Women, Tefillin and Tzitzit

«Of particular interest is the first of the two rationales presented here. For R. Epstein, a key problem with women's participation in exempted daily obligations — tzitzis, and by the same logic tefillin — is that daily obligations are "not pleasant" for women, and therefore represent ostentation, yuhara. But what is the connection?

R. Epstein appears to argue that with regard to women's observances, there is a need to circumscribe public displays of religious ostentation — sincere or not — which have a particularly corrosive effect on others, and ultimately societal structure.

Unlike shofar, lulav, and almost every other time-bound religious obligation, women's public observances of a daily commitment has the potential to foster a socioreligious hierarchy in which feminine piety is identified with observance of this commitment. A publicly-observed option has a way of becoming an obligation — both for idealistic reasons (why should I not do an extra mitzvah and amass more merits?) and not-so-idealistic reasons (I want to show my community that I am a groyse k'nocker, a big shot). Perhaps this is the meaning of yuhara: ostentation in the setting of daily ritual commitments is corrosive because it raises a non-obligatory mitzvah to an obligation and inevitably crowds out other values to which the Torah assigns importance, or at least which women should be allowed to opt for unselfconsciously (e.g., child-bearing and -rearing, which don't lend themselves to a commitment to attendance and participation in daily public time-sensitive rituals). Women are encumbered by fewer responsibilities but have access to all privileges — with the exception of privileges that inevitably become responsibilities for other women.»

Halakhic Dead White Men? | Torah Musings
http://www.torahmusings.com/2014/02/halakhic-dead-white-men/


Kol Tuv,
RRW