l or ethical duty or act of obedience to God's will pl.) which, is time-bound and therefore requires a woman to pray at certain pre-set times. Due to the interference of these time consuming mitzvot with the suggested domestic role of females as child bearers and housekeepers (Biale 13), women have been exempt from the social and public part of Judaism. The fact that women are seen as private and not public figures, has excluded them from the normative religious life and congregation that men participate in, and can be seen as the root of inequality that stems into many of the issues that will be covered in this paper.
             The gathering of a minyan is the most essential part of the prayer during a synagogue service, and it requires a group of ten people in order to say the prayer. Since women are viewed only as private persons, if they joined together to form a minyan, it will not result in a public union of prayer, but rather ten individuals praying. While this would not be considered a minyan, ten men whom are public figures will be able to form a minyan as a public unit (Biale 22), and lead the congregation in prayer, which is seen as one of the greatest honors for a man.
             For a long time women were not allowed to have Bat-mitzvahs, the equivalent to the male Bar Mitzvah. This is a ceremony and celebration when a person reaches the age of maturity, and is able to perform the divine commandments of Judaism (Koltun 34-35). But, according to the Old Testament, women are not meant to study or derive wisdom from the Torah. As stated earlier, women are also not meant to recite or participate in communal prayers, and therefore they have no need to perform the divine commandments of Judaism. The first Bat-mitzvah (which is now common practice amongst reform and conservative Judaism) wasn't until 1922, as compared to the Bar mitzvahs, which date back to the Middle Ages. The Bat-mitzvah usually marks the last time a wom...