Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Rav M' Feinstein - Women & men are equally holy

Igros Moshe (O.C. 4:49): ...It is necessary to know that  women are not inferior in their level of kedusha (holiness) to men. Concerning kedusha, women are equal to men regarding the aspect that the obligation of mitzvos is only because of holiness.. Also we see that all the verses regarding kedusha apply equally to women. Whether it is in regard to the beginning of the receiving of Torah when the Torah says, And you will be to Me a treasure and you will be for me a holy people. Or when G‑d said to speak to Beis Yaakov – which means the women and tell Bnei Yisroel – which means the men. Or when the Torah says, You shall be holy men to Me – in Mishpatim. Or in Shemini, You shall be holy or in Kedoshim, And they will be holy. Or in Re’eh, Because you are a holy people to me. In all these verses where kedusha of the Jewish people is mentioned, it also applies to women. This equivalence of halachic kedusha is why women say the same beracha – “who has commanded us with His mitzvos” - when they do mitzvos as men say. This is true also even when they do mitzvos that the Torah doesn’t obligate because of various leniencies that G‑d has for women not having to do certain mitzvos. Their exemption from certain mitzvos is certainly not the result of being inferior, G-d forbid! And concerning the obligations between husband and wife, the husband is obligated to honor his wife and the wife is obligated to honor her husband – without any difference. Furthermore there were many women who were prophets and they had exactly the same laws of prophets as the men. In addition there are many things that women are praised more than men in Torah verses and the words of our Sages. There is absolutely no degradation of their honor or anything else by the fact that they are exempt from studying Torah and time bound positive commandments. Thus there is no reason to complain at all. Consequently it is necessary for you to explain this each and every time. It is necessary to be determined and strong in these views which are like the laws of the Torah and to protest against those women who stubbornly insist on clinging to their foolish and distorted [feminist ideology]- in order that no change should be made to any aspect of holy Jewish practice

6 comments:

  1. Thank you !
    This confirms what I've always instinctively believed, but never learned enough to defend.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Its classic Rav Moshe Feinstein. Right to the point, no apologetics, no excess verbiage, no flowery window dressing. Rav Moshe doesn't shy away from the issues in this passage: "Thus there is no reason to complain at all. Consequently it is necessary for you to explain this each and every time. It is necessary to be determined and strong in these views which are like the laws of the Torah and to protest against those women who stubbornly insist on clinging to their foolish and distorted [feminist ideology]- in order that no change should be made to any aspect of holy Jewish practice". I suspect Rav Moshe was referring to the ongoing mechitza battles in those days, emanating from the Reform and Conservative movements, when the common mantra was that orthodoxy treats women like second class, inferior citizens. Not so then, not so now, not so ever. Men and women are imbued by G-d with the same kedusha, and here are the Torah proofs. Keep repeating it. The end.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "in order that no change should be made to any aspect of holy Jewish practice"

      unfortunately changes have been made and are being made to various aspects of Jewish practice, for a variety of reasons. kind of hard to complain only when the changes stems from western influences that we don't like.

      Delete
    2. "in order that no change should be made to any aspect of holy Jewish practice"

      unfortunately changes have been made and are being made to various aspects of Jewish practice, for a variety of reasons. kind of hard to complain only when the changes stems from western influences that we don't like.

      Delete

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