Conservative Judaism/Court of Women

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Expert: - 6/8/2010


Question
I am asking for some clarification on a previous Q&A. It was asked:

"Was the Court of the Women part of Solomon's Temple, ordained by God?
Or was it rather a human ordinance, so that it was part of Herod's Temple?"

I am asking if there is anywhere in the Torah that states th G-d said that there was supposed to be a Court at the Temple that women could not go past or a gate that they couldn't go through or is the Court of Women just tradition?

Answer
Dear Colin,

Thanks for writing.

As I wrote earlier, while we do have some architectural dimensions we know very little about the rationale and "reasons" for the separation of the "courts" of the Desert Tabernacle, the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem.

It would appear from the resources I consulted that the only reason for calling it the "ezrat nashim,"
the woman's court was that was an outer court which was as far as women were permitted to enter the Temple, although men could be present there as well. In the next inner court, only Jewish men were permitted and in the most inner court only Levites and the sub-set of Kohanim who served in the Temple.

I will continue to do research because I am also interested, and when I find additional information, I will be delighted to share it with you and this site.

Best wishes

Rabbi Dov

Conservative Judaism

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Rabbi Barry Dov Lerner

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Write to me with questions about Jewish customs and law, history, philosophy and tradition for answers from a Conservative perspective or conversion. I am a graduate of The Jewish Theological Seminary and a member of the Conservative Rabbinical Assembly. Having served in congregational pulpits since 1970, I now am President of the Foundation For Family Education, Inc. a non-profit educational endeavor. I established it to create new formats of hands-on programs and provide free educational downloads at www.jewishfreeware.org. In addition to general informational questions I welcome your questions about programs for social action, outreach to dual-faith families, inter-faith clergy projects, healing services, education for conversion, adult education for the congregation and the community. If you have questions about Informal and Formal Education I am ready to share my extensive experience with Youth Activities, Camping and Religious School/Hebrew High School on a congregational, community and national/international level.

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I have served on the National Youth Commission for more than 25 years and serve on the Boards of the Conservative Zionist movement MERCAZ and the World Council of Synagogues. I have always dual-families and taught candidates for conversion with a great sense of fulfillment. I am very proud of 25 years on the Jewish camping staff of Camps Ramah. My greatest source of pride is my family! Ask me about them, please!:-)

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