daf bit: Eruvin 96

[cellio]

In addressing what can be carried on Shabbat, the talmud discusses t'fillin (phylacteries) that have been found. These are ritual objects and will be missed by their owner. This leads to a discussion of whether t'fillin are worn on Shabbat; Rabbi Akiva says yes, while others say no. How can R. Akiva say this when he elsewhere said that t'fillin are a sign, and we don't need a sign on a day that itself is a sign? This relies on a Tanna who said that t'fillin may be worn at night, and if night is a proper time for wearing t'fillin then certainly Shabbat is. The Akiva question is not here resolved, but the g'mara notes in passing that Michal the daughter of the Kushite (I don't know who this is) wore t'fillin and the sages did not attempt to prevent her. The g'mara then goes on to discuss other things, not taking up the question of women wearing t'fillin. (96a)

Modern practice: t'fillin are worn only during the day, not on Shabbat, and not by women. Liberal and egalitarian communities disagree on the last point, and apparently some S'fardim consider it optional for women.

(Today's daf is 97.)

Comments

[magid.livejournal.com]

I'd say more that "not usually by women," since there's at least some women known to have worn them in the past, and I know some women who have taken this on as well. Not that it's easy for them to do this in many traditional community prayers, of course.

[cellio]

Yeah, I tried to hand-wave that with my comment about liberal and egalitarian (e.g. Shira Chadisha in Jerusalem is Orthodox but egal), and of course there's Women of the Wall. As you say, it's not easy for women to take this on.

(My Conservative-minyan mentor -- the same one who told me "you need to learn to lead the service", then "you need to lead Hallel", and then "you should consider a tallit; that would be totally ok here" -- recently told me "we have loaner t'fillin, *nudge*". Someday perhaps he will teach me and I will consider. We'll see. I don't know why wearing a tallit feels perfectly reasonable but t'fillin is a mental hurdle for me.)

[hlinspjalda.livejournal.com]

This reminds me of the struggle between Women of the Wall and their detractors over access to the kotel. I hadn't been aware of the nuance posed by Sefardic opinions; that's an interesting wrinkle that's not been covered by any journalist I've read yet.

[cellio]

Yeah, I'd never heard of the Sefardic interpretation until it came up recently on Mi Yodeya, and ever since I've been wondering why this isn't part of the discussion of Women of the Wall. Surely they're not all Ashkenazim, and even if they are, somebody should have brought it up as part of the broader discourse.

So part of me assumes there's something more there, some restriction or later interpretation that moots it, but I haven't encountered it yet.

[chaos-wrangler.livejournal.com]

A while ago (less than 20 years but more than a couple) there was a girl at the (Orthodox) high school I went to who wanted to wear tfilin. The school wanted to let her but didn't want it to turn into a political statement mess, so they said she could wear tfilin if she davened at the regular minyan at the synagogue that the school is affiliated with instead of at the school's student minyan - kind of "if you're doing it for adult reasons, you may do it with the adults; if it's just to make a statement, then we're not going to let that happen here".

[cellio]

That's fair. Also, if you're taking on an obligation you should be taking on an obligation, not just doing something as a statement or until the novelty wears off. Though we do need to make some allowance for exploration; in the case of optional observance there should be some way to try it out before committing. And I don't know how you would do that in a school setting where services are built-in (so "daven that way at home" doesn't work).

[chaos-wrangler.livejournal.com]

I'm guessing that she already wore tfilin at home (e.g. during the summer, Sundays, other non-school days) so this was a way to let her continue an observance that she had already tried on her own and decided to take on permanently. I'm also guessing that the school would have allowed her to return to the standard school minyan if she chose to.

[fauxklore]

My understanding is that t'fillin are generally considered more acceptable for women than a tallit. The argument against women wearing t'fillin is that we are not obliged to perform mitzvot that require being done at specific times. (That is, of course, tied to traditional ideas about responsibilities for children and women are exempted from time-based mitzvot because they might not be able to perform them at the right times.) So there isn't an actual prohibition against them, just a lack of obligation.

A tallit, however, could be considered wearing the clothes of the opposite sex, which there is a prohibition against.