Comments on: Is it permitted for women to wear tallit and tefillin? https://www.jwire.com.au/is-it-permitted-for-women-to-wear-tallit-and-tefillin/ Australia, NZ and worldwide Jewish news that matters Tue, 06 Apr 2021 14:17:49 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 By: Liat Kirby https://www.jwire.com.au/is-it-permitted-for-women-to-wear-tallit-and-tefillin/#comment-567331 Tue, 06 Apr 2021 14:17:49 +0000 https://www.jwire.com.au/?p=123016#comment-567331 Thank you for your sincere attempt to discuss the issue of whether or not women may wear Tallit and Tefillin, Rabbi Apple. It seems to me there are various opinions and/or decisions (sometimes rather muddled); as well as the Rabbinic authorities not permitting tefillin to women due to a perceived problem with ‘cleanliness’ (we all know what that means).

In the 21st century it won’t do for men to make these kinds of decisions, using these kinds of excuses. ‘Time-bound commandments’ and commitments can be used as an excuse to deny women a fuller role in practising Judaism. A woman is smart enough to know if she has the time to commit to something, or maybe she simply wants to make the time to do so. After all, she is expected to make the time to do what amounts to an enormous workload, both caring for family and often working outside domesticity to earn money, and Rabbinic authorities don’t object to that.

Is there anything specific in the actual Torah relating to all this?
What are the lines or passages in the Torah that these interpretations come from?

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