Shira Hadasha

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Kehillat Shira Hadasha in Jerusalem was founded in 2001 by a group of Jerusalem residents, including Tova Hartman. Its website describes its purpose as the creation of "a religious community that embraces our commitment to halakha, tefillah and feminism" in response to "the growing need of many religious women and men to readdress the role of women in the synagogue." [1]

It was the first Jewish congregation to implement an opinion by Modern Orthodox Rabbi Mendel Shapiro [2], which was subsequently supported by Bar-Ilan University Talmud Professor Rabbi Daniel Sperber [3], that Jewish law permits women to be called to and read from the Torah on Shabbat in services with men under certain conditions, and hence was the first Partnership Minyan.

The congregation combines a traditional liturgy with certain prayer leadership opportunities for women, including Kabbalat Shabbat on Friday nights; and Pesukei DeZimra, removing and replacing the Torah in the Ark, and Torah reading on Saturday mornings. A mechitza separating men and women runs down the middle of the room.

Parts of the service requiring a minyan do not begin until both 10 men and 10 women are present. Shira Hadasha's prayer service format has been copied by a small number of congregations in Israel, the United States, Canada, and Australia.

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[edit] Controversy

A number of Orthodox rabbis have publicly disagreed with Shira Hadasha's mode of worship. Rabbi Yaakov Ariel, chief rabbi of Ramat Gan and a prominent religious Zionist rabbi, has ruled that “people should not pray in this synagogue.” Rabbi Dov Lior of Kiryat Arba has stated that “anyone who is truly God-fearing will not join in such a minyan since this is how the breaking of Jewish tradition begins. Today they do this, and in the future the result will be women and men praying completely together.” [4]

[edit] See also

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ Website of Kehillat Shira Hadasha ("original website")
  2. ^ Mendel Shapiro, “Qeri’at ha-Torah by Women: A Halakhic Analysis” (Edah 1:2, 2001) (pdf)
  3. ^ Daniel Sperber, "Congregational Dignity and Human Dignity: Women and Public Torah Reading” (Edah 3:2, 2002) (pdf)
  4. ^ "Battle over women's right to pray", Y-Net News, August 14, 2006

[edit] References

[edit] External links

[edit] Further reading

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