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 say 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. Example:
"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)
As
for other commentators, the Maharal says in many places that men are
more spiritual than women (Tiferes Yisroel 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). The Baal Magen Avraham says
women are exempt from positive time-bound commandments because their
yetzer tov is smaller. (Zies Ra'anan on Yalkut Shemoni, Shmuel
1:1).
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)
R'
Miller 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)
