“Sometimes I Wonder Why We Have to Be So Afraid”: Women, Gender, and Jewish Law, with Rabbanit Nechama Goldman Barash (192)

Orthodox Conundrum

In episode 190, Scott and Dr. Mijal Bitton talked about the idea of creating synagogues that follow Orthodox halacha while embracing an egalitarian aesthetic. One of the ideas that they discussed was the balance between using our Torah texts to determine normative Jewish law, versus what Rabbi Dr. Haym Soloveitchik famously described in his seminal essay “Rupture and Reconstruction” as the preeminence of the mimetic tradition - that is, a way of living that is less learned than it is imitated, observed, absorbed, and passed down to the next generation almost automatically. Rabbi Dr. Soloveitchik argued that today, the mimetic tradition is quickly giving way to a reliance upon written sources, even when those written sources directly contradict the common practice of generations. It’s fascinating that while this new reliance upon text is usually associated with a move toward greater stringency, it also can be used to create leniencies that are technically permitted, but have never applied because of a tradition that taught otherwise.

This all has a direct bearing on how Orthodox Jews relate to the halachic role of women in Orthodox society. There are numerous examples of areas where, in theory, halachic texts alone may permit greater women’s participation than we normally allow, yet which we often shy away from because our traditions have dictated otherwise. When some attempt to increase women’s halachic role in Orthodoxy, this tension comes to the fore and must be addressed. Finding halachic solutions that favor text over tradition for the sake of greater openness might sound like a natural solution - but consulting text alone has plenty of dangers associated with it, as well.

To address this and other relevant issues, Scott hosted Rabbanit Nechama Goldman Barash, who just completed a forthcoming book that looks at Jewish texts relating to women, gender, and halacha. In this conversation they deal with some important issues regarding the roles that women should and should not play in Orthodox society. They talked about the introduction of women’s voices into halachic discourse, as well as the fact that our classic texts generally do not offer women’s perspectives on halacha; potential areas for greater women’s participation; the question of women’s halachic leadership, and the potential halachic problems with increasing their prominence there; and why it all matters. In addition, they spoke about some specific instances that people often ask about, including the meaning behind women’s exemption from time-caused positive mitzvot, the Talmudic idea that a woman would almost always rather be married than single (tav l'meitav tan du), and the morning blessing, shelo asani isha - who did not make me a woman - and more.

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