Whence lady rabbis?
Orthodox rabbis everywhere are condemning Open
Orthodoxy and its call for lady rabbis and other engagement by females in
halachically prescribed and traditional male activity like reading from the
Torah and the wearing of tzitzis and tefillin. However, many of these very same
rabbis bear responsibility for encouraging this new trend by teaching that
women are more spiritual than men.
The teaching that women are more spiritual than men
implies that a man's role is more spiritual than a woman's. How so? One can
reasonably ask, if women are more spiritual, shouldn't they be the rabbis and
spiritual leaders of the home? So apologists like to say, the men "catch
up" via Torah study, tefillin, and other positive time-bound commandments
to which women are exempt. However, in order to catch up the man's day must be
more spiritual than the woman's or he'd never catch up. Thus, according to that
logic, taking care of the home and the children really is a less spiritual
path.
But isn't this precisely what we didn't want the women
to conclude? See where dishonesty gets you? No wonder we have women today that
want to be rabbis and wear tefillin. Rabbis condemn them, but these women are
in many respects products of what they have been taught by some of those very
same rabbis. These women want to be spiritual. And they have been taught that
the man's role is more spiritual.
Why do I call the apologetics dishonesty? Because there
are no Torah sources that teach them. R' Samson R. Hirsch is most commonly
cited. But one has to read his words carefully. He says only that the Torah
“did not consider them necessary to be demanded from women” in part because
they have “more faithful enthusiasm for their God-serving calling.” (Vayikra
23, Levy trans.) People get lost on his use of the word "necessary."
A Levi doesn't need to do Birchos Cohanim. Only the Kohen, who has more
holiness, has that “need.” The woman doesn't “need” those mitzvos for her role.
But she doesn't have the man's role. You can't mix and match.
R' Hirsch also says that "The male sex is zachar,
it is the depository of the Divine revelations and the spiritual attainments of
the human race. To it has been entrusted the zicharon, the tradition of the
human race as it has developed, in him is formed the spiritual chain which
links together the beginning and the end of the human race. (JE, Vol. 2; CW,
Vol. VIII, "The Jewish Woman") This is not something you'd want to
assign to the less spiritual person. Rav Hirsch also says in many places that
men and women are equal in their spiritual levels even as their roles are
different. Examples:
"In the word איש and אשה. (man and a female
man I.L.) lay the guarantee for the equality in rank and mutually complementing
calling of Man and Woman. As long as man and woman were איש and אשה. there was no need
for man to be emancipated from woman nor woman from man, neither could make the
other into a slave nor yet into a god or goddess. The first who altered this
designation - as indeed our sages remark, in no other language are man and
woman designated by words coming from the same root and so regarded from the
same trend of thought – brought it about that one man would yoke his woman to
the plough while the other would throw himself at her feet." (R' Samson
Raphael Hirsch, Genesis 11 :58)
“God has divided
the sexes, giving each specific tasks in the fulfillment of life. Both tasks, if
fulfilled in purity are equally sublime, equally holy.” R' Samson Raphael Hirsch: Horeb 433
"The change from singular to plural, which we have tried to reproduce in our translation of this first mention of man and woman in the story of the creation, already indicates the full equality of status, nay, the inner unity between man and woman in the conception and the destiny of "man formed in the image of God." This term embraces both sexes. Only man and woman together make up the idea of "man", and God created both of them alike without intermediary, and with the same conscious effort of will power." R' Samson Raphael Hirsch, Judaism Eternal, vol. II, p 51.
"The change from singular to plural, which we have tried to reproduce in our translation of this first mention of man and woman in the story of the creation, already indicates the full equality of status, nay, the inner unity between man and woman in the conception and the destiny of "man formed in the image of God." This term embraces both sexes. Only man and woman together make up the idea of "man", and God created both of them alike without intermediary, and with the same conscious effort of will power." R' Samson Raphael Hirsch, Judaism Eternal, vol. II, p 51.
That women have more enthusiasm for their calling
doesn’t mean they have more enthusiasm than men and doesn’t mean they would
have the same enthusiasm for the man’s calling. The Baal Magen Avraham on
Yalkut Shemoni, Shmuel 1:1 says that women are exempt from the positive
time-bound commandments because their yetzer tov is smaller than the man's and if
commanded they liked wouldn’t fulfill those commandments.
As for other commentators, the Maharal says in many
places that men are more spiritual than women (Tiferes Yisroel 4 and 28, Derech
Chaim 1:5, Chidushei Agados Makkos 23b, Gur Aryeh, Vayikra 12:2 ) and says that
women are exempt from positive time-bound commandments for this reason
(Chidushei Agados Makkos 23b, Tiferes Yisroel 4). The Akeidas Yitzchok says
women are exempt from these commandments because they are weaker. (Akeidas
Yitzchak, Bereishis 6)
But not all that is suitable for the general public. May
we suggest that going forward we teach simply that men and women are equal in
spiritual levels but different in roles? So taught the great leaders of our era
Rav Moshe Feinstein, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, R' Joseph Soloveitchik, and R'
Avigdor Miller.
R' Feinstein said that every mention of holiness in the
Chumash refers to both men and women, telling us that the two genders are equal
in holiness. The exemption of women from positive time-bound commandments is as
the word says an exemption so that she can engage in child rearing and chesed.
(Igros Moshe, Orach Chaim IV #49)
R' Feinstein writes elsewhere:
"...every Jew should realize that he is sanctified
with the holiness of the Jew, and it is only because of that holiness that we
were given the Torah and obligated to do the mitzvos. As I have often written,
mitzvos cannot be fulfilled properly unless the doer has the holiness of the
Jew. The Kohanim, who have additional mitzvos, must have the particular
holiness of Kohanim....The expression "Who has sanctified us with His
mitzvos" should not be misunderstood as meaning that mitzvos are the
source of the sanctity. It is self-understood that the sanctity the blessing
refers to is the underlying sanctity of every Jew -- that which enables us to
fulfill the mitzvos." (Darash Moshe, Volume II, p. 154, Vayikra, Kedoshim)
Thus, we should not say that men are not unholy until
they do the mitzvos because their holiness is what obligates them in those
mitzvos. Women also are holy, only they are exempt from certain mitzvos so that
they can do other mitzvos. It's not that the women are less holy and not that
they are more holy.
R' Soloveitchik said:
"The foremost distinguishing characteristic
bestowed upon man is his Divine image, his tzelem Elohim, which denotes
particular qualitative endowments, such as a moral sense, free will, and
intellect. Man partakes of these attributes within human limitations, while
God's representation of these qualities is absolute. Maimonides embodied man's
likeness to God primarily in terms of his intellect (Guide 1: 1). This Divine
gift was given to both men and women. 'And God created man with His image. In
the image of God, He created him; male and female He created them.' (Gen.
1:27). In their spiritual natures, they were equally worthy." (Man of
Faith in the Modern World, p. 84).
The Lubavitcher Rebbe said that when a husband (or
future husband) does those mitzvos, he does them on behalf of his wife. She is
affected by his actions. (Sichos in English, Iyar-Tammuz 5744, Vol. 21, pp.
69-72) He said also the exemption is not because women are inferior (but he
does NOT say it is because they are superior).
R' Miller also says that the father performs those
special mitzvos on behalf of the whole family (Q&A: Thursday Nights with
Rabbi Miller, pp. 189-190) and that
"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, p. 272)
Nobody is spiritually superior. That's the way for this
generation to think of it. Let us note how the sages of our generation handle
it and follow their lead. Otherwise, to quote a gentile writer "O, what a
tangled web we weave when first we practise to deceive!" (Walter Scott)
