ABSTRACT
I walked up the hill from Nayot to the Jewish Theological Seminary’s Jerusalem campus. Neve Schechter, in order to consult the Talmud in their library. But first I stopped in their dormitory to say hello to Miriam, one of our baby-sitters we especially liked. Miriam was a Columbia University junior studying Mishnah and Talmud this year at Neve Schechter. She told me she was going to lead prayers at Neve Schechter the next morning. She was a little anxious because most of her fellow students, male and female, were studying to be rabbis and cantors. On Miriam’s dresser, alongside hair conditioner and a photograph of her boyfriend, were her prayer book and tallit and tefillin bags all set to go. I asked if women were counted in the minyan at Neve Schechter. Miriam said yes, but only if they’d voluntarily obligated themselves to perform the set of commandments otherwise reserved for men, such as saying daily prayers and winding on the leather tefillin straps.
