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We live at a time of personal agony. Though the feminist movement addressed itself to serious wrongs in sexist American society, the result so far doesn't appear to be greater and more general human happiness. Neither for men nor for women. American society, in fact, remains sexist. Women are viewed as sex objects, exploited to sell products and for trivial stimulation.
America devalues femininity. In the introduction to the early feminist classic "Our Bodies, Our Selves," the authors depict the low respect that American society accords the feminine capacity for compassionate nurture. They attribute the genesis of their own feminism to the determination to be treated with equal dignity. If that dignity is only available by being measured against male standards of success, the authors state, then these are the rules we have to play by. The Torah world and the Western world are not the same, and sexism of Western society is simply inapplicable to Jewish life. The recent film "Kadosh," which portrays observant Jewish women in the most denigrating light, is either the figment of artistic imagination or is meant to be a misguided political statement. (It's hard to tell which.) Jews have never condoned the sexual exploitation or manipulation of women, nor have readers of the Talmud found revolutionary the recent "discovery" of women's sexual lives. Jewish law obligates a man to gratify his wife's sexual needs and adjures him that her satisfaction should precede his own. Adultery in traditional life is as heinous and unthinkable as murder. Jewish law in general is gender neutral. Marriage as well as divorce must be mutual. Women as well as men are obligated to keep Shabbat, to pray, to give to charity, and to visit the sick. SOME SOLID FACTS It's time to lay to rest the canard that Judaism views women as inferior to men. No one who reads the Bible seriously can conclude that Judaism considers women inferior to men. Some examples: 1) Abraham had two children Isaac and Ishmael. As the boys matured, Sarah recognized that for Isaac to grow up properly, Ishmael would have to leave. "Throw Ishmael out of the house," she told Abraham. He didn't want to listen. Then God told Abraham: "Listen to the voice of your wife, Sarah, for she is a greater prophet than you." 2) Isaac and Rebecca had two children, Jacob and Esau. Isaac wanted to give the privileges of the firstborn to Esau. Rebecca recognized what Isaac didn't -- that Esau was depraved and power-mad. She ensured that the birthright went to Jacob. It was an act which saved the Jewish people. 3) In Egypt, the men were driven to despair by the bitterness of slavery and oppression. When the Egyptians started killing Jewish children, the men decided to separate from their wives -- rather than procreate just to watch their children die. "If we do that we're worse than Pharaoh," said the women. "Though they may kill us, we can never give up hope ourselves." The women encouraged their husbands to raise families, thereby perpetuating the Jewish people. Specifically, Miriam's heroism corrected the wrongful advice of her father Amram --head of the Sanhedrin -- and the result produced baby Moses. 4) When the Jews worshipped the Golden Calf in the desert, the women refused to participate. 5) When the 12 spies brought back word that the Land of Israel was populated by giants, the men cried and wanted to return to Egypt. The women did not. As a result, the men were punished with death in the desert; the women merited to enter the Land of Israel. You simply cannot read this litany, and dozens of other examples year after year, and conclude that the Torah considers women inferior to men. On the contrary, women are consistently portrayed as more reliable than men in their judgment and devotion to God. As the Talmud says, women were created with binah yiteira -- an extra measure of intuitive understanding. SO WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE? Judaism suggests, however, that men and women are different. Actually, true feminism does not deny that there are physical, emotional and mental differences between the sexes. Rather it insists on the equal importance of that which is unique to women. "Our Bodies, Our Selves" defines as sexism the derogation of the feminine capacity for empathy and nurture, not the preeminent ascription of these traits to women.
Our society, the authors complain, taught women that their capacity to nurture is less valuable than men's capacity for aggression. (This is not to deny the capacity of men to nurture or of women for aggression -- yet there is a reality to sexual archetypes.) Not all distinctions are invidious comparisons. One man blessed with creativity and a poor memory and another with a fine memory and little originality are not equivalent. But they are equal in their desire and opportunity to come close to God. Jewish law suggests that men and women, while equal in their potential Godliness, are not equivalent in aspects of temperament and endowment -- and thus prescribes for each a different path to fulfillment. "God created the human being male and female," says the Torah, which the Talmud understands to imply that it is the wholeness of woman plus man that makes up the human being. That is why some commandments, such as the lighting of candles and the separation of the tithe from dough, are directed at women. When a woman chooses to fulfill commandments that she is not obliged to perform, there is a legitimate question as to her motivation. Has she exhausted, by scrupulous observance, the opportunity of the many commandments which are obligatory, and now seeks for more? Or does she seek to do the things which men do? If the latter is true, she is ironically a perpetuator of sexism herself. She has accepted the sexist assumption that what women do is not valuable and that self-respect comes from being like a man. Our Torah can be a source of reference and great strength to us in a changing world. But for it to play that role, we need the courage to shed our prejudices and to read together what it really says.
Published: Sunday, March 12, 2000
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I am a 25 year old woman who is studying for an Orthodox conversion to Judaism. I read quite a bit about how supposedly Orthodox Judaism is sexist because it does not allow women to participate in a minyan, done tefillin, or make aliyah. The funny is though, that there are no compliants about men not being required to go the mikveh every month or Kohanim not being allowed to marry divorcees or converts. Which brought me to the conclusion that those that scream ,"orthodoxy is sexist" can not see that the ones with the sexist views are themselves. What I want to is what is so wrong with being a female that someone of us feel we need to copy the men? Is masculinity worth more than my feminity? When it comes to donning tefillin and participating in a minyan, I want/need to do that just like I want/need a prosytetic leg. If you did not get the hint of sarcasm there I have two legs. This is not in anyway directed towards Jewish women who take on extra commandments, after being observant for years and doing the commandments required of her. It is directed towards those that place a higher value on something just because it is for men and go out and make something inferior just because it is for women. That IS misogyny.
(2) Paul Yesawich 7/18/2006
This is a fabulous article that truly discerns how men and women of the Jewish faith can be considered different, yet wholeheartedly equal in natyre.
(3) Sarah 5/19/2005
placing so much emphasis on women and men being different is what has lead to sexism
Maybe Judaism isen't chavinistic but by placing all this emphasis on men and women and being different people it can imply that Judaism is chavinistic and could lead people to believe women and men are so different, they should have different roles and could lead people to have sexistic attitudes towards women or men. I think treating men and women so differently and seeing people so differently is what has lead to sexism in the past and has lead men to think of women as so different that women were inferior.