Problems with the apologetics

Problems with the apologetics

1. Diminishes the authority of the rabbinate. Rabbis are men. If men are so deficient, who will want to listen to them?

2. Diminishes respect for fathers, husbands, brothers, and sons.

3. Hurts shiduchim. A woman might say if men are so low, I need the best man so I can have my equal. Men say, women are supposed to be so holy. This one is not.

4. Diminishes appreciation for wives. A man might say, women are supposed to be so holy. What's wrong with my wife?

5. Disincentive for men when mitzvos are made to look like signposts of deficiency. The apologetics are emasculating too.

6. Disincentive for women who may begin to overrate themselves. I know of one man who tells his wife that she is complete and her only job in life is to help him.

7. Confuses the idea of yetzer tov and yetzer hara going together.

8. Possible idol worship in positing a yetzer tov without a yetzer hara. Creates a false god.

9. Unnerves women because then who can they rely on? Women don't want to be superior. They just want respect. Men have the desire to conquer and be superior. Telling women they are superior actually makes them uncomfortable. It's what men think women want to hear.

Rabbi Avigdor Miller on the exemption

As we know, men are commanded to perform mitzvos asei she'haz'man grama, time-bound mitzvos. Women, on the other hand, are not required to perform these mitzvos. What is the reason for this difference? The answer is that women have other important obligations to tend to, which exempt her from these commandments. A woman must know that she is a briah shel chessed, she has been created for the purpose of performing chessed. Being a wife and mother is a very significant role, and it requires her to be selfless and totally dedicated to performing chessed! It takes a woman's entire effort to succeed in being an efficient mother and wife. Investing her abilities in raising children is very time consuming but is a tremendous zechus for her! (Rabbi Avigdor Miller Speaks, pp. 271-3)