City shul gets
more traditional — with separate seating
Johanna
Markind
Special to the Jewish Exponent
Tradition is back
in style at Congregation B’nai Abraham.
At the July meeting of its executive board, the Center City synagogue voted
to have separate
seating for men and women during its High Holiday
services. The change will make
B’nai Abraham’s High Holiday practice
consistent with its daily and Shabbat services,
during which seating has
always been gender-segregated.
Explaining the change, synagogue president Steven Dickstein said: “We
wanted to tap into
the energy and excitement of our daily and Shabbat
minyanim, many of whose members were
not there on the High Holidays.”
The change also allows B’nai Abraham’s religious leader, Rabbi Yochonon
Goldman, to
officiate at holiday services. In the past, Goldman and his
predecessor, Rabbi Shraga
Sherman, both of whom are affiliated with Chabad,
davened elsewhere during the holidays.
The synagogue hired cantors to lead
services.
The change was part of a package designed to make the synagogue’s holiday
services more
compelling, said Goldman. Using stories, anecdotes and some
English prayers, he hopes to
make this year’s services user-friendly for
all, including beginners. The synagogue will also
offer babysitting
services, communal meals after Rosh Hashanah services and a
break-fast
after Yom Kippur.
A return to its roots
“The return to separate seating is a
return to the synagogue’s roots,” Goldman explained.
The congregation was
established in 1883, and for decades followed an Ashkenazic
Orthodox
ritual.
But in the 1950s, the synagogue began to allow mixed seating during the
High Holidays.
According to Dickstein, the arrangement was an outgrowth of the Jewish
community’s
post-World War II migration to the suburbs. “People who
belonged to the synagogue
in the ’30s and ’40s moved out to the suburbs and
joined Conservative synagogues. They
came back for the High Holidays, and
imported Conservative rituals with them.” As that
population has shrunk, so
has the attraction of the dichotomous arrangement.
The synagogue allows women to serve on its executive board, and there were
women on
the board when it made the decision for separate seating.
To ease the transition, B’nai Abraham invited Rivka Slonim to speak last
month to women
in the community about mechitzah, the Hebrew word for
“partition.” Slonim, education
director at Chabad House Jewish Student
Center at SUNY–Binghamton in New York and
author of Total Immersion: A
Mikvah Anthology, is a self-described “Chasidic feminist”
who lectures
nationally on family and women’s issues.
In interviews, Slonim and Goldman both emphasized that the goal of separate
seating is to
avoid distractions in order to connect better with God during
prayer.
Ele Wood, who hosted Slonim’s talk, sees separate seating as an opportunity
to connect
with other women and to form ties to the broader community
outside the nuclear family.
But she found Slonim’s emphasis on avoiding distractions unsatisfying.
“I don’t want to feel I’m going away from something — I want to feel I’m
going toward
something,” she said.
Wood believes Judaism’s emphasis on fostering community ties is one of the
things that
have enabled it to survive so long. Still, she supports the
concept of mechitzah.
Goldman suggested another way in which separation fosters community — by
making the
service more comfortable for single people. Since couples sit
apart, singles need not feel
left out because they come alone.
B’nai Abraham’s building, which dates back to 1910, is currently undergoing
renovations.
The building is designed with a balcony that has been the
traditional women’s section.
The balcony design carries the advantage of
having nothing blocking the women’s vision.
Linda Goldner, who attended Slonim’s talk, agrees that not all partitions
are equal. She likes
the layout at Vilna Congregation, which often holds
joint services with B’nai Abraham.
The mechitzah there consists of a
curtain strung along the length of the sanctuary, so the
women’s section is
alongside the men’s section and equidistant from the bimah.
“The billowy curtain makes me feel so sheltered — like a tallis,” she said.
“It almost feels
like a physical manifestation of God. But I don’t enjoy
davening from a balcony.”
Goldner, who attends services at a number of Center City shuls both with
and without a
mechitzah, hopes the synagogue will consider other designs.
In her talk, Slonim addressed the issue of design, and even the fact that
worshippers, no
matter what gender, shouldn’t be too comfortable.
“That’s not what prayer is for. It should be a soul-wrenching experience,”
she told her
audience. “Davening is a conversation with G-d. Fewer
distractions improve
communication. Community, comfort — that’s what the
Shabbas table is for.”
