|
|
Article: Women and Kaddish.
- Article from:
- Judaism
- Article date:
- June 22, 1995
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1995 American Jewish Congress. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
AT FIRST GLANCE, ANY DISCUSSION OF THE APPROPRIATENESS of women saying Kaddish, the traditional mourner's prayer, seems to be superfluous. On the one hand, those for whom egalitarianism is the major ethical principle see no possibility of excluding women from participating in this or any other synagogue experience. On the other, those committed to traditional halakhic norms tend to take for granted that women are excluded from any formal liturgical role.
This characterization of the halakhic position, however, is oversimplified. It is true, of course, that halakha rejects an egalitarian approach to religion, insisting that men and women have different (if ...