Summary: Ethan Tucker. Too often discussion about the mehitzah (the boundary that separates the sexes in many Jewish prayer spaces) is politically charged—the conversation becomes about movements rather than about values. This class cuts straight to the values behind the three models of sex separation we see in modern Jewish communities: (a) absolute sex separation in all parts of life; (b) denying that sex separation has a place in any part of life; and (c) maintaining sex separation in public prayer spaces but not others. What underpins each of these three positions? And how can we turn the discussion away from politics and back to the principles and values that underly them?
