Article in The Forward
An article in The Forward (September 20, 2002) summarized Orthodox views immediately following the initial partnership minyan congregations:
- No leading Orthodox institution or halachic arbiter is known to have publicly endorsed the new prayer groups or Shapiro's article. At the same time, the new practices have yet to be condemned by Modern Orthodoxy's leading institutions. But insiders attributed the institutional silence to the trend being in its early stages, and said the changes were likely to be criticized by leading Orthodox rabbis.
- Even Edah director Rabbi Saul Berman, who agreed to publish Shapiro's article in the spirit of open debate, said he could not accept its conclusions.
- When asked if such a minyan would be granted membership in the Orthodox Union, the union's professional head, Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb, said that the matter would be referred to outside religious authorities, including the Rabbinical Council of America. The RCA's executive vice president, Rabbi Stephen Dworken, said that if the issue is ever raised, his organization would have to study it. Dworken added that he did not know of any "halachic authority who permits those types of activities."
- Rabbi Yosef Blau, a spiritual adviser to students at Modern Orthodoxy's flagship Yeshiva University, said that Y.U. and its affiliated seminary rarely adopt official policies regulating where students are allowed to worship, though they are expected to follow Orthodox teachings. But, he added, even when top members of the Y.U. rabbinical faculty do come out against a controversial practice, such as women-only prayer groups involving Torah reading, graduates often continue to chart their own course without being sanctioned.
- Blau predicted that the current phenomenon was likely to generate more controversy than women's prayer groups if the practice becomes more widespread. He added that most Y.U. rabbis probably would object. In a thinly veiled reference to Shapiro, Blau said that no widely respected halachic arbiter had endorsed the recent attempts to expand women's roles
Read more about this topic: Partnership Minyan, Objections To Partnership Minyanim, Orthodox Objections
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