An Aliyah for women, a rite given, taken back, and restored TB Megillah 23

Today's daf Megillah 23 is chock-full of practical halakhot. After discussing how many aliyot in a weekday and the various holiday services are called up, the Gemara says who's eligible to have an aliyah. “The Sages taught in a Tosefta (Megilla 3:11): All people count toward the quorum of seven readers, even a minor and even a woman. However, the Sages said that a woman should not read the Torah, out of respect for the congregation. (מִפְּנֵי כְּבוֹד צִבּוּר-Kevod Hatzibbur)” (Sefaria.org translation)

Rabbi Aaron Blumenthal in his teshuvah permitting women to have aliyot analyzes what does “out of respect for the congregation מִפְּנֵי כְּבוֹד צִבּוּר)”) mean? The phrase only occurs five other times in talmudic literature. “All five cases have this element in common-they involve an offense to the dignity of the congregation. It is improper for one inadequately dressed to officiate in public. It is improper to delay the congregation unnecessarily, and it is improper or undignified for the Torah reading to be conducted from anything less in a complete and valid scroll. What makes (giving an aliyah to a woman) offensive? The implication that there is no men present who can read from the Torah. For all practical purposes, however, the important thing is that the privilege is denied the Jewish woman only because it was considered to be offensive or improper.

“Perhaps the most direct approach to our problem is to compare the talmudic concept of propriety regarding women with our own. The Talmud abounds in lofty and reverent sentiments about women, but halachically she suffered from a number of disabilities. She was not permitted to testify in court, to inherit from her father equally with her brother, or to serve as a judge. She did not have equality under the law in marriage or divorce. Almost a thousand years were to elapse before husband was denied his polygamous rights, and that, only in Western countries.

“None of the sentiments or disabilities can stand the test of scrutiny today. To continue to act as if they were still valid is the height of folly. We could solve a problem very expeditiously by saying that many of the things that offended Kevod Hatzibbur in Talmudic times offense us. The Jewish woman who works side-by-side with her husband for the welfare of the synagogue and the Jewish community, is active in the UJA, in Zionist effort, in both Jewish and secular education, whose sense of social responsibility usually is keener than that of her husband, deserves this equality of status in the synagogue. This would be an obvious act be speaking both gratitude and recognition to the Jewish woman for the indispensable role which he plays in the modern synagogue.” (“An Aliyah for Women” in Conservative Judaism and Jewish Law, edited by Semour Siegel, page 268)

I encourage you to read this entire teshuvah. What was true back in 1955 when this teshuvah was written is even truer today! The women I know would consider the height of offensiveness if they would be excluded solely on the basis of gender.

The doors of participation has been open widely for Jewish women in the Conservative Movement women. Women may become rabbis, cantors, or lay leaders. The vast majority of Conservative rabbis espoused gender equality in all facets of Jewish life.