Reply To: Ladies First – Is it respectful or not?

Joseph: “None of your proofs to support the position of men specifically opening the door for women or for women to go before men are as strong as the proofs I brought above from Chazal, Rashi and Rambam (citing Chazal) l’halacha to support the opposite notion.”

Joseph, they support the notion that we do care about common custom. The sources you brought do not say that women should open the door for men, and to the best of my knowledge that has never been the Jewish custom.

The question is: “What is the Jewish custom and what do the Gedolim do?”

I have never noticed that it is a Jewish custom for women to davka open the door for men, although, I am not sure that the opposite is so wide spread either. But it is certainly much more common for men to open the door for women.