on this. Rabbi Roth clearly wants to permit women to be witnesses, and he suggests several ways to justify doing so, but he worries about the effects on the rest of the Jewish community of doing so Rabbi Rabinowitz, on the other hand, says categorically that“we must reclassify the status of women vis-a-vis edut(testimony) based on the realities of our era..” See their respective articles in Greenberg, The Ordination of Women”, 117-119 and 149-162.
There““as a minority vote of the Committee to allow women to be witnesses ii, 1974, but it was not rationalized by formal papers. See Summary Index, 10.2
For both a reference to that takkana of the Chief Rabbinate and for a more general discussion of the role of takkanot in Jewish legal development, see Menachem Elon ,“Takkanah” and anot Ha- Kahal,” Encyclopedia Judaica 5:71 2-737 especially 727
Making girls and women eligible for the same educational opportunities with the same curriculum as boys and men has been the practice of the Conservative Movement from its very inception, with the notable exception, until recently, of the rabbinical and cantorial schools. Our amendments of the ketubah, our pre-nuptial document of condition(tenai-bekidushin), and if all else fails, our willingness to annul a marriage retroactively, have together freed many women from remaining chained to their former husbands. For a description of these measures, see, Dorf and Rosett, Op. Cit., 523-546. For our elimination of any Jewish legitimacy with regard toa child and spousal abuse, see my responsum ,“Family Violence, ” on these issues cited in n. 10 above.
“Male and Female, He Created Them:” Equal with Distinction,’ University Papers, Los Angeles , 1984, 13-23
Discover, June 1995, 36; U.S. News and World Report , February 27, 1998, 15. Cf also a summary of earlier research indicating differences between the brain structures and functioning of men and women in“Sizing Up the Sexes,” Time, January 20, 1992, 42-51.
Carol Gilligan , In A Different Voice, Cambridge, 1982. N. Noddings , Caring:A Feminine Approach to Ethics and Moral Education Berkeley, 1984; Deborah Tannen , You Just Don’t Understand New York, 1990
B. Berakhot 20b: B. Shabbat 31b; Yad Hil. Avodah Zarah , 12.3; Hil. Shabbat b.3; Shulhan Arukh, Orah Hayim 263.2,3; 271.2
B. Kiddushin 30b equals the Talmud ’s interpretation of M Kiddushin 1:7 to require honor of parents by both sons and daughters
The new book edited by Rabbi Debra Orenstein, Lifecycles: Jewish Women on Life Passages and Personal Milestones, Woodstock,1994, presents a rich treasury of new ideas to express women's life passages and personal milestones in meaningful, but distinctly Jewish , ways. A similar book needs to be written for men!
Exodus Rabbab 5:9; 29:1; Pesikta DeRab Kahana,“Bahodesh Ha-Shelishi,” on Exodus 20:2(Ed. Mandelbaum), vol. 1, 224