A Conflict of Values

By Brielle Goodman
KOACH-On-Campus Editor

When contemplating the topic of Judaism and Feminism, several thoughts come to mind. First, I am bothered by the conflict I see in Judaism regarding women’s rights. Next, I see the differences in how this is handled by the various movements. And then I try to reconcile them all together in my mind. To say the least, I haven’t had much success in the last one, which is a large part of why I think this topic is so important.

To my understanding, Traditional Judaism says that women are closer to God than men. In this line of thinking, women are even more important to continuing Judaism, because of their ability to produce offspring. Because of that, they are not obligated to fulfill the same mitzvot as men. And yet, they are not allowed to read from the Torah or be counted in a minyan.

Because of being closer to God? Having an Aliyah (being called to the Torah) is an honor, so why would that honor be restricted to men? Why are women NOT held to the same standard as men? In most societies, laws apply to all citizens. No one is allowed to steal, everyone must honor their mother and father, so why is it that the commandment reads, "do not covet your neighbor’s wife?" Does that mean that women ARE allowed to want other men?

There is an unmistakable sexism throughout the Tanakh that is extremely disturbing to me, and it is not only in one direction. The last example, coveting another’s wife: while women used to stay in the house most of the time, there were still times when they came into contact with other men. Why not say, "do not covet another’s spouse?" Usually political correctness annoys me. There are things that are made to be politically correct, that are just not meant to be. That’s often taken to an extreme in American society. But at the same time, there are moments when it is of value. When a woman is menstruating, she is supposed to remove herself from society, because she is "unclean." While men don’t have days on end when they would be considered "unclean," there are definitely certain times for which the same argument could be made. Why are they not commanded to remove themselves from society?

According to the Torah, when a woman is raped in a populated area, if she does not call for help, she is considered guilty. Yes, there are definitely certain parts of the Torah that are troubling, even when taking the context of biblical time into consideration. In fact, "Honor your father and mother" is the only commandment I can think of that is not sexist in either direction, aside from the mitzvot that don’t address gender at all.

And yet, when one looks at modern day Israel, women have had more rights there, before they had the same rights in America. Israel has even had a female Prime Minister. America has never had a female President. So what’s the deal with America? I could make all sorts of political jokes right now, but I won’t, because in all seriousness, it really does make one take a step back. Why is America so far behind the times? Israel, England, Canada, Finland, Peru, New Zealand, even Pakistan, have all had female Prime Ministers! So what’s America’s problem? We need to get with the program, and follow the rest of the world into the 21^st century. Okay, now that I’m done with my tirade on politics and women, back to the topic of Judaism and Women…

Some of what the Torah says about women is so offensive to me. And the fact that women have made so many strides makes me very proud. But at the same time, an Orthodox woman still needs her husband to grant her a get (divorce decree) in order to become divorced. Judaism says that women are extremely special and should be honored because they produce children, and they raise children, so they have a very large impact on how the next generation practices Judaism. But if that’s the case, why are there so many laws and statements separating women from men in such a hierarchical way? One does not follow from the other. Does anyone have any thoughts to help resolve this struggle?

[Posted 6/7/05]