The Status of the Jewish Woman
When you open a guide for the Jewish woman, the first question you ask yourself is how does Judaism relate to women? I admit, it’s a loaded question.
On the surface, it seems that women are distanced from the Jewish arena: the woman is exempt from many commandments; in the synagogue she is “tossed” behind partitions that separate her from the center of activity; her choice in clothing is limited, etc.
But is that really the case? Does Judaism discriminate against the female sex? Does the Torah truly cast the woman aside and diminish who she is?
The answer is clear and obviously negative. Not only that, in many meaningful instances, Judaism “puts the keys” into the woman’s hands. Take the most elementary example: which parent determines our Jewishness, our belonging to the Jewish nation? If you don’t already know, the answer is: solely the mother.
With that, Judaism does not deny the real-life differences between men and women, nor ignore the essential gaps between the genders – everything depends on the starting point, on the Torah’s view of life as a whole. In general, the subject can be divided in two: the recognition and awareness that men and women are in fact different from each other – in body, mentality, task, and purpose. Why Judaism assigns most activity and religious practice to men is a separate question.
The feminist movement promotes absolute equality between the genders, without considering the built-in differences between them, on the premise that the rights of women are trampled by a dominating male gender. Here we have two amazing texts from the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe that present Judaism’s healthy approach to the subject:
There are those who promote the granting of “equal rights” for women, to equate the rights of the woman to those of the man.
True “equal rights” occurs when each person arrives at their ultimate level of completeness according to their nature, their talents, and the possibilities that God grants them. Therefore, the man must be involved with roles that were given to men, and the woman must be involved with roles that were given to women. Not only that: when a woman imitates the man and demands a man’s roles, his ability to build a career in a certain way – she creates inequality and harms the status of the woman, because she is asserting that she has a lower status.
The policy of “equal rights” directly contradicts the Torah’s commandment that “a woman must not put on man’s apparel, nor shall a man wear woman’s clothing…” (Deuteronomy 22:5). In other words, each person must behave according to his or her nature, rather than the woman attempting to imitate the man. Men and women have different roles that are important in and of themselves and do not need to be, nor can they be, measured one against the other.
Further, only when a woman fulfills her role and mission in her capacity as a woman –will she merit true spiritual fulfillment and be free of apprehension and envy; for she will be happy with her lot, in the knowledge that in this specific way she will reach joy and her own wholeness (and as the Torah emphasizes – several times – the great merit of the women and daughters of Israel).
Recently, a movement was created whose purpose is “women’s liberation,” to achieve equality between men and women. This movement is not concerned with the characteristics and role of a woman, it is based on a single principle – imitation of the man. If a man has a business, that is a sign that involvement in trade is the ultimate level of completeness and a woman must strive to be a great businesswoman; if a man leaves home early and returns late, fatigued, and exhausted – so should the woman…
To tell a woman that she must not act according to her own attributes but rather to imitate the man – there is no greater degradation than that! And so, this movement, that encourages the woman to resemble the man, nullifies both her significance and the value of her roles, and has caused women to experience deep feelings of inferiority.
The Torah gave the woman the highest possible mission – to ensure the continuation of the Jewish people, to give birth to and raise a new generation that will constitute the continuance of the generation that received the Torah; and not a single man can carry this out, because the Holy One Blessed Be He, in his wisdom, granted this ability solely to the woman.
And here they come and claim that a woman needs, first and foremost, to earn money and make a name for herself, and only afterwards (if she still has strength and time, and the Holy One Blessed Be He grants her His blessing) think about her essential role… they replace this essential role with things that, when compared to its worth, have no place at all!
