Men, Women, Minyans, Councils, Mechitzas, Veils

Awhile ago Minyan Man posted his fantastic video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXvFHWWCT6I), and I probably played it ten times that day and shared it with my husband. I found it so touching; I see the brotherhood and joy as they come together in the prescribed way to pray, sing, and recite.

There are as many practices relating to minyans as there are branches of Judaism – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minyan. Even within one denomination, the rules are a mile long and complicated.

In the video, there’s a curtain in their space at the back of the hardware store (“The back of the store still remembers this song,” – I love that line.) That partition is a “mechitza”(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechitza), which can be a curtain, a solid barrier, a balcony, etc. That’s a complicated issue, too.

One thing that stuck out in my first reading session was a simple definition of the mechitza: The purpose of a women’s section is to serve as place where women can hear and participate in the service together. So….the barrier which I find (on the whole) discriminatory and exclusionary was actually intended to include women. I know it’s much more complicated than just that, but it is food for thought as I think about a woman’s place in the church.

There’s also a “modesty” component to the mechitza, which I think we can identify with as Mormons. On this subject my mind flashed to the temple and women’s veils. Every religion grapples with the relics and vestiges of their past. If the boards were abuzz tomorrow morning with the news that there was no more veiling in the temple, what would it “mean?”

I’m thinking about this because I want to be a minyan woman. I want to count. Now that I finally believe I am equally loved by God, it’s very hard to be happy in a church that doesn’t treat women equally.

“Minyan Man” really resonated with my husband. I was so happy to see him identifying with the experience of these Jewish men fulfilling their obligations, following their tradition and coming together. But he didn’t notice the curtain. I don’t fault him for that, but I really think we need to look at our mechitzas and explore: What exactly is this? Why do we have it? What is it doing for us now, today?

I’ll just add to this thread as I read more.