Did you know that in the Shulchan Aruch (kitzur), Rabbinic "law" says that the niddah is prohibited (by custom) from praying to G-d?
I find this to be incredibly offensive. I understand that Leviticus 15 says no one should come into contact with a niddah or where the niddah has sat. I even understand that a niddah traditionally refrains from attending synagogue except for, say, Yom Kippur or a special occasion. All that makes sense. But a customary prohibition on praying to G-d?
Feel free to label me "anti-Rabbinic" if you must--although I don't see how some healthy disagreement on certain points warrants such an epithet. But things like this strike me as going too far. It reminds me of the threefold blessing that includes thanking HaShem for "making me a man and NOT a woman". It's absurd. It would be fine of course to say thank you for making me a man. But to use the formula "thank you for making me [desirable characteristic] and not [undesirable characteristic]" and to say that women are the undesirables, that is WRONG.
I hope everyone remembers to respect the rabbis but not to attribute undue authority to them. Remember: they prohibit Jews from accepting Yeshua for who He is--G-d incarnate. That is an example of over-reaching. They have no authority to issue a prohibition on accepting Yeshua for who He is!
And they have no authority to say explicitly that women are undesirable or to say that the Niddah can't pray to G-d during her time of impurity.
CONCLUSION
Your Abba is your Abba, no matter what your state of ritual impurity. And He always wants to hear from you!!!
NOTE: Here's the relevant quote from the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch: "During the time a woman is a niddah, during her menstruation period before the white days, it is customary for her not to enter a synagouge and not to pray," (chapter 153, section 16).
Neither Christianity or Judaism are infallible in their doctrines and teachings, some people are not willing to acknowledge these things, I don't see anything wrong with pointing out fallacies, as long as, like you said, it turns into a bashing of all things or constantly looking for fault.
ReplyDeleteI meant to say "it does not turn into bashing".
DeleteI don't see a prohibition, I see a custom...
ReplyDeleteI see a custom imbued with halachic authority
DeleteI think that a woman in her period time become unclean, and all unclean person, man or woman are to stay outside the camp until purified...Am I wrong on this?
ReplyDeleteDan,
DeleteTorah seems to indicate that the Niddah remains in the camp.
Here's something else for everyone to think about. There's a famous principle of halacha that says a custom has greater weight than actual halacha:
ReplyDelete"Minchag mebhattel halacha" ("Custom sets aside the law") [see P. Yebamot 12:1; B. Baba Mezia 7,1]
http://www.jewishsexuality.com/prohibitions-during-niddah
ReplyDelete"t is a mitzvah and obligation for women to pray when in Niddah, as it is when they are not, and they may go to synagogue. Some refrain from attending synagogue during actual menstruation, but even those women should not be stringent in the following cases: the 10 days from Rosh HaShana to Yom Kippur, during joyous occasions when staying away would cause her anguish, if she suspects she will not pray properly at home or not at all."
If it had halachic authority, it was in the past - or this site is not really orthodox. Anyway, I believe this is a case of mere mention of a custom, not a "halachic custom", but I may be wrong...