Reply To: Mechitzah question

Reb doniel: how can you say that? The idea of separation during tefillah (and by extension other big mekomos shel kedushah) comes from the Gemara sukkah that a balcony was made in the beis hamikdash to avoid kalus Rosh. The rambam agrees with this idea in his peirush on that Mishnah.

Rav Moshe goes even further and says mechitzah is dioraisa. I haven’t read the teshuvah inside but presumably he holds (like the rambam and others) that tefillah that tefillah is dioraisa, and mechitzah is machshirin l’mitzvah of enabling tefillah to occur respectfully, and aid kavanah.