Structure of Minyan Tehillah Services

Erev Shabbat

On Friday nights at Minyan Tehillah, a woman leads Kabbalat Shabbat and a man leads Ma'ariv.

Shabbat Morning

On Saturday mornings at Minyan Tehillah, the prayer service begins with a woman leading Psukei D'Zimrah. A man then leads Shaharit, a women leads the service associated with taking the Torah out of the aron (and returning it), and a man leads Musaf .

Both women and men receive aliyot and read from the Torah.  There is a male gabbai and a female gabbai. We are careful to separate men and women at the shulhan, by calling up a man for an aliyah only when a man is slated to chant that aliyah, and calling up a woman for an aliyah only when a woman is slated to chant that aliyah. 

We do not begin Shaharit services until we have a quorum of ten men and ten women.  In our prayer space, a mehitzah runs down the center of the room.  Women sit on one side and men on the other, each with equal visual access to the aron kodesh and the shaliah tzibur. In short, gender as a category is self-consciously preserved in the service, while maximizing the possibilities for women to be active participants within the parameters of halakhah.

Holidays

For more information on the structure of specific holiday services at Minyan Tehillah, please contact ritual@minyantehillah.org.