Kaddish is the memorial prayer traditionally said only by men.
Left-wing Modern Orthodox shuls allow women to say kaddish, while right-wing Modern Orthodox shuls usually don’t allow women to say this prayer publicly.
I’m listening to a Torah in Motion recording of Rabbi Marc B. Shapiro lecture on Rabbi Eliezer Berkovitz.
Marc lists off various famous rabbis who’ve permitted women to say kaddish, including R. J.B. Soloveitchik and R. Ahron Soloveitchik, Reb Moshe Feinstein, R. Yosef Eliyahu Henkin, R. Chaim Ozer Grodzinski, R. Ovadia Yosef.
“This isn’t some new-found practice of Rabbi Avi Weiss… This goes back to Russia and the traditionalist poskim. It could be that in a traditional environment without feminism, this is not a concern at all, but in an era with lots of feminism, you’ll have right-wing Modern Orthodox rabbis who’ll say women can’t say kaddish because they are afraid of what it might lead to. Where there is no feminism, it is not a big deal. In the traditional Sephardic world, women could walk in to the men’s section and say Birkhat Ha‑Gomel after giving birth, etc.”
Professor Marc Shapiro published a famous book on R. Jehiel Jacob Weinberg.
Marc Shapiro is my favorite Jewish scholar.
I usually get whiplash listening to Professor Shapiro because he’ll go along in a purely scholarly and descriptive vein for long stretches and then suddenly he’ll include an opinion (usually in line with the approach of Modern Orthodoxy). What gets me is that he doesn’t use a different voice for his prescriptions. His pitch does not go up a few octaves, for instance, when giving a personal view.
Luckily, I am such a gaon that I can deal.
