Women and Religion
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07JudaismB.docx08 Judaism B
MOTHERHOOD
Having investigated the role of women as wives within the context of marriage, let us know look at Jewish attitudes and practice concerning women as mothers. The first thing to note is that, like Hinduism, Judaism is not a missionary religion. It does not see itself as called to convert the world or spread its message to the four corners of the earth. Instead, the Jewish people see themselves as part of a special covenant with the one God; a “light to the nations” without necessarily making the nations Jewish. This does not mean that Judaism does not welcome converts; it does. But they are not in large numbers and the religion is still very much tied up with the Jewish people as a race. This means that Judaism has never and will never grow in membership by mass conversion. Rather, it will only thrive if its own people produce new members by procreation. In other words, in the case of Judaism, it is crucial that Jewish parents have children for the community and the religion to survive. Hence the first commandment recorded in the Jewish scriptures – “Be fruitful and multiply” (Genesis 1:22) – is very pertinent. As a result, Jewish mothers are seen as absolutely vital. Without them, there would be no People of God. Indeed the Talmud (Rabbi Joseph) sees mothers as a sign of the “divine presence” in the world.
On this point, we should note that since the 1st Century CE, membership of the Jewish family has been defined via matrilineal descent (in biblical times it was patrilineal). In other words, anyone born of a Jewish woman has automatically been considered Jewish. This may surprise some who would have thought that the lineage passes through the father. The reason for specifying one’s mother as the key criterion for being Jewish is a very practical one. It is based on the fact that maternity is much easier to establish then paternity. It is usually clear who one’s mother is, whereas the identity of one’s father may not be so obvious – as many people have discovered to their surprise over the centuries, especially in recent times with advances in DNA testing. The following cartoon makes the point (its context is the claim that the FBI had been spying on American citizens for the sake of national security).
In 1983, Reform Judaism added patrilineal descent to the definition of being Jewish. In other words, for Reform Jews, someone with a Jewish father and a non-Jewish mother is also automatically considered Jewish, but the Orthodox and Conservative branches still maintain the traditional definition.
Fertility and Sons
Given the above, Jewish motherhood is extremely important in maintaining healthy membership within the house of Israel. Indeed, the notion that motherhood is a blessed thing is very widespread in the Jewish scriptures. So too is the converse. Sterility or infertility in a woman was traditionally seen as a curse and the cause of great anxiety and stigma. The common biblical phrase is that God “opens” or “closes” the womb as God wills and there is no shortage of female biblical characters who suffer from barrenness. Some classical examples are Sarah (wife of Abraham); Rachel (second wife of Jacob); the anonymous mother of Samson; and Hannah, the mother of Samuel. All of these women suffer infertility, but in each case God intervenes and allows them to fall pregnant and have a son. Another interesting biblical passage that reflects the importance of having children is the story of Jephthah (Judges 11), one of the tribal leaders (“judges”) in pre-monarchy Israel. We are told that Jephthah made rash vow to God that he would offer up in sacrifice the first person who greeted him on his return home, if God granted him victory over his enemies in battle. Tragically, that person was his daughter and his only child. Jephthah was crushed but the girl (who is never named) stoically accepted her fate and made one final request:
‘Let this thing be done for me. Grant me two months, so that I may go and wander on the mountains, and bewail my virginity, my companions and I. (Judges 11:37)
Here is a young girl about to lose her life because of her father’s actions, but her main concern is not pending death but the fact that she will die childless.
Jephthah’s daughter bewails her virginity
The Jewish scriptures not only stress the value of motherhood and the shame associated with barrenness, but they also reflect a clear preference for a male child over a female child. As with Hinduism, sons were preferred to daughters. For example, when Hannah (the mother of Samuel) laments her barren state to her husband, his reply is simply “Am I not worth 10 sons?” (1 Sam 1:8). The intention is that Hannah should be thankful that she has such a wonderful husband but the author explicitly compares him to 10 boys (not children). Similarly Psalm 127 states:
Sons are indeed a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.
Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the sons of one’s youth.
Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them.
He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.
The Talmud continues the same bias for boys over girls when it states: “Happy he whose children are sons and woe to him whose children are daughters; bless thee with sons, keep thee from daughters” (Bava Batra 16b). It also states “A daughter is a false treasure to her father; through worrying about her he cannot sleep – while she is a minor, lest she be seduced; at puberty lest she play the harlot; when married lest she bear no children.” (Sanhedrin 100b)
The importance of having children, and preferably a son, is also reflected in another unusual tradition that is mentioned in the Jewish bible and resembles Hindu niyoga. It is known as yibbum in Hebrew or “levirate marriage”, after the Latin word for brother-in-law (levir); more precisely, the husband’s brother. The Deuteronomy text states:
When brothers reside together, and one of them dies and has no children, the wife of the deceased shall not be married outside the family to a stranger. Her husband’s brother shall go in to her, taking her in marriage, and performing the duty of a husband’s brother to her, and the firstborn (son) whom she bears shall succeed to the name of the deceased brother, so that his name may not be blotted out of Israel. (Dt 25:5-6)
The point is that marrying one’s brother-in-law (or any in-law) is normally forbidden according to Leviticus 18:16. Yet, the levirate marriage tradition overrides that basic principle on the grounds that the deceased man does not have children, in particular, no son to carry on his name. The famous biblical case is that of Onan who took his deceased brother’s wife but “spilt his seed on the ground”– in other words he practised coitus interruptus, for which he was punished by God with death (see Genesis 38:1-10). The Christian tradition has applied the term Onanism to the act of masturbation, but the main sin of Onan was not the type of sex that he practised but his refusal to provide his deceased brother with a son.
According to the bible, the widow seems to have had no option but to accept her brother-in-law as her new husband and have children by him. However, the man had an escape clause, albeit a strange one. The ritual was called halizah and it involved the widow spitting in his face and removing one of his shoes:
But if the man has no desire to marry his brother’s widow, then his brother’s widow shall go up to the elders and say, ‘My husband’s brother refuses to perpetuate his brother’s name in Israel; he will not perform the duty of a husband’s brother to me.’ Then the elders of his town shall summon him and speak to him. If he persists, saying, ‘I have no desire to marry her’, then his brother’s wife shall go up to him in the presence of the elders, pull his sandal off his foot, spit in his face, and declare, ‘This is what is done to the man who does not build up his brother’s house.’ Throughout Israel his family shall be known as ‘the house of him whose sandal was pulled off.’ (Dt 25:7-10)
The tone of the ritual suggests that the wife had been wronged by the brother’s unwillingness to do his duty. By Talmudic times, the rabbis discouraged levirate marriage and strongly recommended the halizah ritual be performed instead. Today, Reform Jews have entirely abandoned these traditions but Orthodox Judaism still follows the Talmudic teaching and requires that halizah be performed before a widow remarry - in other words tacitly presuming that a brother-in-law has a certain right to claim her as his wife. Orthodoxy now allows both the brother-in-law and the widow to initiate halizah, but there can still be problems such as if the brother-in-law is not yet an adult. In such a case, the widow may have to wait until he reaches adulthood before halizah can be performed and she is free to remarry.
The halizah (shoe removing) ritual
Menstruation
We have already noted concerns about menstruation in Hinduism where it is considered a spiritually impure period. Similar ideas can be found in the Jewish tradition as well. Indeed, the subject is dealt with in Leviticus chapters 15, 18 and 20. The Talmud continued the discussion, going into intricate details about how the precise period should be calculated. Typically a period of about 12 days is nominated when a woman is considered ‘impure’ and the consequence is “niddah” or separation from other persons and ordinary activities. The period of niddah ends when menstruation ceases but before a woman can have sexual intercourse with her husband she must first take a ritual bath known as a mikveh. Traditionally a woman takes her first mikveh just before her wedding day on the presumption that sexual intercourse should only occur between married couples. In fact the rabbis banned unmarried women from taking a mikveh since it might be seen as encouraging or allowing her to have sexual relations outside of marriage. The question of whether unmarried women should be allowed to take a mikveh (which is housed in a public facility and not in her own home) and whether her marital status must be declared beforehand is an issue in some Jewish communities today.
The mikveh bath
Initially, a menstruating woman was banned from the Temple sanctuary but this became irrelevant after its destruction in 70CE. The Talmud states that even the glance of menstruating woman is poisonous (Pesahim 111a), thus during niddah it recommended that a woman remain at home, take special meals and avoid wearing bodily ornaments. Today, Reform Judaism has abandoned the concept of niddah and sees nothing impure or contaminating about the menstrual period. However, Conservative and Orthodox Jews still follow the laws of niddah. Unlike Hinduism, a woman is not forbidden from attending synagogue during this time, but all sexual activity with her husband is to be avoided and this often extends to any form of physical contact. Traditional explanations include references to menstruation as a consequence of Eve’s sin. Thus, niddah is a form of punishment as well as a means of confining a woman so that she does not contaminate other members of her household, especially men. Defenders of the practice sometimes point out that the sexual abstinence required during niddah can be beneficial for the marital relationship.
Feminists often criticise such beliefs and practices as archaic expressions of male anxieties about woman’s biology, which only serve to reinforce the idea of woman’s impurity and inferiority. Denise Carmody sharply notes that such prejudices and superstitions “will be overcome only when a solid percentage of the religious leaders and judges themselves menstruate.”
RITUAL AND PRAYER LIFE
Another key issue in Jewish feminist discourse is the area of official prayer life and, linked to that, the degree to which Judaism has given women access to positions of leadership.
The Dawn Blessing
One of the first ritual practices that are highlighted by feminist authors is the Dawn Blessing. This prayer lists a number of reasons for the reciter to thank God on a daily basis.
Blessed are You, Lord our God, Sovereign of the Universe, who .....
gives strength to the weary
spreads forth the earth above the waters
guides the steps of man
provides me with all my needs
girds the Jewish people with might
crowns the Jewish people with glory
has not made me a gentile
has not made me a slave
has not made me a woman
removes sleep from my eyes and slumber from my eyelids.
Clearly it is the highlighted verses, and especially the underlined verse, that attracts criticism. The person praying, obviously a male, is thanking God for not being a gentile (non-Jew), a slave or a woman. The implications seem to be that it is better to be a Jew than a gentile, a freeman than a slave, a man than a woman. Reform Judaism does not use this prayer and the Conservative movement has changed the wording from negative to positive form. Instead of thanking God for NOT being something, they thank God for being “Jewish”, being “free” and being “created in God’s image”. Such language not only avoids the inherent misogyny in the above form but it also allows women to recite the prayer. However, the Orthodox movement still uses the prayer as it is part of a long standing tradition. Orthodox commentators argue that it is not intended to disparage women and that it actually expresses gratitude for the fact that a man is obliged to perform more religious commandments than Jewish women. Let us look more closely at this point.
Orthodox men reciting the morning blessing
Exemption and Exclusion
One key concept that is often discussed in the context of Jewish women’s rights is the fact that an exemption from some commandments is given automatically to women. The rabbis identified 613 divine commandments in the Torah and these are usually divided into 365 negative commandments (“thou shalt not...”) and 248 positive commandments (“thou shalt…”). The tradition states that a woman is exempt from (not obliged to follow) positive commandments that require action at “specific times”. This refers to specific times of the day or year, such as daily prayers (evening, morning and afternoon) or duties during an annual festival such as residing in a tent during Sukkoth (September/October).
The principal reason given for this exemption is that the fulfilment of the commandment clashes with her household duties, which are seen as more important. Men are not considered to be responsible for the household, and so there is no exemption for them. Such reasoning presumes that it is the woman alone who must take responsibility for domestic chores, whereas the husband should spend his time in prayer or study. Other interpretations are also given to the exemption: some positive and some negative. On one hand, some argue that a woman is required to do less because she has less spiritual capacity than a man. On the other hand, some say that women are not required to do as much precisely because they are naturally more spiritual than men. Jewish feminists usually argue that the husband and wife should share domestic chores and, thus, the exemption should no longer be applied.
There are some duties that do fall specifically to women (not men) such as the lighting of the Sabbath candles every Friday evening before sunset. But even here some commentators argue that this is because Eve dimmed the lights of the world when she took the forbidden fruit and so it is a form of reparation for the first woman’s sin. Moreover, this privilege is also linked to the idea that the household is her “domain”.
A housewife lights the two Sabbath candles
However, the main concern of feminism is the way in which the special exemption given to women, based on household responsibilities, has been used as the justification for the exclusion of women from other ritual privileges and rights. Let us look at a few.
1. Minyan
The Jewish minyan is a form of religious quorum. In general parlance, a quorum is defined as the minimum number of members of a group that must be present at any of its meetings to make the proceedings of that meeting valid. In the context of Judaism, a minyan is the minimum number of persons required to be present for certain official prayers to be valid. In Jewish spirituality, the minyan guarantees the shekinah (presence of God) in the congregation. Traditionally a minyan has been defined as ten adult male Jews. The number ten seems to have come from the appointment of ten chiefs by Moses in Exodus 18. Clearly the definition excludes women and children. In other words, on this definition, minyan would not be reached if there were nine men present and one woman, or even dozens of women. Essentially their presence is irrelevant for the count.
Reform Judaism has counted women for minyan from its very beginning. In 1973 the Conservative movement recommended that women be counted towards minyan, although the final decision still depends on the rabbi in each local congregation. The reasoning of the Conservative movement’s decision was that:
“Although Jewish women do not traditionally have the same obligations as men, women have, as a collective whole, voluntarily undertaken them. Because of this women are eligible to serve as agents and decision-makers for others”
In other words, it denies that exemption leads to exclusion. To put it technically: exemption allows women not to perform the required duty, but it does not forbid them from performing it.
However, Orthodox Judaism still does not count women for minyan and the main reason given is still the special exemption rule. Their attendance is “voluntary but not obligatory”, like a boy under 13 years of age, and so they cannot count. Some Orthodox writers endeavour to soften the blow by pointing out that women are inherently holier than men and do not require a minyan for the shekinah to be present among them.
2. Mehitzah and Aliyah
A second feature of gender discrimination is the seating arrangements in Orthodox synagogues. Although Reform and Conservative Jews allow men and women to sit together, the Orthodox tradition often still requires a physical separation between the sexes. This can take various forms including a physical barrier (mehitzah) or a separate section such as an upstairs gallery. The reason for the separation is the potential for women to distract men sexually during sacred times of prayer.
A mehitzah (barrier) Aliyah (reading from the Torah)
Allied to this is the Orthodox practice of not allowing women to perform an aliyah when men are present. This refers to the honour of being called up to read from the Torah scroll in a synagogue service. There is no problem when the congregation is entirely female but if men are present then the tradition requires that a man performs the aliyah. Of course, aliyah is the context for bar mitzvah. When a Jewish boy turns 13 years old, he has reached adulthood and is now bound to the 613 commandments. He makes his first aliyah, which is the key moment of the life cycle ritual, although it is usually the after party that comes to mind when people think of a bar mitzvah.
3. Garments
Thirdly, the exclusion of women in ritual and synagogue life is also reflected in clothing restrictions. In particular there are three symbolic items of clothing that were traditionally only worn by Jewish men. The first is the skullcap, known as the kippah (Hebrew) or yarmulke (Yiddish). This is the small curved cap worn on the crown of a man’s head. Some men wear it at all times, in which case it functions as a sort of badge of Judaism for all to see. Others don it only during prayers, in which case it marks the special nature of prayer time. The word kippah means “dome” and, indeed, many see in it as a sign that the Jewish man is under God’s “dome” of authority.
The second clothing item is the prayer shawl (tallith). This is usually a white woollen cloth with blue lines and tassels at the edges. It was the inspiration for the design of the Israeli flag. The origin of the practice is a verse in the book of Numbers that instructs the Israelites to put a blue cord and a tassel on their clothing so that they will always remember that they worship the one God. Today the tallith is worn at morning prayers and is a precious item often given as a gift at one’s bar mitzvah or wedding.
The Israeli flag
The third item is the tefillin. This refers to two small black boxes that are strapped to the forehead and left arm. The boxes contain parchment inscribed with biblical verses, including the famous Shema, which reminds the Jews that they worship one God and that they should bind this commandment on their foreheads and hands. Like the tallith, the tefillin are worn at the morning synagogue service, with special prayers said as the boxes are strapped to the body.
Jewish men with kippah, tallith and tefillin
These three garments, along with the tradition of aliyah, have become symbolic of women’s struggle for recognition and equality in Jewish circles. Whilst Conservative and Reform Jews have no major problem with women wearing the kippah, tallith and tefillin, or women making aliyah in the presence of men, the Orthodox tradition does not think that such actions are appropriate.
One relevant case is a group of women called “Women of the Wall”. A Jewish feminist organization based in Jerusalem, they gather at the Western Wall (the only part of the Temple that still exists and the holiest site in all of Judaism), wearing kippah and tallith, and they recite Torah. Needless to say, their actions have provoked hostility from Orthodox (and ultra-Orthodox) groups who see the Wall as an Orthodox synagogue and, thus, they see the Women of the Wall as intruders who disrespect Orthodox traditions. In 2003 the Israeli Supreme Court rejected the women’s right to gather at the Wall in this way, but in 2013 it overturned the previous decision and deemed that women could gather there at least wearing prayer shawls. However the rabbinical authorities at the Wall have refused to allow them to gather there with a Torah scroll. In 2016 the Israeli parliament approved the creation of a mixed prayer area near the wall but this was put on hold in June 2017 and is still the source of intense religious, political and legal debate in Israel today.
Video 1: “Women at the Wall” (8 mins)
Look for:
What is Anat Hoffman wearing?
What does she say about “Orthodoxy and normalcy”?
What do the Orthodox and Conservative rabbis say?
Women of the Wall
Rituals and Prayers
There are also a number of Jewish life cycle rituals that traditionally exclude women, but contemporary Jewish groups have responded by devising a special form of the ritual for women.
Brit Bat (Circumcision)
According to Genesis, Abraham was told by God that he and all members of his family (present and future) must circumcise their male children (not just the first son) when they are “eight days old” (Gen 17:10). This actually means one week in our calendar. The ritual (Brit Milah) does not make the child a Jew since that is gained by being born of a Jewish woman. Moreover, if it was the criterion, then there would be no female Jews since only boys are circumcised. There have been times (e.g. during the 19th century) when Reform Jews thought that circumcision was brutal and sexist but it is still a widespread practice across all Jewish groups today. In order to overcome the inbuilt gender exclusion, many branches of Judaism have developed a ceremony for daughters called variously “Simchat Bat” (Rejoicing in the Daughter) or “Brit Bat” (Covenant of the Daughter). Whilst there is no physical operation, as in the boy’s case, there is the same basic structure and language, including the naming of the child.
Ritual celebrating the naming of a daughter
Bat Mitzvah
Similarly, Jewish tradition believes that a boy comes of age at 13 years and to mark the occasion, a Bar Mitzvah is celebrated. The term literally means “son of the commandment’ since from now on he is considered an adult and is bound to keep the 613 commandment of the Torah. As noted above, this was the occasion for his first aliyah – his inaugural reading from the Torah in the synagogue. There was no equivalent for girls, since women were not supposed to recite the Torah in the presence of other men. However, Jewish groups developed a Bat Mitzvah (Daughter of the Commandment) in the late 19th century. In 1922 Rabbi Kaplan of the Reconstructionist branch celebrated a bat mitzvah for his daughter Judith – the first in the USA. Today Conservative and Reform Jewish groups regularly celebrate similar ceremonies for young girls who are coming of age.
A young girl at her Bat Mitzvah
There are also groups that are devising special ceremonies for a woman’s biological cycles such as menarche and menopause, as well as difficult experiences such as miscarriage. In the book of Exodus, the new moon is set aside as a monthly Sabbath day for the Israelite women as a reward for not donating their gold to make the idolatrous golden calf. Thus, many Jewish women’s groups today use the new moon (Rosh Hodesh) – which marks the beginning of each Jewish month - for prayer meetings and rituals designed to meet women’s special spiritual needs.
LEADERSHIP
The final area of consideration is the question of women and leadership in Judaism. In particular, we will be using the triple formula “king, prophet and priest” to survey leadership in the political, academic and ritual arenas.
Matriarchs, Judges and Queens [“King”]
Narratives and prayers about the origins of the people of Israel always speak about the “patriarchs” – namely Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Their stories are told in the book of Genesis and the three generations of father, son and grandson, are mentioned over and over in Jewish ritual and literature. Without doubt they are the main characters in the biblical narratives (which were written by men), but feminists argue that they are not the only characters involved. They were all married and there is a real danger that their wives remain lost in their shadows. Thus, feminist advocates today call for the rediscovery and reinstatement of the wives alongside their husbands. One of the signs of a more gender inclusive Judaism would be a standard reference to the “patriarchs and the matriarchs” or the “forefathers and the foremothers”. The names of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are accompanied by the names of Sarah, Rebecca, Leah and Rachel (nb. Jacob had two wives: the sisters Leah and Rachel).
The four matriarchs
Apart from the overlooked matriarchs, Jewish feminists are also interested in rediscovering examples of female political leadership especially in the time of the judges (pre-monarchy) and the monarchy. The period of the ‘judges’ corresponds to the early settlement of the Promised Land by the Hebrews, after the time of Moses and Joshua (around 1100 BCE). At this stage, Israel was a loose confederation of twelve tribes with no central governance. Tribal leaders were known as “judges” but the role was political and military as well as judicial. As expected, most of the judges were male and some of the more famous examples include Gideon, Samson and Samuel. However, there is one famous case of a woman who acted as judge and her name was Deborah. Her story is told in Judges 4-5. Apparently Deborah sat “under the palm between Ramah and Bethel” and presided over disputes and other matters. She was also involved in a military campaign against the army of Sisera. With the help of her general, Barak, they won the day and one of the oldest texts in the Hebrew bible recounts the joy of victory: the Song of Deborah and Barak. Interestingly, it is another woman (Jael) who eventually kills Sisera (Judges 4:22).
The judge Deborah
The situation is similar during the centuries of monarchy. Again almost all of the rulers were kings: some of whom were considered righteous but most of whom were considered to be sinful in the eyes of the prophets. However, there is one period when a woman ruled as queen in Jerusalem between 841-835BCE. Her name was Athaliah and, unlike Deborah, she was not a particularly virtuous person. Daughter of the sinful king Ahab, she killed her grandsons in a ploy to gain the throne. Unbeknownst to her, one of the grandsons (Joash) survived and was raised in secret. Six years later, her enemies brought him out of hiding and installed him on the throne, overthrowing her. Athaliah is hardly an ethical role model for Jewish women who aspire to high political office but feminists take some heart in the fact that at least one woman was able to reign as queen among the many men, most of whom were just as wicked.
Athaliah murdering the royal family
The same pattern appears in the post-biblical period with very few women appearing in political positions. Rare examples include Kahina (a 7th Century Berber chieftain in northern Africa), and the mysterious Daughter of Joseph in 12th Century Baghdad. In more recent times, Golda Meir served as Prime Minister of Israel from 1969-1974.
Kahina Golda Meir
Prophets and Teachers [“Prophet”]
The second major category of leadership that we need to explore is that of the prophet and teacher. Apart from judges and kings, the story of Israel also features occasional characters who speak on behalf of the one God, sometimes to console and sometimes to chastise. They usually have little political power but they carry intellectual and moral authority, endorsed by the God who speaks through them. These are the prophets of Israel, and again the vast majority are male. It would seem, at first glance, that God only chose men to be prophets. However a closer look reveals that among the many males there are some female prophets, proving that the office of prophet was not exclusively male.
The first key female prophet (or prophetess) is Miriam, the sister of Moses himself. She is explicitly called “prophet” in Exodus 15:20. Indeed, when she and her brother Aaron complain that Moses had taken a foreigner as wife, they both note: “Has the Lord spoken only through Moses? Has he not spoken through us also?” Their criticism of Moses earned them a strong rebuke from God who pointed out that they were vastly inferior to Moses. God then punished Miriam with leprosy for one week, whereas Aaron seems to have escaped unpunished.
Aaron, Miriam and Moses
Second, Deborah the judge whom we discussed earlier, was also called a prophetess and seems to have fulfilled both roles (Judges 4:4).
Third, there is brief mention in the second book of Kings (2 Kings 22) of a prophetess named Huldah.
We know little about her except that she lived in Jerusalem and her husband’s grandfather worked in the palace. The context of her story is that a book was found in the treasury and the king, the high priest and other officials needed to find someone who could authenticate it as God’s word. The book turned out to be Deuteronomy itself, and the expert from whom they sought advice was Huldah:
So the priest Hilkiah, Ahikam, Achbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to the prophetess Huldah, the wife of Shallum, son of Tikvah, son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe; she resided in Jerusalem in the Second Quarter, where they consulted her. (2 Kings 22:14)
The prophetess Huldah
The era of the prophets ended with the closing of the Hebrew Bible, but their role is continued, in some sense, via the religious scholar. The Talmud is ambivalent when it comes to the concept of women studying and teaching the Torah. In one place it prescribes that a father should teach his daughter the Torah and it seems that women were not actually banned from such study. However, there are other passages that are reminiscent of the Laws of Manu and the general prohibition on women reading the Vedas. One Talmudic verse describes teaching a women the Torah as an “obscenity” and states that it would be better if that a Torah scroll be destroyed than it be imparted to a woman (Sotah 20a, 21b). A common Talmudic position was that because women were exempt from certain commandments so as to perform their domestic duties, they did not need to engage in Torah study, at least to the same extent as men. There are exceptions to the rule but these are usually the wives and daughters of broadminded rabbis. One famous case is Beruriah, the wife of 2nd Century CE Rabbi Meir. It is said that she studied over 300 laws every day and chastised her husband for praying that sinners should disappear from the face of the earth. She reminded him that it was “sin” that needed to vanish, not “sinners”. The most quoted incident from her life recounts how their two sons tragically died on a Sabbath day but, rather than tell her husband and thus interrupt his Sabbath routine, she waited. When the day had passed she told him that a friend had reclaimed some precious jewels that had been left with them for safekeeping and showed him the bodies of the boys, calmly saying: “The Lord gives and the Lord takes away”. Sadly there is another story that recounts how Meir tested his wife’s fidelity by sending a follower to tempt her and when she recognised her weakness she committed suicide.
Another famous example of a female student and teacher is 15th century CE Rebecca Tiktiner. She lived in what is now Poland, and composed many writings specifically aimed at a female audience. Although her worldview was traditional rather than feminist, the fact that her writings were published and widely read was a sign that Jewish women were beginning to move into new influential roles.
Priests and Rabbis [“priest”]
The role of “priest” in ancient Judaism was intimately tied to the Temple and its sacrificial rituals. The Hebrew term is “kohen”: a word that often appears in various forms as a Jewish surname. Membership of the Temple priesthood was for males who had direct patrilineal descent from Aaron, the brother of Moses and the first High Priest. So the priesthood was not something open to women nor was it something open to men of family lines other than Aaron’s descendants. Aaron himself was from the tribe of Levi and thus all priests are Levites but not all Levites are priests.
And bring near to you Aaron your brother, and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, that they may minister to Me in the priest's office, even Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron's sons. (Ex 28: 1)
In biblical times, the duties of a priest were to preside over the regular daily and special holiday Temple sacrificial offerings. There was a weekly roster system involving various priestly families. In each generation, one kohen was singled out to perform the functions of High Priest (kohen gadol in Hebrew). The destruction of the Temple in 70CE by the Romans spelled the end of the sacrificial system and Judaism evolved into a more rabbinical, synagogue based faith.
Today, the Reform tradition has abolished the traditional tribal distinctions and the roles of a kohen on grounds of egalitarianism. However, the Orthodox, and some Conservative groups, still retain them. There are usually three listed:
1. The first Torah reading on Monday, Thursday and Saturday.
2. The Priestly Blessing, which involves standing and facing the congregation, with arms held outwards and hands and fingers in a specific formation.
3. The Pidyon Ha Ben ceremony which occurs 30 days after the birth of the first son and during which the parents pay an ancient debt by offering five shekels to the kohen.
However, the role of leading a congregation in prayer, as well as the more general role of caring for the pastoral and spiritual needs of a Jewish community, is usually associated with the title “rabbi”. Traditionally the Jewish rabbinate was only available to men but in recent times quite considerable changes have taken place in a number of Jewish denominations in terms of female rabbinical ordination. A useful way to appreciate the emergence of women’s ordination and the issues involved is to watch the following video and consider the questions below.
Video 2: And the Gates Opened (19 mins)
Listen for:
1. Which three “predecessors” of female rabbis are mentioned?
2. According to Rabbi Schorsch what were the “three accommodations” that formed the context of women’s ordination?
3. Who was the first woman ordained (and when) in these branches?
a) Reform
b) Reconstructionist
c) Conservative
4. What were the three “legal issues” discussed by Conservative Rabbi Joel Roth?
5. According to Orthodox Judaism which roles are mentioned that are considered:
a) Appropriate for women
b) Not appropriate for women
6. What are the three examples given of rabbinical work outside the synagogue?
7. What ongoing employment issues are mentioned?
8. What are examples of “the flowering of new rituals”?
9. What was said about miscarriage?
10. What is the significance of the metaphor of Jacob and the angel?
Rachel Frank Regina Jonas Sally Priesand Amy Eilberg
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