Elana Sztokman’s book The Men’s Section peeks across the mehitza of the partnership minyan to examine the ways in which men are affected by Orthodox feminism. Whereas the majority of feminist literature questions women’s changing roles, Sztokman aims to give men and women the language to explain masculine identity. She examines how men have been affected when they make the choice to join partnership minyanim and put their Orthodox reputations and their hiyuvim (religious obligations) on the line to support women.
Sztokman found that men do not join partnership minyanim only to support their wives, but have their own reasons as well. Some are searching for a more emotional davening experience, a friendlier community, or an opportunity to explore halakha on their own. As women take on traditionally male roles and obligations in synagogue, men question their masculine identities. If women can take on those roles as well, then what is left for the men? Sztokman suggests that men must reevaluate what it means to be a committed and religious man when they can no longer define themselves in opposition to women’s absence from public religious life.
The book concludes that as men struggle with welcoming women into their religious communities, they will hold women to a high standard—expecting them to become “Orthodox men,” arrive on time, leyn perfectly, and watch the children as well. She suggests that Orthodox masculinity is changing to become less rigid and meticulous, but it is not changing quickly enough that some women are not getting caught in the crossfire. Some men in partnership minyanim may be setting women up for failure, by demanding more of religiously committed women without changing their halakhic status.
JOFA members will be especially interested in this book because it speaks to their lived experience and evaluates the tensions that arise for individuals and communities as they struggle to hold onto religious traditions while also pushing against the boundaries. This book will raise questions for anyone who has attended a partnership minyan, on either side of the mehitza, and will challenge us to locate our own prayer and community experiences in the larger conversation about Orthodox feminism and changing gender identities. This book is a “must read” for anyone interested in women’s and men’s changing roles in Orthodoxy and will spark many discussions at the Shabbat table and beyond.