Role of women in Judaism: Encyclopedia - Role of women in Judaism

Role of women in Judaism

The role of women in Judaism is determined by the Hebrew Bible, Talmud (oral law), tradition and by non-religious cultural factors. The Bible and Talmud mention various female role models, but religious law treats women differently in various circumstances. Feminism has led to a reappraisal of the role of women in Jewish religion.

Role of women in Judaism - Biblical times

The role of women in the Bible is contradictory: few women are mentioned by name and role, suggesting that they were rarely in the forefront of public life. There are, however, numerous exceptions to this rule (the Matriarchs, Deborah the Judge, Abigail who married David, Esther), who in the Biblical account did not meet with opposition for the relatively public presence they had.

Role of women in Judaism - Views within classical rabbinic literature

The classical Jewish literature contains quotes that may be seen as both laudatory and derogatory of women. The Talmud states that the women of their time and culture spoke more than they should "Ten measures of speech descended to the world; women took nine" (Kiddushin 49b) and that women are "light-minded" (Shabbat 33b). "The sages say that four traits apply to women: They are greedy, eavesdroppers, lazy and jealous...Rabbi Yehoshua bar Nahmani adds: they are querulous and garrulous. Rabbi Levy adds: they are thieves and gadabouts" (Bereshit Rabbah 45:5).

"Women were feared as a source of temptation. In Babylon, possibly because of the greater laxity in sexual matters among the general population, it was said that a woman's voice is a sexual enticement as is her hair and her leg (Ber. 24a) and that one should under no circumstances be served at a table by a woman (Kid. 70a)."

On the other hand it is said that a man without a wife lives without joy, blessing, and good, and that a man should love his wife as himself and respect her more than himself (Yev. 62b). When R. Joseph heard his mother's footsteps he would say: 'let me arise before the approach of the Shekhinah' (Kid. 31b). Israel was redeemed from Egypt by virtue of its righteous women (Sot. 11b) man must be careful never to speak slightingly to his wife because women are prone to tears and sensitive to wrong (BM 59a). Women have greater faith than men (Sif. Num. 133) and greater powers of discernment (Nid. 45b) and they are especially tenderhearted (Meg. 14b)"

The Talmud continues this pattern: while few women are mentioned, those who are mentioned specifically are portrayed as having a strong influence on their husbands, and occasionally having a public persona. Examples are Bruria, the wife of the Mishnaic Rabbi Meir, and Yalta, the wife of Rabbi Nachman (Talmud). Rabbi Eliezer's wife (of Mishnaic times) counselled her husband in assuming leadership over the Sanhedrin.

Role of women in Judaism - Present day

Role of women in Judaism - Orthodox Judaism

Orthodox Judaism views men and women as having different but complementary roles, and thus different obligations. This is similar to the traditional interpretation of some other religions, for instance Islam. In the area of education, women were traditionally exempted - and often banned - from any study beyond a basic understanding of the Torah, and the rules necessary in running a Jewish household. Women were discouraged from learning Talmud and other advanced Jewish texts. Women are exempt from having to follow most of the set daily prayer services, and most other positive time bound mitzvot (commandments), such as wearing tefillin. (There are a number of notable exceptions). As such, the halakha (traditional law codes) specify that women are not eligible to be counted in a minyan, as a minyan is a quorum of those who are obligated.

In practice, most of Orthodox Judaism has come to see women as forbidden from performing mitzvot from which they are obligated to perform. As such, many Orthodox rabbis forbid women from wearing a tallit or tefillin.

Many Orthodox rabbis, based on their reading of rabbinic literature, hold that men are lacking a spiritual element that women possess, which accounts for why men have more obligations. This is expressed by Rabbi Aharon Soloveitchik in his Logic of the Heart, Logic of the Mind. He states that in the beginning of Creation, God's creations became superior over time. Since woman was created after man, woman has some spiritual superiority to man. For a woman to participate in a man's obligations would be to deny her nature as a more spiritual being. This view is echosed by the Maharal, who writes that men were given mitzvot in order to overcome their innate aggression and become more spiritual. Since women had less aggression, women had more spiritual potential, and thus needed fewer mitzvot, and thus women should not perform most of the time bound mitzvot. (Hidushei Aggadot I, Kol Kitvei Maharal.) Similar views are expressed by Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch in his commentary on Genesis 17:14. In the English edition of this commentary he writes "The pure feminine sex, if it descends from Sarah, does not require the external sign of the covenant with Sha-kai, the God who "sets the measure". It itself bears this warning of "Dai" ["enough"] within itself, in the pure feeling of the limits set by its tzniyus with which the true Jewish women are filled. She has the tendency by itself to submit herself to all the laws of purity and godliness, and demands such submission from all that come into contact with her."

There have been a growing number of voices within Judaism which hold that such views are indefensible apologetics. Orthodox Rabbi Saul Berman writes "It is one thing to recognise the problems and attempt to understand the...factors which produced them....It is a completely different matter, both dishonest and disfunctional, to attempt through homoletics and scholasticism to transform problems into solutions and reinterpret discrimination to be beneficial. To suggest that women don't really need positive symbolic mitzvot because their souls are already more atuned to the Divine, would be an unbearable insult to men; unless it were understood, as it indeed is, that the suggestion is not to be taken seriously, but is intended solely to placate women." Views such as rabbi Berman's were on the fringe of Orthodox though back when he first stated this position in the early 1970s, but the in subsequent generation they have been acepted by significanly larger numbers of people within Orthodoxy. Today an entier genre of Orthodox feminist literature exists, and has caused changes within some Orthodox synagogues and communities.

Women, however, have a substantial role of "passing down" Judaism to their offspring. Judaism is traditionally inherited by matrilineal descent.

Many Orthodox synagogues do not allow a woman to become the president of a congregation, or to discuss the Bible in public (d'var Torah.) Orthodox supporters of these positions hold that they are essential to preserving modesty, and are based on halakha. Orthodox opponents of these positions have been growing more numerous and vociferous over the last thirty years, and reject the idea that these positions are based on modesty and halakha. Rather, they claim that this is discrimination against women whose source can only be found in sociology, and not in Torah.

Orthodoxy is divided on whether or not it is appropriate for women to be involved in public roles. Many Orthodox rabbis hold that it inappropriate for women to be involved in any form of politics or leadership. For instance, former Chief Rabbi of Israel Mordechai Eliyahu stated that "A woman's place is not in politics." Much of Haredi Judaism views the idea of women in such public roles as unacceptable, or forbidden by Jewish law. On the other hand, many within Modern Orthodoxy hold that such roles are acceptable.

Orthodox Jewish men generally do not touch, gaze at, or sit next to women other than their wives or relatives, for reasons of modesty. They also do not touch their wife while she is menstruating, for a short period after menstruating, and after the birth of a child. This also includes indirect contact; for instance a plate would not be passed on directly, but first put down on a table so that both do not hold on to the object at the same time. They also include additional restrictions against, for example, flirting.

One of the first major breaks with the traditional role of women came from within the Orthodox movement, by the Chofetz Chaim Rabbi Yisroel Meir HaKohen (1838-1933). He overruled the traditional prohibitions against advanced training of women on the basis that times have changed, and that in the modern world it is now important for women to have an advanced Jewish education. In 1917 the Bais Yaakov ("House [of] Jacob") network of Orthodox Torah schools for women was founded by Sarah Schenirer in Krakow.

Recently, a few leaders in the Modern Orthodox community have set up schools that bring advanced Jewish studies to women, including Stern College at Yeshiva University, and the Drisha Institute (both in New York City). At recent conferences on Feminism and Orthodox Judaism, a small number of Orthodox Jews have proposed that it may be acceptable for the Orthodox movement to ordain women as rabbis, or that some form of rabbinical-like ordination for women is possible. A few rabbi-like positions for Orthodox women have been created, but none grant the title "rabbi". However, most Orthodox Jews reject the idea of ordaining women as rabbis, as they feel that this contradicts Jewish law.

Since women are not allowed to lead services or read from the Torah in Orthodox Jewish synagogues, a small number of Orthodox women have begun holding women's tefila (prayer) groups. While no Orthodox legal authorities agree that women can form a prayer quorum for the purpose of regular services, women in these groups read the prayers, and study Torah. A number of leaders from all segments of Orthodox Judaism have commented on this issue, but it has had little impact on Haredi and Sephardi Judaism. However, the emergence of this phenomenon has enmeshed Modern Orthodox Judaism in a debate which still continues today. There are three schools of thought on this issue:

• The first rules the while women do not constitute a minyan, they may still carry out full prayer services. The sole halakhic authority who has ruled this way was Israel's late Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi, Shlomo Goren, in 1974. However, Rabbi Goren later either clarified or retracted his view, and stated that his writing was purely a speculative work published against his wishes, and not intended as a practical responsum, and that in his view the actual halakha was in accord with the third school of thought, listed below.
• The second includes leading faculty of Modern Orthodox Judaism's Yeshiva University, and almost all Haredi Rabbis, and rules that all women's prayer groups are absolutely forbidden by Jewish law.
• The third maintains that women's prayer groups can be compatiable with halakha, but only if they do not carry out a full prayer service (i.e. do not include certain parts of the service known as "devarim she-bi-kdusha"), and only if services are spiritually and sincerely motivated; they cannot be sanctioned if they are inspired by a desire to rebel against halakha. People in this group include Rabbis Moshe Feinstein, Joseph Soloveitchik, Avraham Elkana Shapiro, former British Chief Rabbi Immanuel Jakobovits, and Israel's late Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi Shlomo Goren, among others[1].

Role of women in Judaism - Conservative Judaism

The past 30 years have seen a revolution in how Conservative Judaism views women. Although its original position differed little from the Orthodox position, it has slowly developed a body of Conservative responsa which minimize the legal and ritual differences between men and women. The Committee on Jewish Law and Standards (CJLS) of the Rabbinical Assembly has approved a number of responsa on this topic. These justify women's active participation in areas such as:

• Publicly reading the Torah (ba'al kriah)
• Being part of the minyan
• Being called for an aliyah to read the Torah
• Serving as a Cantor (shalich tzibbur)
• Serving as rabbi and halakhic decisor (posek)
• Wearing a tallit and tefillin

A rabbi may or may not decide to adopt particular rulings for the congregation; thus, some Conservative congregations will be more or less egalitarian than others. However, there are other areas where legal differences remain between men and women, including:

• Matrilineal descent. The child of a Jewish mother is born Jewish; the child of a Jewish father is born Jewish if and only if the mother is Jewish.

• Serving as witnesses. Women do not usually serve as legal witnesses in those cases where Jewish law requires two witnesses. One opinion of the CJLS affirms that women may serve as witnesses. However, most Conservative rabbis currently affirm this only as a theoretical option, because of concern for Jewish unity. A change could result in many Orthodox Jews refusing to recognize the legitimacy of many marriages and divorces. A current Conservative solution is in the area of weddings: A new custom is to use Ketubot (wedding document) with spaces for four witnesses to sign; two men, and two women.

• Pidyon Habat, the ceremony based on the Biblical redemption of a newborn son. Conservative Judaism prohibits performing Pidyon Ha-Bat on a newborn daughter. Pidyon Ha-Bat is a newly proposed ceremony that would mark the redemption of a newborn daughter; the CJLS has stated that this particular ceremony should not be performed. Other ceremonies, such as a Simchat Bat (Welcoming a newborn daughter), should instead be used to mark the special status of a new born daughter. [CJLS teshuvah by Rabbi Gerald C. Skolnik, 1993]

Role of women in Judaism - Reform Judaism

The past 30 years have seen a revolution in how Reform Judaism views women as well. Reform Judaism now believes in the equality of men and women. The Reform movement rejects the idea that Jews are bound by halakha (Jewish law and tradition), and holds that all of its members and clergy have total personal autonomy in deciding how to practice their faith. As such, Reform Judaism ignores traditional prohibitions on women's role in Jewish life, and holds that women, if they decide to do so, may perform any ritual done by a man, such as:

• Publicly reading the Torah (ba'al kriah)
• Being part of the minyan
• Being called for an aliyah to read the Torah
• Serving as a Cantor (shalich tzibbur)
• Serving as rabbi and halakhic decisor (posek)
• Wearing a tallit and tefillin

American Reform Judaism has rejected the traditional Jewish view of matrilineal descent. Instead, they hold that if any one parent is Jewish, then the child is automatically Jewish as long as the child is raised as a Jew. The movement has never formally defined what it means to raise a child as a Jew; as such, Reform rabbis note that the de facto standard is that anyone with a single Jewish parent or grandparent is considered Jewish within the Reform community, even if they have not been raised as a Jew.

See also

• Rebbetzin

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Role of women in Judaism", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki