From the knock me over with a D*** feather files
And not just anyone, but R. Ovadia Yosef of all people. I’ve always said that the Conservative movement was foolish not to start out by working with the Mizrachim as allies.
From JTA breaking news:
Ma’ariv on Monday quoted Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, spiritual mentor to the Sephardi political movement Shas, as saying that the mechitza, or partition used to separate men and women at events like weddings, should not be insisted upon if it causes family strife.
“Sometimes a family is not so pious, does not want a mechitza, and prefers that everyone sit together at one table. This is not something to fight over. If a mechitza is possible, then it should be erected, but if it is not, it can be done away with,” Yosef was quoted as saying in a weekly sermon.
I mentioned this on the Yeshiva @ MySpace.com. Apparently the halacha is quite lenient when it comes to separation of sexes outside of holy contexts, and much of what is done today is based on chumrot and not actual halacha.
Why is this surprising? I thought everyone knew that the injunction to build a mechitza comes out of Hilchot Bet Keneset – synagogue law, not out of anyhere else. That’s why you don’t have to start building walls if you’re with a mixed-gendered group of Jews in the park when it comes time to daven. There’s no halachic requirement for a mechitza anywhere outside of dedicated prayer spaces.
He is so wrong on this. YOU”RE ALL WRONG! . We need more mechitzahs everywhere. What started as a way to keep our minds focused on prayer really should be a way of life! Let’s keep those pesky females from studying Torah and thus taking over. Interacting with women socializes people and no jew ever has wanted to be social, or even socialist. DON’T YOU PEOPLE SEE WHAT COMES OF MIXED TABLES? IT LEADS TO COMMUNIST TAKEOVER! MUH-hahahaha
Seriously, tho, its ironic coming from a guy who said that Ashkenazi Jewish shoah victims were “reincarnations of the souls of sinners, people who transgressed and did all sorts of things which should not be done. They had been incarnated in order to atone.”
wha?? this does not seem like OVadiah at all. Maybe it’s an imposter? i mean, i don’t particularly care for the guy, but he makes valid points, once in a while. he IS a racist, no doubt, but this is just so out of character. not that i dont’ mind it
Yosef wasn’t talking about a shul without a mechitza, and you shouldn’t imagine that he would have anything positive, or even not dripping with venom, about the Conservative movement. It’s a positive thing that he’s doing, but still he thinks that a mechitza is preferable at a wedding.
just to make one thing clear: Ovadia Yosef, in his younger days, wrote some of the most brilliant responsa of the last few decades. and, in many of them–particularly on issues of ‘women’s issues’–he was more lenient–and more courageous–than most other poskim around. so don’t be so surprised.
ROY was speaking about the dinner, not the dancing btw