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Women Rabbis

Answered by Rabbi Gershon LittFurther responses from Rabbi Eliahu Levenson

Question

What do you think about women as rabbis?

Answer

Thanks for asking the question. First, I just want to say that we just had a weekend retreat in my city and we had one of the greatest women spiritual speakers in America come. Her name is Gila Manolson. If you have any specific questions regarding women and Judaism, she is a great resource and a wonderful teacher.

The word, “Rabbi,” means teacher. A person who is a great teacher, whether they are a man or woman, has the potential to give over information about Judaism just the same. Many people get confused about what it means to be a rabbi. They think that being a rabbi means that you get to sit up on a lofty stage, speak to the congregation, inspire many to want to explore their religion more, and be a role model for fellow Jews in our modern times. The truth is that a man or a woman can do that job. There is nothing in that job description that is dictated by the gender of the individual.

However, what is dictated by our religion is the religious obligations that a man and a woman have. A man, according to Jewish law, is obligated to do a whole list of commandments that women are not obligated to do. That is not to say that men are better at all. As a matter of fact, the reason why men are obligated to do these commandments is because men are typically more forgetful and fall into the trap of doing immoral things easier than women do. Women are typically more moral and will do the right thing more often than men. As a result, men are told to do things to remind them to stay in line and not be the immoral idiots that they usually are.

Given that, one of the commandments that applies to men and not to women is praying with a quorum, or minyan. Again, women can and do pray. It is just that the obligation of praying within a specific time frame each day, three times a day, only applies to men. As a result, since a woman is not commanded to pray with a minyan, she cannot lead others out of their obligations to pray with a minyan. In other words if a person wants to get their certification for a specific job, and they need hours under supervision of someone already licensed, they cannot be under someone who themselves does not have the license yet. Women are also supposed to pray and should pray and go to synagogue. They just do not have the time bound obligation to pray by certain times of the day.

Because of this practical reason, woman are not typically chosen for positions that would entail having to lead those kinds of services. The bottom line is that women fulfill a major role in Jewish education. There are many women who have risen to the top of Jewish education in America and abroad. Women like Esther Jungreis, Gila Manolson, and others have paved the way for female Jewish leaders worldwide. I highly suggest that you learn more about these concepts and other issues of interest or questions that you might have. Judaism is not a religion of answers it is a religion of questions. I always say that, “The more you know, the more you know you don’t know.”

Thanks,
Rabbi Gershon Litt

Follow-up questions (2)

Question

While we were discussing religion the other day at a small gathering of friends, a friend said that women are not allowed to read the torah. None of us are Jewish, nor do we know any Jewish people, we live in a very small town where there is no jewish temple. I am pretty sure she was confused, because I knew that there are women Rabbi’s, however, after reading the preceding question, perhaps there is some accuracy to her statement.

Are there Jewish documents that Women are not allowed to read? Thanks very much for taking the time to reply.

Answer

Thank you for asking this question. There is nothing that women cannot study. There are certain areas of law that are studied more by men than by women as a result of the fact that there are areas of Jewish law that pertain only to men and there are areas that pertain only to women. There are some commandments in the Torah that apply only to men and those that apply only to women. Without going into great detail I will simply say that commandments that are time bound, meaning commandments that have to be done by a certain time of day, do not apply to women, but many women do them anyway even though they are not an obligation. There are many reasons for this – which are beyond the scope of an email answer, but suffice it to say that men and women study very hard to understand their obligations according to Torah law.

While most world religions forbade women to study and kept their men and especially their women illiterate, Judaism has always taken the opposite approach. All Jews are encouraged to study and women read, study, and learn the Torah as well.

Thanks,
Rabbi Litt

Question

Hello, I would like to refer to your statement “As a matter of fact, the reason why men are obligated to do these commandments is because men are typically more forgetful and fall into the trap of doing immoral things easier than women do.” Is this not subjective? Who ate of the fruit first?

Answer

If you look at the statistics you will see that all through history, everywhere in the world, men are more prone to crime and thoughtless irresponsible behavior than women. If women are making any inroads in these categories in our day and age, chalk it up to the success of the feminist movement.As to the fruit, Chava (Eve) trapped herself by saying that G-d told her she could neither eat the fruit nor touch the tree. G-d only said the former, not the latter. Midrashim tell us that the Nachash (Snake) pushed into the tree, touching it, but she did not die. Now she can choose to either eat the fruit or tell the Nachash she lied. She made the wrong choice. As for Adam, he has even less of an excuse than Chava had.

Regards,
Eliahu Levenson