Friday, July 12, 2013

Women's Minyan by Naomi Ragen

Finished on 5/19

Something different for me - this is a play and I don't often read plays, but it looked interesting, it was very inexpensive, and there you have it. It reads very well and I'm sure it was most impressive on stage. It premiered in Israel in 2002 and in the US in 2005.

It is the story of one woman's situation - and is based on actual events in the ultra-orthodox community. Chana has left her husband - and her twelve children - and although the rabbinical courts have granted her the right to see her children, her husband and his family have prevented it.

When she comes to the house to see her children, she is confronted by her two oldest daughters and the women of the neighborhood, including her own mother and her mother-in-law.

She calls on the women to sit in judgment, agreeing to abide by their decision - if they find against her, she will not attempt to see her children again.

The title is a summary of the situation, because under the law, women cannot form part of a minyan, let alone form one entirely, because they have no standing as members of the community.

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