Perhaps one of the most heated issues in our modern world is women’s status in Judaism. How does Torah truly perceive women? How does G-d regard them? Is there a male-female hierarchy in the Torah? Do women have unequal access to Torah study? Many have attempted to answer this question, but have failed to properly address the Torah’s perspective on the matter, and have rather given their own views. Let us attempt to answer this question based on sources and passages.
We must begin by affirming a very basic Torah principle, that men and women are equal in value, and are equal in the eyes of G-d. In this respect, Rabbi Moshe Feinstein states: “As far as holiness goes, women are equal to men. …all the verses having to do with this holiness were said to the women as well.”1
However, their strengths and weaknesses are radically different, in addition to their spiritual makeup. Halacha understands these differences and properly addresses them by giving each gender its roles and obligations.
Now that we have mentioned this and in order to understand women’s role and status, it behooves upon us to go back to the first days of creation and explain how this has impacted women’s status. The world’s current reality as we know it is a result of Chava’s and Adam’s sin in the Garden of Eden.
In the book of Bereshit2, Torah explains that Chava was punished as a result of eating the forbidden fruit, and feeding it to her husband. Since the spiritual “DNA” of all souls was contained in the first woman, all future generations of women need to suffer the consequences of the original sin she committed. We have little understanding of what a soul means, yet the situation we are in is part of G-d’s bigger plan for the redemption of humanity, including women’s. The curses that Chava received serve as a basis to answer our question of gender equality in the Torah.
“And He Shall Rule Over You”
When describing the curses that G-d gave to Chava, the Torah says: “I will aggravate the pain of your pregnancy; you will give birth to children in agony; desire will draw you towards your husband, and he shall rule over you”3. Four consequences are listed in this verse: the pain of pregnancy, the agony of childbirth, the desire that a woman feels towards her husband, and the dominance exerted by men on women. To date, it seems that all these curses are still relevant, except one: the one that stipulates that a man has control over his wife, or at least in most ways. This is precisely the issue we must reflect upon and explain its relevance in the 21st century.
There are three primary aspects of men’s control over women that are relevant for our purposes: emotional, economic and spiritual. Women’s emotional dependence on men manifests in the physical and emotional desire they feel towards their husbands. This expresses itself in women needing men’s attention, exclusivity and recognition. We clearly see that this is still the case today.
Pertaining to the economic aspect, Rebbetzin Devorah Fastag’s The Moon’s Lost Light states, that throughout history, women have been dependent on their husbands for livelihood. Before the Chet, the need for sustenance did not exist. Everything was provided to Adam and Chava in the Garden of Eden. After the Chet, women were cursed to rely on their husbands for sustenance, mostly as a consequence of Chava feeding her husband with the forbidden fruit, a “midda K’neged midda” punishment for her action.
Women’s financial dependence on men has dominated gender relationships throughout history since Chava’s sin, but we since that there has been a dramatic shift in the last decades. Women have achieved unprecedented financial independence. Our generation bears witness to a feminine trend not to marry, or in many cases, to postpone marriage indefinitely. In the religious world, we also see a new trend of women being the main bread winners, and supporting the household, which is a brand new phenomenon.
Finally, the spiritual aspect of men’s control of women is reflected in women’s subsequent limited ability to study Torah. Before the chet, Adam and Chava had the exact same amount of spiritual perception, that is, the ability to integrate and comprehend spiritual and abstract concepts. However, after the sin, this changed dramatically. Both Adam and Chava had lost a significant amount of their spiritual perception, but Chava lost more than Adam did4. Women had lost their “light”, that is, their capacity to absorb complex concepts, including Torah study.
The Moon’s Lost Light
Woman’s lower capacity to integrate Torah concepts (in the post-sin period until the dawn of the Messianic age, when this capacity will be restored, as we are seeing it happening today) is reflected in a poignant passage in the Guemara dealing with the diminishment of the moon. The latter describes that Hashem created two great stars, the Sun and the Moon, described as “the great star and the small star”. Why is this so? The Gemara goes on to explain that Hashem faded the light of the moon after the latter complained that “two kings cannot share the same crown.”
The Gemara reveals that the sun and the moon were initially created equal, but that the moon’s light was subsequently diminished and devalued. That light will return in messianic times, which is the era we are in today. Light corresponds to the Torah. And the word for moon in Hebrew, Levana, contains the word Lev, which means heart. The Sun, which is called “Chama“, contains the word Moach, which means brain. The Michtav MeEliyahu explains that the two stars allude to the two avenues for serving Hashem: one with the heart, and the other with the intellect5.
The Zohar reveals that the Levana, the moon, represents women, since feminine power rests on emotional traits, while the Chama, the sun, refers to the masculine gender, whose intellectual capacities are generally at the forefront. This does not mean that women have no intellect and men do not have a heart! But generally speaking, each trait is more prominent by a specific gender.
At the time of Creation, God desired these two types of Avodat Hashem (Divine Service) to stand on the same pedestal; that is, to be perceived as equal: the intellect’s grasp naturally engulfing the heart. Of course, in our world, and wrongfully so, the intellect is perceived as being on a higher level than the emotions. The Zohar reveals that the Levana, the moon, represents women6, since feminine power rests on emotional traits, while the Chama, the sun, refers to the masculine gender, whose intellectual capacities are generally at the forefront. This does not mean that women have no intellect and men do not have a heart! But generally speaking, each trait is more prominent by a specific gender.
“Nekeva Tisovev Gever”
One can understand that Hashem values women tremendously, and that the seemingly “lower status” of women, especially when it comes to divine service and Torah learning, is not as clear as we may think. G-d cherishes women’s higher emotional capacities, which, prior to the sin, were considered as valuable as intellectual achievements. Yet, in human eyes, the latter is definitely greater than the former, to G-d’s great dismay! As we have seen, the reality of women a few centuries ago has dramatically changed, and is very foreign to the one we know today. Women’s financial independence, in addition to their greater access to Torah study and understanding of abstract concepts, are unprecedented.
To conclude, there is a fascinating idea that the Kli Yakar brings called Nekeva Tisovev Gever, which literally means “the feminine will turn around the masculine”7. The Kli Yakar interprets this as signifying that women will enjoy the same material and spiritual privileges as men at the dawn of the Geula, the final redemption. Based on this notion, we can understand the modern phenomena of women being financially independent, and why they have greater access to Torah study, among other privileges. Inequality between men and women, a consequence of the original sin, is slowly becoming less important and pronounced with the coming of the Geula, as is obvious in our day.
We can now better understand the turbulence that surrounds contemporary women thanks to the timeless wisdom that Torah carries, throughout all generations. May we cherish its value and realize that Hashem does justice and is fair to all!
Based on the Devorah Fastag’s The Moon’s Lost Light
1 Igros Moshe
2 Chapter 3, verse 6
3 Ibid
4 See Inner Space, Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, p.88
5 4, p.207
6 Zohar 1:338a, 2:153a, and 3:161b
7 Kli Yakar, ad hoc.
