I am not sure if I have informed my little ד' אמות of the blogosphere of one of the hidden wonders of living in Israel - the daily Beit Shemesh train minyan which is called מסילת ישרים. It is wonderful to have a productive commute in the morning, we have a sefer Torah for Mondays and Thursdays and usually we even have birkat Kohanim. However, I am not such a big fan of davening Minchah on the train. At Shacharit we have enough people in the minyan that we take up an entire train car, and we do not disturb the other commuters. At Minchah, we daven in the space in between the two cars which I find to be less comfortable. Fortunately for me, there is a Minchah minyan at work and I do not lose out if I decide to avoid Minchah on the train.Yesterday there was a bit of excitement and academia in action during Minchah on the train. Some of the men in the minyan refused to daven in the usual area for Minchah because there were some young women in tank tops sitting there. I suddenly realized that this was a real living example of Prof. Chaim Soloveithchik's article about Orthodoxy and חומרות. For years Minchah has taken place between the train cars. Come rain, shine or tank tops, Minchah always happened in the same place. I wondered, would this new attitude towards davening Minchah on the train forever change tefillah commuting that I have come to know and love? Fortunately, the חומרה did not hold and today Minchah returned to its regular location on the train.
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How does not davening כנגד ערוה constitute a חומרה?
ReplyDeleteThe Minchah minyan has davened in the same place on the train for years, thus it is difficult for me to imagine that this is the first time that they had to daven כנגד ערוה.
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, generally חומרות are created to address a real concern. As Prof. Soloveitchik pointed out, the sociological problem of חומרות is that people confuse the חומרה with the halakhah.
"The Minchah minyan has davened in the same place on the train for years, thus it is difficult for me to imagine that this is the first time that they had to daven כנגד ערוה."
ReplyDeleteSo?
"Furthermore, generally חומרות are created to address a real concern. As Prof. Soloveitchik pointed out, the sociological problem of חומרות is that people confuse the חומרה with the halakhah."
You have not, as of yet, given any indication that the halachah permits davening כנגד ערוה, nor reason to believe that this situation does not fall under the prohibition.
Yirmiahu - A tank top is not ערבה. They are wearing clothing. And besides, it's a public train. Perhaps there should be place for women to daven.
ReplyDelete