{"id":14,"date":"2018-06-04T10:36:04","date_gmt":"2018-06-04T14:36:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/grad.journalism.torontomu.ca\/womensspaces\/?page_id=14"},"modified":"2018-07-26T05:32:41","modified_gmt":"2018-07-26T09:32:41","slug":"home-page","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/grad.journalism.torontomu.ca\/womensspaces\/","title":{"rendered":"Women\u2019s Sanctuaries or Sexist Spaces?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Long considered anti-feminist, female-only spaces are now being seen as a way to support women\u2019s equality. What does #MeToo mean for gender segregation in religion?<\/em><\/span><\/h3>\n[\/vsc-section-title][vc_empty_space][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]\n

By Maria Iqbal<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\nP<\/span>ine trees flank a large brown building in the west end of Thornhill. Patterned brick leads to the front entrance, which stands below three arched windows. Black block letters above the middle window read, Beth Avraham Yoseph of Toronto Congregation. A few years ago, Dahlia Horlick would never have thought she\u2019d prefer this synagogue\u2014also known as BAYT, meaning \u201chouse\u201d\u2014to the one she was raised in just south in North York. BAYT is a Modern Orthodox synagogue which separates men and women during the prayer service.<\/p>\n

A student at Guelph University, Horlick was raised in the Reconstructionist tradition of Judaism, in an environment where separating men and women was considered anti-feminist. That changed when she went on a trip to Israel in high school and learned more about Orthodox practice. For a month that summer, Horlick toured sites across the holy land. She joined in prayers, visited different synagogues and went to the Western Wall for the first time.<\/p>\n

The Western Wall is the last remaining piece of the Temple of Jerusalem, an ancient site of Jewish worship, after it was destroyed by the Romans 2,000 years ago. Today, it\u2019s widely considered one of the holiest sites in Judaism.<\/p>\n

When Horlick entered through the security gates in the Old City of Jerusalem, she saw people praying close to the wall. Parents were weeping with their sick children and praying for their health. Even tourists were deep in contemplation, their camera phones tucked away. As Horlick approached closer, the men and women in her group separated and entered through different gateways. \u201cI expected that because it\u2019s a really holy site,\u201d Horlick says. \u201cI felt like it made sense.\u201d<\/p>\n

But for many Jews, the wall is also a site of intense struggle over gender equality. The site is set up like an Orthodox synagogue with different spaces for men and women. Because the site is sacred to all Jews, there have been movements by more liberal streams to create a co-ed space for worship there<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In Orthodox synagogues across the world, men and women are separated in one of two ways: women either sit upstairs in an ezrat nashim <\/em>or a mechitza<\/em> divides the men and women. Members of the Orthodox community say the point is to allow people to pray without distraction.<\/p>\n

The mechitza<\/em> was introduced into Judaism during what\u2019s known as the Second Temple era, between 530 BCE and 70 CE. As a result, it\u2019s not mentioned in the Torah, the main Jewish scripture, but instead in the Talmud, the Jewish law. \u201cThe rabbis noted at some point in that generation that allowing men and women to enter the temple of Jerusalem without segregation was leading to undesired frivolity. So, they decided that they would create a separation,\u201d says Daniel Korobkin, rabbi at BAYT.<\/p>\n

Women sitting in a balcony can see the men below, but even when they\u2019re side-by-side, the mechitza <\/em>is mostly to stop men from looking at women and not vice versa. \u201cMen get distracted more than women do when praying,\u201d Korobkin says. \u201cReally, it\u2019s more for the benefit of the men than it is for the women.\u201d[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row full_width=”stretch_row” css=”.vc_custom_1528918784019{border-top-width: 50px !important;border-right-width: 0px !important;border-bottom-width: 50px !important;border-left-width: 0px !important;background-color: #58217f !important;border-left-color: #58217f !important;border-right-color: #58217f !important;border-top-color: #58217f !important;border-bottom-color: #58217f !important;}”][vc_column][vc_empty_space height=”40px”][vc_column_text]\n

\"\"The Western Wall in Jerusalem is a holy site for Jewish pilgrims across the world.<\/span><\/h6>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text]While common in Muslim communities, gender-based segregation is practised in different ways by many faiths, including some Christian, Hindu, and Jewish communities. In many cases, the separation is meant to promote modesty: helping worshipers avoid sexual arousal in a house of worship. But separate seating doesn\u2019t come without controversy. In some cases, segregation is another name for relegating women to cramped and dismal rooms in dark basements or symbolic of an attitude that treats women as afterthoughts at best, and distractions at worst.<\/p>\n

Beyond the physical arrangement of the room, there are well-defined roles for men and women in Orthodox Judaism. Men lead prayers and congregations while women aren\u2019t required to pray as frequently as men, and generally don\u2019t read from the Torah. Meanwhile, other Jewish streams, like Reform and Conservative, even have women rabbis.<\/p>\n

Although Horlick was raised as a member of Darchei Noam, a Reconstructionist synagogue, her trip to Israel marked a transition towards Orthodox practice. \u201cI just got more used to seeing men and women separate in that month,\u201d she says. \u201cWhen I got back home and went to Darchei Noam, I almost felt weird to be sitting in mixed seating.\u201d She says members would be chatting instead of focusing on the service: \u201cJust for where I was at spiritually, I didn\u2019t appreciate it as much as I used to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Horlick began eating only kosher-style food. She also started keeping Sabbath with friends she made on her trip. (She couldn\u2019t in her own synagogue because the food wasn\u2019t always kosher and music would be played, which isn\u2019t allowed by the Orthodox on Sabbath.) Then, last summer, she decided to join her friends for a service at BAYT. There, men and women were separated by a mechitza<\/em>. But now, Horlick understood it. \u201cWhen you\u2019re praying, it\u2019s supposed to really just be between you and God. You\u2019re not supposed to be concentrating on other things,\u201d she says. After the sermon ended, the men and women sat together for a meal.<\/p>\n

Many Jews disagree with what the barrier is supposed to represent. \u201cThe idea of the mechitza<\/em>, the separation is anathema to me for many reasons,\u201d says Dawn Bernstein, a retired cantor for Kol Ami, a Reform synagogue in Thornhill, whose role was to lead prayer through religious music. Though Bernstein identifies as Reform, she\u2019s attended segregated services when performing for Orthodox synagogues. \u201cI don\u2019t like sitting separate from my husband and his two sons,\u201d she says. \u201cI don\u2019t like the idea that they would see their mother funneled up there on the other side of the room.\u201d<\/p>\n

She says while Orthodox communities believe women don\u2019t have to participate in certain practices, like praying in the synagogue, she believes women should be encouraged to take part if they choose. \u201cI don\u2019t quite understand how a young Orthodox woman can be a fully equal partner in her work life and not a fully equal partner in her religious life,\u201d she says. \u201cI can\u2019t reconcile the two sides of that, so I live in a world that doesn\u2019t have to.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Korobkin describes separate seating as a form of \u201cself-regulation,\u201d saying, \u201cMen and women have to help each other on their spiritual journeys. The women feel that there\u2019s virtue in it and the men feel that there\u2019s virtue in it.\u201d<\/p>\n

At Darchei Noam, where men and women sit together, a woman named Tina Grimberg is the rabbi. While Grimberg declined to be interviewed for this story, a statement emailed by her assistant said Grimberg \u201cdoes not feel that segregating men and women conflicts with human rights, but obviously it is a bigger conversation.\u201d Another female rabbi, Elyse Goldstein of the Reform synagogue, City Shul, also did not wish to be interviewed for this story, noting, among other things, \u201csince my congregation does not separate genders I\u2019d prefer not to speak about those who do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Horlick, who\u2019s not a member of any specific synagogue while she studies in Guelph, found meaning in separate seating. \u201cIn the Orthodox perspective, men and women just have different roles,\u201d she says. If women don\u2019t read from the Torah, they take leadership in other areas, like joining many of the boards at the synagogues and inviting speakers. She says, \u201cWhen it comes to separation in the Orthodox synagogue, the women are above the men. It\u2019s supposed to be metaphorical saying they\u2019re holier, they\u2019re above you.\u201d<\/p>\n

In recent years, many have called out gender segregation\u2014in and out of religion\u2014as anti-feminist, a practice that treats women as inferior and restricts them from full participation in the faith. But others defend separate spaces as a way for women to foster their personal and professional growth away from patriarchal structures. Where the #MeToo movement has propelled forward discussion on women\u2019s rights, it\u2019s also carved out a place for women to re-claim the meanings of separate spaces.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row full_width=”stretch_row” css=”.vc_custom_1528918784019{border-top-width: 50px !important;border-right-width: 0px !important;border-bottom-width: 50px !important;border-left-width: 0px !important;background-color: #58217f !important;border-left-color: #58217f !important;border-right-color: #58217f !important;border-top-color: #58217f !important;border-bottom-color: #58217f !important;}”][vc_column][vc_empty_space height=”40px”][vc_column_text]