Letters Up Front Edition

• Published in: The Jerusalem post
• Main Author: Shai Ben-Tekoa, Zev Chamudot, Helen Eleasari, Debby Koren, Rabbi Reuven Hammer responds, Amnon Goldberg, Richard Cohen, Harry Orenstein, Yvette Gross, Ruth Poznanski
• Format: Newspaper Article
• Language: English
• Published: Jerusalem The Jerusalem Post Ltd 22.07.2005
• Subjects: Hammer, Reuven

Sir, - Rabbi Reuven Hammer's "Feminine Mystique" (July 15), with all good intentions toward women, perpetuates a halachic myth that needs to be corrected - that women are not obligated as regards prayer at prescribed times. The majority of Rishonim sages maintained that women are obligated to recite the shmoneh esrei (18 Benedictions) prayer at least at the morning and afternoon services (shaharit and mincha). It is important to make this distinction because, as we know, Judaism has the principle that someone who is commanded and performs a mitzva is greater than someone who is not commanded and performs it. Most troubling in the perpetuation of this myth is that Rabbi Hammer's colleague in the Conservative movement, Rabbi David Golinkin, has written an excellent responsum on "Women in the Minyan and as Shelichot Tzibbur," included in his collection of responsa on the status of women in Halacha. Chapter 2 clearly explains that women are indeed obligated to pray (the shmoneh esrei at fixed times), and it is on this basis that he rules women can serve as shelichot tzibbur (prayer leaders). I am surprised Rabbi Hammer is not aware of this responsum. Sir, - The old Yorkshire song played at Eric Silver's 70th birthday festivities - an event that "might have looked like a journalists' convention or reunion of British expatriates" - was not "Elkamor B'atat" but "Ilkley Moor Ba't'at" (translation: "Ilkley Moor without a hat"), as "any fule kno" (Zoom In, July 15). The 1970s television 'Test Card D', accompanied by the brass band version of this song, was used on BBC 1 North (broadcasting on VHF Channel 2, Holme Moss), to the delight of many.