
delegated from someone else, to give someone orders.   Specifically, he
discusses the case of a mashgiach at a restaurant, who must by the nature
of the job have the authority to override the owner's decisions, and
order him not to serve something, or to throw something out, or even to
close down.  Therefore, he says, if the mashgiach is working directly for
the owner, then he has serarah over that owner (because if he doesn't
then he's no use at all), and therefore a woman may not be in this position.
But if the mashgiach is working for a rav or agency, which in turn contracts
with the owner, so that the mashgiach is responsible to the rav or to a
supervisor who can override his decisions, then it's not serarah, and a
woman can be hired for this position.

-- 
Zev Sero                      The trouble with socialism is that you
zev at sero.name                 eventually run out of other people’s money
                                                     - Margaret Thatcher