Dear Rabbi Abadi,
Something I’ve been wondering about. Many mechitzas have holes, gaps, or lattice work, so the two sides can still see each other at least partially. If that’s the case, what is the mechitza actually accomplishing? Is there a minimum halachic standard for what counts as a valid mechitza, or does any divider qualify? What did communities do in earlier generations, before the mechitzas we know today? And why is the women’s section often upstairs, where the women can look down and see the men? Doesn’t that work against the purpose?
Thank you very much
The purpose of a mechitzah is not necessarily that the men and women should be unable to see each other. Its basic purpose is to create a separation between the men’s and women’s sections and prevent the atmosphere from becoming one of mingling and socializing during tefillah.
In fact, the Gemara in Sukkah 51b-52a describes the arrangement in the Beit HaMikdash where the women were upstairs and the men downstairs:
“התקינו שיהו נשים יושבות מלמעלה ואנשים מלמטה”
They arranged that the women should sit above and the men below.
Obviously, the women upstairs could see the men. That was not considered a problem. The concern was the separation between the groups, not that nobody should ever see someone of the opposite sex.
That is also why holes, latticework, or openings in a mechitzah do not automatically make it invalid. There is no general requirement that a mechitzah be an opaque wall from floor to ceiling. A basic halachic mechitzah of ten tefachim can function as a divider. Certainly, if it is higher or designed in a way that reduces distraction, that may be preferable, but that is a question of good judgment and the circumstances of the particular shul.
There is a separate halachah that a man should not say Shema, Shemoneh Esrei, or other דבר שבקדושה while directly facing parts of a woman’s body that halachah considers ערוה. That is a different issue from the laws of mechitzah itself.
Historically, there was also no single architectural arrangement everywhere. In many communities women rarely attended the synagogue, or attended primarily on particular occasions. In other places there was a women’s gallery, balcony, separate room, latticework, or some other arrangement. The modern standardized mechitzah that people are accustomed to seeing is not the only form that existed.
There is also an important distinction between a permanent synagogue and an incidental minyan at a wedding, hotel, house, or other temporary setting. The mere fact that women are present somewhere in the room does not mean that one must suddenly construct the type of permanent mechitzah found in a synagogue.
When I was growing up there was tremendous discussion about exactly how high the mechitzah had to be and what material it had to be made from. I think sometimes people turned this into much more of a technical science than the halachah requires. There is not one universal halachic blueprint for every shul. The rav has to use reasonable judgment so that there is a genuine men’s section and women’s section and that people can pray without unnecessary distraction.
So the fact that women upstairs can see the men is really not a contradiction at all. That arrangement is actually very close to the arrangement described explicitly by the Gemara.
Thank you Rabbi for the explanation.