I apologize if this is a bit of an exclusionary post since you need some background in order to understand why I think this is groundbreaking (and I can’t really go into all of it right now).
This video shows two Orthodox rabbis in an Orthodox synagogue providing musical accompaniment to a Bat Mitzvah girl leading the service during a women-only, women-run service.
The men, meanwhile, are occupying the seats/sections which are usually reserved for the women.
The NFO and I were in Nashville for this service and the two rabbis there just AWESOME.
For those of you in the egalitarian fold or not familiar with the politics of women’s issues in the Traditional/Orthodox world, this may not seem like a big deal.
But, it is.
I have so much respect for how Rabbis Strosberg and Levitt pushed the envelope here to give women as much opportunity to participate as is possible under halacha, traditional Jewish law.
I really don’t know if this is the first time something like this has happened, but it was the first I’d seen it and the first I’d heard of it.
