What's the source in the Talmud for the mechitzah? I have yet to run across it.
Also as an aside, I've been to a lot of Synagogues from Talmudic times, and I have yet to find any mechitzah type of division.
-
Did you find much other furniture survived?– Double AA ♦Jul 20, 2018 at 17:02
-
@DoubleAA Benches :D– AaronJul 20, 2018 at 17:10
-
@Aaron Maybe the mechitza was a stack of benches?– AlexJul 20, 2018 at 17:12
-
@Alex Benches all along the walls, nothing divisive in the center. But the amount of Avodah Zarah imagery on the floors and walls (especially zodiac signs and our Aramaic month names) were scarily prevalent– AaronJul 20, 2018 at 17:17
-
4How do you know that those shuls had women at all?– user15253Jul 20, 2018 at 18:08
|
Show 3 more comments
1 Answer
Rav Moshe in Igros Moshe 1/1/39 writes that it is based on the Gemorah Sukka 51b Here that a balcony was made in the Beis HaMikdash in order to separate men and women.
I don't have it in front of me, but at the end of "The Silver Era" about Rabbi Eliezer Silver, there is a transcript of how Rabbi Silver proved the halachic need for a Mechitza in court.
