DH thinks not counting women in minyan is misogynistic

LeahW

Wed, Mar 31 2010, 1:24 am

mimivan wrote:

amother wrote:

Were the rabbis acting out of misogyny when they decided women should not be included in a minyan?

going back to the Chumash, the original reason ten men are needed for davening is as a tikkun for the 10 spies who gave a negative report about Eretz Yisroel..G-d chastizes them and refers to them as this "evil congregation" Rashi's commentary explains that from this time on, a minyan was needed for men to pray..

women had nothing to do with this sin, in fact, some women tried to prevent the spies from going.
Therefore, praying with a minyan is a tikkun, or rather a punishment.

Women's prayers are heard without a minyan...so is it a Privilege to pray with a minyan? perhaps in some ways it is, but again, as with other aspects of Judaism, it is a tainted privilege. Men also need tzitzit becuase they are more likely than a woman to forget Hashem's commandments (because commandments are so much a part of our physical lives as women, like family purity or kashrus or chinuch that we are less likely to forget)

I don't think it is misogynistic in the slightest, given the fact that needing to pray in a minyan was actually a punishment for the men for either giving a negative report about E.Y or believing it! Wink

Interesting! But I would never even think of men davening in a minyan as a punishment ("Tikun" I get). For the men, I think it's very important. Besides for the ego thing, they need to feel part of a club, hence fraternities, and men's social clubs in the non jewish world.

mimivan

Wed, Mar 31 2010, 4:42 am

LeahW wrote:

mimivan wrote:

amother wrote:

Were the rabbis acting out of misogyny when they decided women should not be included in a minyan?

okay..."punishment" is not a good a word for it as tikkun..
I just wanted to emphasize the point, though, that davening in a minyan was not something given to men because they were somehow superior...on the contrary..it is a tikkun to fix a mistake they made, something the women had nothing to do with.