<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII">
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1595" name=GENERATOR></HEAD>
<BODY id=role_body style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: #000000; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"
bottomMargin=7 leftMargin=7 topMargin=7 rightMargin=7><FONT id=role_document
face=Arial color=#000000 size=2>
<DIV>(re-directed from Areivim at the request of the moderators)</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>article in J-m Post today:</DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=printer_headline>==begin quote==</P>
<P class=printer_headline>Rabbi Ovadia: 'Women should stick to cooking,
sewing'</P>
<P class=printer_headline>by Aaron Magid</P>
<P class=printer_headline> </P>
<P class=printer_headline>July 30, 2007</P>
<HR SIZE=1>
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0>
<TBODY>
<TR>
<TD><SPAN class=byline><FONT face=Verdana color=#666666
size=1> </FONT></SPAN></TD>
<TD align=right><SPAN class=byline><FONT face=Verdana color=#666666
size=1></FONT></SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><FONT face=Verdana color=#666666
size=1>
<HR SIZE=1>
</FONT>
<P>"Women should make <I>hamin </I>and not deal with matters of Torah," the
spiritual leader of Shas, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, said in a speech to supporters on
Saturday night.
<P>Yosef made the statement in the context of a major Halachic campaign he is
currently engaged in as to when women should recite the blessing over the
Shabbat candles.
<P>Many prominent Ashkenazi rabbis, along with a few Sephardic sources, have
ruled that women should say the blessing after lighting the candles. However,
according to Yosef, the blessings should be said before the candles have been
kindled, similar to other blessings.
<P>Yosef blasted the opposing view, saying it was based on the opinion of "a few
stupid women. A woman's knowledge is only in sewing," he ridiculed. "Women
should find other jobs and make <I>hamin </I>(<I>cholent</I>) but not deal with
matters of Torah."
<P>In addition, he admonished women for following in the steps of their mothers
in the order of the recitation of the blessing instead of adhering to his
opinion.
<P>"It has to be announced that women should not listen to the voice of their
mothers or grandmothers not to continue with this mistake," he warned.
<P>
<P>==end quote==</P></DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>for the whole article, see</DIV>
<DIV> <<A
title=http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1185789791242&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull
href="http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1185789791242&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull">http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1185789791242&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull</A>></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Of course one never knows whether the J-Post is reporting anything
accurately or fairly, but if ROY really has embarked on this campaign, and if
the quotes are accurate, this is very strange. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Women make a bracha /after/ lighting because by making the bracha, they
have brought in Shabbos, and now cannot kindle a candle. (On yom tov
they light a match, then recite the bracha and then light the candles from
the match.) In order to maintain the usual order of bracha first,
mitzva after, they close their eyes while reciting the bracha, then open their
eyes and look at the candles after saying the bracha. (They also welcome
the Shabbos queen with a sweeping-in gesture of their arms, three times.)</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I know that I have just said something absolutely elementary and basic to
everyone on arvm. But to ROY, all the above is the product of a mistake
introduced by some woman -- when exactly? </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Actually he seems to be saying two different things that are prima facie
contradictory: 1. we light before the bracha because we are blindly
following mistakes made by our grandmothers and</DIV>
<DIV>2. we light before the bracha because women have been trying to learn
Torah, for which they are totally unsuited, and have misunderstood what they
learned. Had women not tried to learn Torah, they never would have made
such a mistake!</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>(Is he saying that our GRANDMOTHERS tried to learn Torah and misunderstood
what they learned?)</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Anyway, I would be very interested in hearing how all this is going over in
Israel, in charedi and in Sefardi circles.</DIV></DIV></DIV>
<DIV><FONT lang=0 face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF"
PTSIZE="10"><BR><B>--Toby
Katz<BR>=============</B></FONT></DIV></DIV></FONT><BR><BR><BR><DIV><FONT style="color: black; font: normal 10pt ARIAL, SAN-SERIF;"><HR style="MARGIN-TOP: 10px">Get a sneak peek of the all-new <A title="http://discover.aol.com/memed/aolcom30tour/?ncid=AOLAOF00020000000982" href="http://discover.aol.com/memed/aolcom30tour/?ncid=AOLAOF00020000000982" target="_blank">AOL.com</A>.</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>