Daily Practice - Deracheha

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Learning Torah

In what ways are current discussions about what parts of Torah women should learn, and how to approach them, rooted in centuries of halachic debate?

LEARNING TORAH I: EXEMPTION What is the mitzva? Does it apply to women?
LEARNING TORAH II: OBLIGATION What is a woman’s responsibility to study Torah?
LEARNING TORAH III: OPENINGS TO STUDY What early opportunities developed for women’s formal Torah study? On what halachic basis?
LEARNING TORAH IV: WHAT TO STUDY What Torah texts should women study?

PRAYER I: OBLIGATION What are the parameters of the mitzva to pray? Are women obligated?
PRAYER II: SHEMONEH ESREI Are women obligated to recite Shemoneh Esrei? How often?
PRAYER III: UPON ARISING What prayers should women recite in the morning upon arising and why? Are women obligated in birchot ha-Torah?
PRAYER IV: BIRCHOT HA-SHACHAR Must women say birchot ha-shachar? Do women need to recite 100 berachot a day?
PRAYER V: SHE-LO ASANI ISHA, SHE-ASANI KIRTZONO Why do men say “She-lo asani isha?” Why do women say “She-asani kirtzono?”
PRAYER VI: KORBANOT AND PESUKEI DE-ZIMRA What are korbanot and Pesukei De-zimra? Should women say them?

Tzitzit and Tefillin

Why are women exempt from the mitzva of tzitzit and taught not to fulfill it?
Why do men lay tefillin only for morning prayers? How does this shed light on why women do not lay tefillin at all?

Public Prayer

The Talmud teaches that God takes special heed of prayer in a minyan. Some parts of the synagogue service are only recited when a minyan is present. What is the significance of public prayer? And what is the relationship of women to it?

Birkat Ha-mazon

Is there a distinction between men and women reciting birkat ha-mazon, the grace after meals? How does the grouping together of people of differing halachic obligations affect zimmun, the formal invitation to recite birkat ha-mazon?

Gender Mixing

From the Beit Ha-mikdash to an El Al flight, what, if any, gender separation is necessary?

Self-Presentation

Self-presentation is a matter of how we relate to God and to ourselves, not just to each other. What are the halachic parameters for appearance in public and in private?