<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII" http-equiv=Content-Type>
<META name=GENERATOR content="MSHTML 10.00.9200.16576"></HEAD>
<BODY id=role_body style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #000000"
bottomMargin=7 leftMargin=7 rightMargin=7 topMargin=7><FONT id=role_document
color=#000000 size=2 face=Arial>
<DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV>In Avodah Digest, Vol 31, Issue 93 dated 5/20/2013 </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" color=#000000 size=2
face=Arial>From: "Prof. Aryeh A. Frimer" <A title=mailto:frimea@biu.ac.il
href="mailto:frimea@biu.ac.il">frimea@biu.ac.il</A></FONT></DIV><FONT
style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" color=#000000 size=2 face=Arial>
<DIV><BR>Subject: More on Rabbi Riskin Permits Women to Read Ruth<BR>
for Men<BR>"<BR><BR><BR>Posted on Areivim<BR><BR><BR>From
http://tinyurl.com/b7lnnwa<BR><BR>"The Efrat Rabbi answered that while men
cannot keep the mitzvah of <BR>hearing the Esther Megillah by listening to a
woman's reading, it <BR>would be allowable with other megillahs (Ecclesiastics,
Song of <BR>Songs, Ruth and Lamentations)."<BR><BR>>From the Efrat Discussion
Group</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><BR>[efrat] Response from Rav Riskin regarding women reading Megillat Rut
on Shavuot <BR></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>--quote--</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Q. May women read Megillat Rut from behind the mechitza on Shavuot morning?
<BR><BR><BR> A. ....the prohibition of Kol Isha does not apply to a sacred
text, since women would therefore be permitted to read the megillah with the
musical cantillations! <BR><BR><BR> [snip]<BR><BR>
The Scroll of Ruth is not a personal obligation on the part of each individual,
but is rather a communal obligation which devolves upon the entire community.
Hence there is no distinction between men and women; so women can certainly read
it for the entire congregation. <BR><BR> I truly believe that in the
21st century whatever it is permissible for women to do on halakhic grounds
should be allowed for those women who wish to do them and in those congregations
which are willing to accommodate them. The Lubavitcher Rebbe said very clearly
to me that the greatest challenge facing 20th century Orthodox Jewry is making
women feel included as much as possible within our religious ritual. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>--end quote--<BR></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>R' Aryeh Frimer commented:<BR>>> R. Riskin ignores Tosaphot Sukah 38a
explaining the Behag, Semag Esin Derabbanan 4, and Magen Avraham 689:5, who
maintain that the problem of women reading Megilat Esther for men is Kevod
Hatzibbur -- which would apply equally for Ruth as it would for Esther!
<<<BR><BR> <BR>Prof. Aryeh A. Frimer<BR>Chemistry Dept., Bar-Ilan
University<BR>Ramat Gan 5290002, ISRAEL<BR>E-mail (office): <A
title=mailto:Aryeh.Frimer@biu.ac.il
href="mailto:Aryeh.Frimer@biu.ac.il">Aryeh.Frimer@biu.ac.il</A></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>>>>>></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I am sorry I am only getting to this a few days late -- I was in Israel for
several weeks before and after the petirah of my mother a'h (as I mentioned on
Areivim) and am slowly going through many backlogged emails.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>What I would like to add to RAF's comment here is this:</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>It is far from clear that it is halachically permissible for women to read
Megillas Ruth for men. And bringing a private conversation
with the Lubavitcher Rebbe in support of this psak is rather dubious,
since it is a position that the Rebbe most certainly did not
hold!</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Had the Rebbe wished to allow women to read Megillas Ruth for men, he would
have promulgated that ruling by some other means than by telling Rabbi Riskin,
in a private conversation, how important it is to make women feel included,
and leaving it to R' Riskin to deduce what was therefore to be done.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Furthermore, the premise behind this ruling of R' Riskin's is fundamentally
flawed. That is the premise that the way to make women feel included
is to let them play at being men. When you "let" them do what the men are
doing you play into the false notion that women were until now excluded, that
women's historic role in Judaism is inferior, that men get to do all the fun
stuff, that men have all the power, and that only now are centuries' old
injustices to women finally, finally being addressed -- in the holy city of
Efrat.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>What the Rebbe did instead was to put extra stress on aspects of Jewish
ritual that have always had a feminine cast -- challa, neros, niddah,
tznius. He emphasized the unique contributions of women, the ways in which
men and women complement each other, and he did not try to blur the distinctions
between the avodah of women and the avodah of men. He insisted that women
should wear sheitels rather than scarves and hats, so that they would feel and
look "normal" in modern society. When he hand-picked shluchim to go out
into the hinterlands, he made sure to pick couples in which not only the
husbands but also the wives were attractive, talented and articulate.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I definitely have my issues with Chabad, perhaps to be written of some
other day, but I did have great respect for the Lubavitcher Rebbe, and feel it
is only right to protest the dishonest uses to which his views are being
put by R' Riskin.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I would add that I was very touched, and struck by the Rebbe's wisdom, when
I read what he said about the Lubavitcher children's magazine -- he insisted
that the cover of each and every issue must include pictures of girls and not
only of boys. If the foreground showed a picture of a girl coming home
from school, the background showed her little brother playing with his toys, and
vice versa. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>For a better and more honest assessment of the Rebbe's teachings re the
role of women, see </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>"Putting Women in the Picture"</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><A
title=http://www.chabad.org/theJewishWoman/article_cdo/aid/161694/jewish/Putting-Women-in-the-Picture.htm
href="http://www.chabad.org/theJewishWoman/article_cdo/aid/161694/jewish/Putting-Women-in-the-Picture.htm">http://www.chabad.org/theJewishWoman/article_cdo/aid/161694/jewish/Putting-Women-in-the-Picture.htm</A></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>or</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><A title=http://tinyurl.com/nvlxwmv
href="http://tinyurl.com/nvlxwmv">http://tinyurl.com/nvlxwmv</A></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><B><FONT color=#0000ff>--Toby Katz<BR>=============</FONT><FONT lang=0
size=2 face=Arial FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10"></B><BR></FONT><FONT lang=0
size=2 face=Arial FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10"><BR><BR><FONT
color=#0000ff>-------------------------------------------------------------------</FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><BR> </DIV></FONT></DIV></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff></FONT> </DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>