How Do You Talk to An Angel? Just Join the Women in the Balcony of the Shenk Shul
by Rebecca Honig Friedman
Oops, the Heights did it again. Washington Heights, that is. This time it’s the Shenk Shul.
An article in the Yeshiva University newspaper The Commentator about the vibrant minyan of YU alumni that has sprung up in the synagogue that once housed Rabbi Moshe Soloveitchik’s congregation, notes the beauty of the sanctuary, including the balcony that serves as the women’s section. But it’s not just aesthetically pleasing, it also helps with prayer, according to the shul’s new rabbi:
Rabbi [Shmuel] Maybruch added that the balcony setup allows the women in attendance to feel comfortable with their prayers. “The balcony adds to their feeling of grandeur and gives them the opportunity to daven and sing comfortably without the need to be overly concerned about the halakhik issues of kol isha since the men can’t hear them.”
Sure rabbi, keep telling yourself that.
I’d like to hear that quote from the women of the shul. (Email or leave a comment, please.)
And anyway, if they’re so far removed that the men can’t hear them, isn’t that kind of like (…shudder…) a women’s minyan?
(My apologies for mixing two different song references.)
Posted on November 7th, 2007 Filed under: Uncategorized |
Actually I’m very much appreciating the song reference and in awe that someone else remembers/knows of How Do You Talk to an Angel - appropriately the theme of the short lived Fox drama “The Heights.”
Well played.
Regarding the balcony, I think it’s also important to consider the alternatives for women in the YU area. Specifically I do recall the mehitzot at YU being described as “the blue wall of silence.”
Being dan lekhaf zechut, R. Maybruch was likely speaking to the YU community for which his statement was accurate and appropriate. It’s also possible that women will/do find the balcony in Shenk more inclusive and conducive to tefillah than the mehitzot in the beit midrash.
Thank you, Josh, for your comment and for explicating the song reference.
Likely some women do feel the way R. Maybruch suggests, but I’d rather hear it from them directly.
I’m not a woman, but my wife is, and she tends to prefer balcony shuls - better lines of sight, improved hearing of the service, insulation from men’s chatter, and best of all no men passing through, or worse stopping to gossip in the middle of the section.
It isn’t a pancea - when we visited some chassidic friends she refused to stand for the torah because the screen in front of the balcony was opaque - if she couldn’t see the torah she was not going to stand because of a rumor that it was up and moving.
this minyan is the exclusive domain of spoiled married full time undergrads
While courting, I spent a Shabbat at Stern College in late 1968. Davening was in the school’s auditorium and there we were, maybe 30 young men, in the front rows with the mechitza just behind us and perhaps 150 or more young females staring at our backs or in their siddurim. I was literally scared to turn around and the ‘presence’ of the ladies was almost physical. Since RHF has been quaking and shuddering lately, allow me to admit that I was trembling (that’s a nice religious word, no?).
My husband Larry has “quoted” me perfectly. If I can see from the balcony I do feel more included than I do on the other side of the mehitzah. I know a number of my friends that are afraid to join outloud when there is singing because of the kol isha issue and I’m sure these women would appreciate a balcony where they can not need to worry about raising their voices in joy and prayer.
i am one of the few non married people to occasionally daven in the shenk minyan. its very rough on my neck and the pain usually lasts til wednesday from craning upward.
Is your issue that you do not like he commented on what the women lik eor do not like - how would he know, let’s hear from a woman… or is your issue that you do not like balconies and he is wrong?
If it is the former, you have a point. How does he know what the women like? Maybe he got feedback from the women maybe not, but he should say so.
If the latter, then you might not like balconies, but maybe the women in his shul do…
Rafi G. –
Mostly the former, a bit of the latter.
You’re right that I personally do not like balcony women’s sections. I find they feel very separate from the goings on downstairs (which I view as a negative but not everyone agress). I’ve also mostly had the experience where I could NOT hear well from the balcony, though it seems like the acoustics may be better at the Shenk Shul.
I do recognize that not all women agree with me and that’s why I wanted to hear directly from them about their feelings about the balcony.
seriously, girls on a balcony can really be rough an a dude’s neck…
i saw a meidele on the balcony and she was saying “bochur or bochur where are thou my basherte bochur?” just like juliet on the balcony
do you know how east it is to spit down on somebody and how hard it is to spit up……it’s a matter of perspective
by the way, there is a funny comments exchange going on at the article page itself
Really? A Jamie Walters reference??
I will let it slide, but only since he eventually showed up on 90210…
I do agree that it is somewhat presumptuous for the rabbi to speak on behalf of the women from his shul. There is, of course, also the question of precisely what message is being sent by having such a rigid geographic separation, and what it says about the perceived need for women’s participation in any form.
“Since his appointment, Rabbi Maybruch has seen an explosion of growth in the weekly attendance for the Shabbat morning services. He attributes the growth to three primary sources: the members of the Washington Heights community, which includes married couples and singles living in the area, most of whom are alumni of YU; students currently enrolled in YU who want an alternative to the beit midrash davening that is serious and uplifting; and people from the Bennett Avenue side of Washington Heights who have come to enjoy the particular style of the services.
Aryeh Mayefsky (YC ’06), the primary gabbai of the Yeshiva Community Minyan, added that he is not surprised by the success of the congregation. “The shul has grown so much because it features the community aspect of Mount Sinai and the yeshiva aspect of YU combined into one. What surprises me is that only a few years ago the community existed without a community shul.”
Daniel Schreiber (YC ‘05), the secondary gabbai of the Yeshiva Community Minyan, agrees with Rabbi Maybruch, and adds that the most attractive features of the congregation include the lively and energetic davening, the beautiful sanctuary which features stained glass windows, as well as the balcony seating for the women attendees. In addition, he says some members of the extended YU/Washington Heights community may feel that they do not fit in with the style of the Main Beit Midrash. “There’s a sense of youth and novelty that doesn’t exist in the Main Beit Midrash,” Schreiber noted.
Rabbi Maybruch added that the balcony setup allows the women in attendance to feel comfortable with their prayers. “The balcony adds to their feeling of grandeur and gives them the opportunity to daven and sing comfortably without the need to be overly concerned about the halakhik issues of kol isha since the men can’t hear them.”
Rabbi Maybruch excitedly reported that during this past Yom Kippur the Yeshiva Community Minyan had over 400 people in attendance for services. He described it as a very emotional and uplifting tefillah which featured additional singing from both the Baal Tefillah and the congregation. “People have said that it was the longest Yom Kippur davening they had ever experienced, but at the same time, despite the difficulties of fasting, it was theYom Kippur when they looked at their watch the least number of times.” The packed Yom Kippur services consisted of many different sorts of worshippers, from Mechinah students through RIETS students and alumni. ”
It didn’t exist partly because some people didn’t care to and also because when a certain group did rueqest from yu to open the beautiful sanctuary on a regular shabbos basis to invite accomodate and participate in the growth of the community that began to flood mt sinai, the pleas fell on deaf ears. Perhaps the Rechnitz and Kaminosky clans had more influen$e with the powers at yu.
Alas, they have moved on (graduated?) and no longer live in the area. So much for community.
The other part omitted form the story was that the new Mechina program also davened in there on shabbat and once the ‘community shul’ was established they were sent to the Morgesntern basement.
And what is all this talk about ‘membership” ? It is not like anyone actually pays to be members. Membership here is translated merely as “attendance,” as money is spent by YU/RIETS and the individual kiddush sponsors.
Concerning the girls, aka women on the balcony they seem to find it quite uncomfortable and chauvanistic that the men get to sit on comfortable arm chairs at tables downstairs while they get uncomfortable back breaking 19th century benches upstairs.
Nobody over the age of 24/25 even davens there.
[…] unknown wrote an engrossing place today onHere’s a hurried excerptRabbi [Shmuel] Maybruch additional that the balcony falsehood allows the women in attending to see easy with their prayers. “The balcony adds to their opinion of grandeur and gives them the possibleness to daven and sound comfortably … […]
I’m a frum married woman. I’ve been in shuls with balconies, shuls with huge glass/plastic/ironwork separations all on the same floor with the men in front and women behind as well as shuls that separate side-by-side, shuls with nothing more than a heavy lace curtain separating men and women (side -by-side again)…….I prefer the balconies. I see and hear the chazzan better, and up high I don’t hear the page rustlling, murmurs and chit-chat of the men….