The move follows years of complaints by female worshippers who have been unable to see into the men’s section, even during family bar mitzvahs. Currently, female relatives who want to see a bar mitzvah from the women’s section must stand on plastic chairs and peer over the top of the tall barrier, called a mechitza.
Mechitzas exist in all Orthodox synagogues because Jewish law prohibits men and women from praying together. It also prohibits men from seeing women during prayer.
To help women feel more a part of the service, some synagogues have erected partitions made of one-way mirrors.
