Wednesday, September 03, 2008

"Hers?"

The other day, when shopping in downtown Jerusalem with my visiting cousins, we went into a lot of Judaica stores. In one of them, the Talit display had these sets with the names of our matriarchs, Sarah, Rivkah, Rachel and Leah.




Are these Talitot manufactured and designed for women?


In my circles, we don't see women using them at all. Actually, I don't understand why it's considered a male-only mitzvah. Of course, accepting it should be an "all or nothing" proposition. That's how I take religion, not part-time at all.
I'm not dealing with the halachot, Jewish Law. I don't like the total male-imitation in these sets. Women, when it's obligated, have a different rationale for "hats." Our hair-covering is to signify "married," not like the male head-covering. One of the reasons, I don't encourage a women's prayer service, at my Tel Shiloh gatherings is that I don't think we should have to imitate men's prayers. Our obligations are different.

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