Guest Post from Anonymous.
I attended a Young Israel for the first time on Simchat Torah. I was quite surprised to see that they gave a Sefer Torah to the women, and the women danced around with it and held it. Isn't this against NCYI policy? Do other Young Israel shul's follow this practice? Personally I have no problem with this, as long as they don't drop the Torah, or contaminate it with female impurity.
DB: My own view is as follows: Who Cares? Or to put it religiously zeh neheneh v’zeh lo chaser (This one benefits, and that one suffers no loss) Who is hurt if women gather privately to dance with a Torah? Who is offended? Who is harmed? You can present any religious argument you like, but at the end of the day there's no victim, and therefore no reason to make a stink. If you don't like it, don't do it, or start an anti-Woman's Hakafah blog. Those are appropriate responses. Banning it, protesting it, or forbidding the women you know from joining are not.
PS: We finished hakafot at 2 PM today, and, as usual, I had a blast with the singing, shtick and so on. None of our women danced or came within spitting distance of a Torah. I can't say excluding them did anything to improve my holiday, though.
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