Thoughts on Shul Mechitzahs

Erica Brown recently wrote an interesting piece about mechitzas on the new "Torah Currents" website. She points out a common problem with shul structures that I have experienced as well. Too often, women who sit behind a mechitza have a hard time hearing the shaliach tzibbur because the men in the back of the men's section are too busy talking noisily. She writes very eloquently and I encourage you to read her article. Although she does not focus on this, I think another way around the problem is to think about the structure of the shul. If mechitzas are set up in a way which helps women feel more included rather than detached, this could make a difference. I also find that when women's sections have such a high mechitza and are further from the rabbi and bimah, the women tend to talk more, posing an even greater challenge for women who want to be part of the davening. Personally, I like the experience of a women's section when it is set up right. In one shul which I daven in, the mechitza is side by side with the bimah in the middle. I am interested in hearing about other mechitza solutions that have worked for other communities.

Comments

[Terry]

I agree that the best way to set up a satisfying davening environment for both men and women is to have the mechitza separate the sections side by side, so the obnoxious people who like to talk through the d'var Torah (like myself) are still able to and those who prefer to enjoy a spiritually enlightening davening experience are still able to hear and participate.

[davenchick]

The first time I davened in a shul with a mechitza, we women were in a completely closed upper balcony that had a small sliding window (just big enough to reach out and throw candy during a bar mitzvah. None of us really knew when to throw the candy, because we couldn't hear). Almost all the women were jabbering away, because we had no clue what was going on so far down below us.

Fast forward a few years, and I went to a service where the mechitza was a row of very tall, narrow evergreen-type trees straight down the middle, with a little bit of space, and then the bima at the end. Both the men and women could hear equally, and both the men and women had views of the rabbi. I could see the men leyning Torah. It was the first meaningful davening experience I had ever really had.

Now, I daven in a shul that has plants (they're kosher height, but I actually would prefer a little *more* separation) down the middle as the mechitza. The bima is on the men's side, but the plants allow for a satisfying view and no problem with hearing what's going on.

I dislike davening with a mechitza that cuts off sound, that is behind the men so we have to listen to their chattering, that is behind a wall, etc. I might as well daven at home. We are told to daven with our community, is not our community more than just the few women who resign themselves to this isolated position?

Sorry, I rambled in my rant. The mechitzas I have seen that I think work really well:
Ramat Orah in NYC: they have a wooden dividing wall to kosher height, with lace curtains topping it. When it's time for the d'var Torah, or they have a guest speaker, the lace easily drops down to open the room. They mechitza goes down the centre of the room, with the bima on the men's side. It is raised, so even when I sit in the back, I still have no problem hearing or seeing.

Aish HaTorah in Boston: this was the shul that had the evergreen-like trees as the mechitza, which were down the centre of the room.

[Andrea]

I relate to this issue, so much so that I avoid shuls that relegate women to a section that is upstairs and a full floor above the men. In addition to finding it difficult to see and hear, I hate feeling like I am watching something going that's not even taking place right in front of me. Luckily, I have the luxury of picking and choosing shuls on this basis on Manhattan's Upper West Side! I like the set-up at The Jewish Center but I know that it doesn't provide enough separation for some people.

I remember at the JOFA conference last year a rabbi from Connecticut (I think Westport but maybe Stamford...) said that he had the fortune to oversee the building of a new shul for his congregation and designed it with "equal viewing" in mind -- side-by-side sections for men and women with near-equal proximity to the bimah. I sincerely hope that other rabbis in this situation will have the same forethought and consideration and that congregations with existing layouts unfavorable to women will re-evaluate their designs and attempt to make improvements.

[shanna]

I'm also a big fan of down-the-middle, preferably with the bima in the center (as it is at Ramath Orah, though technically it is on the men's side of the mechitza and just juts into the women's section), but also with the bima at the front of the shul, in front of both davening sections and the mechitza entirely.

Where we daven now (Young Israel of Brookline), there are two women's sections: one small one on the ground floor in the back, and a larger balcony (also, obviously, in the back). The downstairs women's section is elevated about a foot above the men's section, and the mechitza there is solid wood for about three and a half feet, with clear acrylic above that holding up frosted acrylic letters spelling out the first few p'sukim of Eishet Chayil. In many seats, the frosted letters obstruct the line of sight to the bima/Sh"Tz/rabbi. Because the balcony sits over the downstairs women's section, but the men's section has the double-high ceiling, the acoustics are terrible unless the Sh"Tz is very loud (the rabbi is only barely loud enough, and the president making announcements almost never is), or unless you are trying to eavesdrop on a conversation taking place next to a particular window (not something I'm inclined to do).

I despise balconies (I feel like I'm watching a play) so I sit up there only when we are hosting a guest who strongly prefers it. So my usual seat is in the front row (of three) in the downstairs women's section, in the "center" seat, which is directly lined up behind the aron and bima and is as close as I can get to those. (In a side-by-side shul setup, I almost always choose a seat next to the mechitza and as close to the bima as possible.) This seat has the perk of also being in front of a "yud" (rather than a bigger letter from Eishet Chayil) and therefore I can actually see through the acrylic part of the mechitza when sitting down.

They used to not carry the sifrei Torah anywhere near the women's section either, but that changed this past Simchat Torah: http://www.devarim.com/archives/000105.html

[shlomit]

i dont know why so many people dont like balconies. It depends on the shul. Some balcony sections give a great view and the acoustics are great!

I think it's all in the design, and also, in how alert the rabbi is to the women's experience.

[karen]

Shlomit writes, "Some balcony sections give a great view." With all due respect I think this is exactly the problem. We don't want to feel we are viewing, we want to feel we are participating even if we cannot fully do so.

Still, I think she is completely right when she says, "I think it's all in the design, and also, in how alert the rabbi is to the women's experience."

[Rahel]

At the Kolech conference in Israel several years ago there was a photographic exhibit entitled (I'm translating the title literally from the Hebrew) "What You See from Here You Cannot See from There." It contained photographs of various synagogues in Israel taken from inside their respective women's sections.

[Deborah Shaya]

The women are much more holy than the men.

It should therefore be the WOMEN who start putting up the mechitza, and dividing the space in the synagogue - for the men.

The women have been stupid enough to accept the:

walls;
fences;
black opaque glass;
single windows covered by a thick opaque curtain;
duvets; and
canvases

that the men ('dayanim' &'rabbis') have put up in the synagogues to screen them off.

Remember the thick curtains that are actually nailed to the glass, just in case a woman may wish to view a Sefer Torah.

This is a complete insult to the women - and an insult to Hashem, and the Shechinah.

It is time this was corrected - by the women.

[Josh S,]

Men do have a chiuv to daven with the tzibur.
Women do not have a chiuv to daven with the tzibur.

Women can even fulfill their chiuv tefilla by talking to Hashem in their own words from their heart. My Rabbi said this is the preferred method (see taz and the gra).

[Nike Jordan Shoe]

Love is the master key which opens the gates of happiness.