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Lecture VII: Women in Halacha: Advanced Torah Study

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Lecture VII: Women in Halacha: Advanced Torah Study Modern Orthodoxy: Women in Halacha: Page 1 (פי' דבר עבירה). בד"א בתורה שבע"פ; אבל תורה שבכתב לא ילמד :Modern Orthodoxy in the 21st Century אותה לכתחלה, ואם מלמדה אינו כמלמדה תיפלות (רמב"ם וסמ"ג ולא כמקצת ספרי הטור). הגה: ומ"מ חייבת האשה ללמוד דינים השייכים לאשה. :Lecture VII: Women in Halacha (אגור בשם סמ"ג). ואשה אינה חייבת ללמד את בנה תורה, ומ"מ אם עוזרת לבנה או לבעלה שיעסקו בתורה, חולקת שכר בהדייהו. (הגהות מיימוני פ"א דת"ת וסמ"ג). Advanced Torah study Rabbi Moshe Shulman Shaarei Shomayim Congregation, Spring 5766 INTRODUCTION: The Rov’s Mother Selected Bibligraophy A TRIBUTE TO THE REBBiTZIN OF TELNE - Hesped · Torah Knowledge for Women, Rabbi M. Meiselman, Jewish Woman in Jewish Law, Ktav, 1978 for Rebbitzin Rebecca Twersky, Jan. 1977, Tradition, 17.2 · A Tribute To The Rebbitzin Of Telne, Rabbi J. B. Soloveitchik, Hesped 1978, Rabbi J. B. Soloveitchik for Rebbitzin Rebecca Twersky, Jan. 1977, Tradition, 17.2 1978, · Women & the Study of Talmud, Dr. Naomi G. Cohen, Tradition 24.1 (1988) · Talmud Study by Women, Rabbi Yehuda Henkin, Responsa on Contemporary Jewish Women’s Issues, Ktav, 2003 · Torah Study for Women, Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein, Ten Da’at Vol. III, · Rav Joseph B. Soloveitchik: As Posek of Post-Modern Orthodoxy, Rabbi Dr. Walter Wurzburger, Tradition, vol 29, 1994. סוטה כ:א Ben Azzai said that a man must מכאן אומר בן עזאי: חייב אדם .teach his daughter Torah… R ללמד את בתו תורה, שאם תשתה Eliezer said that he who teaches תדע שהזכות תולה לה. ר"א his daughter Torah is considered as אומר: כל המלמד בתו תורה - .if he had taught her tiflut (כאילו) לומדה תפלות. רמב"ם תלמוד תורה א:יג A woman who studies Torah is אשה שלמדה תורה יש לה שכר rewarded, but not to the same אבל אינו כשכר האיש, מפני שלא degree as is a man, for she is not נצטוית, וכל העושה דבר שאינו commanded, and anyone who does מצווה עליו לעשותו אין שכרו that which he is not commanded to כשכר המצווה שעשה אלא פחות do, does not receive the same ממנו, ואע"פ שיש לה שכר צוו .reward as one who is commanded חכמים שלא ילמד אדם את בתו However, even though she is תורה, מפני שרוב הנשים אין rewarded, the Sages commanded a דעתם מכוונת להתלמד אלא הן man not to teach his daughter מוציאות דברי תורה לדברי הבאי Torah. This is because women are לפי עניות דעתן, אמרו חכמים כל not disposed to dedicate המלמד את בתו תורה כאילו themselves to study and will turn למדה תפלות, במה דברים the words of Torah into foolish אמורים בתורה שבעל פה אבל words according to their limited תורה שבכתב לא ילמד אותה understanding [due to lack of לכתחלה ואם למדה אינו interest]. Our Sages said that כמלמדה תפלות. anyone who teaches his daughter Torah is to be considered as if he had taught her trivial and unimportant things. רמב"ם יסודי התורה ד I say that one should not engage in ואני אומר שאין ראוי לטייל esoteric (kabbalistic) study until בפרדס אלא מי שנתמלא כריסו they have filled their stomachs לחם ובשר, ולחם ובשר הוא לידע – with the meat and bread of Torah האסור והמותר וכיוצא בהם namely Halacha and details of משאר המצות... ראויין הן …(Mitzvoth (Talmudic analysis להקדימן, שהן מיישבין דעתו של ,which is accessible to all, young אדם תחלה, ועוד שהם הטובה and old, man and woman, those הגדולה שהשפיע הקב"ה ליישוב with great minds and those with העולם הזה כדי לנחול חיי העולם …limited ones הבא, ואפשר שידעם הכל קטן וגדול איש ואשה בעל לב רחב ובעל לב קצר. שו"ע יו"ד רמו:ו אשה שלמדה תורה יש לה שכר, אבל לא כשכר האיש, מפני שאינה מצווה ועושה. ואע"פ שיש לה שכר, צוו חז"ל שלא ילמד אדם את בתו תורה, מפני שרוב הנשים אין דעתן מכוונת להתלמד, ומוציאות דברי תורה לדברי הבאי לפי עניות דעתן. אמרו חכמים: כל המלמד את בתו תורה, כאילו מלמדה תיפלות Modern Orthodoxy: Women in Halacha: Page 2 I. ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS “Fundamental Problems Regarding the Education of the Woman”, Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein, Ten Da’at Vol. III, reprinted from Halacha V’Chinukha. Edited by Ben Zion Rosenfeld, published Rav Joseph B. Soloveitchik: As Posek of Post-Modern Orthodoxy, by Emunah, Ulpanot Bnei Akiva, Kfar Saba, 1980. Rabbi Dr. Walter Wurzburger, Tradition, vol 29, 1994. In the same vein, I am not opposed to teaching women Ethical considerations also prompted the Rav's refusal to Talmud. From a practical point of view, this is participate in granting a heter me-a rabbanim to somewhat difficult because many women seem to lack husbands whose wives were unwilling to accept a get. the motivation, a societal support is missing and, more The Rav explained that his policy was based upon the importantly, there is lacking a desire to be realization that, if the shoe were on the other foot, unconditionally committed to such learning in the future. corresponding procedures would not be available to the It is necessary to understand that in Talmud study, the wife. first steps are difficult and they do not naturally engage Especially revolutionary was his pioneering of the one’s intense interest. This is acceptable to someone intensive study of Gemara by women. He was who views these steps as preparation for intensive future convinced that under contemporary conditions, it was study, but for one who may remain at a beginner’s level, necessary to confront the challenge of modernity, and the study is difficult. Since one should not be blind to therefore Jewish women must be provided with the present societal realities, it is clear that it is improbable intellectual resources needed to appreciate the meaning that women will develop the same level of intensity as of halakhic Judaism. Mere familiarity with the do's and that of men. I am also not convinced that it is desirable don'ts of religious observance would no longer be to press women to study Talmud in such an intensive adequate, especially at a time when mothers rather than form. After all, halakha does differentiate between men fathers exercise the strongest influence upon children. If and women in this matter, and their respective life roles Jewish mothers were to provide proper guidance to their are also different. But when one speaks about the ability children in an era when relatively few Jews abided by to study a page of Talmud, to understand it and enjoy it, halakha, they had to possess a real understanding of the I see no reason to deny these teachings to women. And it halakhic process, since without knowledge of halakha is even necessary to establish this as an integral part of one could not possibly acquire a genuinely Jewish the school curriculum, an actual shiur. This is the way I perspective. It was for this reason that the Rav insisted teach my daughter and so was my wife educated. This that girls receive thorough instruction in Gemara at his seems to me to be the recommended approach regarding Maimonides Day School in Boston. Many years later, the women of our generation. Stern College and some other institutions followed suit, Intensive study contributes a great deal to women’s and, despite the traditional aversion to instructing girls in education in terms of religious awe and Torah life. It Gemara, initiated programs for intensive study not helps halakha become a living entity, encourages a merely of the practical aspects needed for proper woman to seek halakhic guidance from a Rav, to ask a observance, but also of the theoretical underpinnings of she’elah and the like. But learning isn’t everything. the halakha. There are additional things that contribute to education: discussions are extremely important, the atmosphere III. Controversy over Studying the Oral Torah within the school contributes, there is a need to create an attachment to the values of Torah, as embodied in a Mekor Baruch, “Chochmat Nashim, Chapter on Mrs. Rayna Batya, Torah personality, what Chazal called a “Gavrah daughter of R. Izele Volozhiner, granddaughter of R. Hayyim Volozhiner and first wife of the Neziv Rabbah” (a great person), a living personality, so that a woman would be able to see before her eyes an individual for whom Torah is part of his very essence, a מקור ברוך (ר' ברוך הלוי עפשטין) Translation, “My Uncle 1988 person with whom one can relate and identify. All of וכך הי' דרכה לשבת תמיד ”the Netziv these must be combined. Learning is not only cognitive בסמיכות לתנור החורף אשר It was her habit to sit by the“ awareness of Torah and halakha, or personal ethics and בבית האוכל. וגם בימי הקיץ. oven in the kitchen—even in ולפניה שלחן צבור ספרים the summertime—next to a faith. All of these need to be symbiotically intertwined. שונים: תנ"ך, משניות, עין .table piled high with seforim יעקב, מדרשים שונים, מנורות These included a Tanach, Ein המאור, קב הישר, צמח דוד, ,Yaacov, various midrashim שבט יהודה, ועוד כמה וכמה Menoras HaMaor, Kav ספרים ממינים אלה ומספרי ,HaYashar, Tzemach Dovid אגדה Shevet Yehudah, and many other books of this nature.” .
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