It is apparent throughout Jewish history that a number of major Jewish historical figures and leaders across the different areas of the development of our Nation have largely been male-dominated. Yes, there are definitely some significant female figures, like we refer to in the parent’s blessing to our children, particularly to our daughters, every Friday night, ‘May you be like Sarah, Rivkah, Rachel and Laya’, the famous mothers of the Jewish People.  

However, throughout our history, we often find that if there is a woman of note, it is due to the fact that she is married to a male figure of significance. In fact, as we progress through history, for example, to the times of the early medieval Torah commentators, Maimonides (the Rambam), or Rashi etc., most don’t even know who their wives were. We find a tremendous dominance of the male voice over the course of many generations of Jewish history, scholarship and leadership. The renaissance of the Jewish female voice has only occurred within the past hundred years or so within the sphere of Jewish education for women, communal involvement and leadership of women, and even more recently wholesale female Torah scholarship.  

Here at Moriah, we are continuously exploring new and innovative ways for children to engage with their Judaism in an authentic, meaningful manner. Embedded within our ethos, other than in relation to explicit gender-related mitzvot, such as the laws of family purity for women, or donning tefillin for men etc., girls and boys at Moriah have equal opportunity in all spheres of Jewish learning and practice. 

Jewish women of today are very different from the Jewish women in the times of our classic Jewish Texts. This is emphasised in the concept of Talmudic (Gemara) study for women. 

The Talmud in Sotah (Mishna of folio 20A) says the following: 

There is a discrepancy between two of the great sages of the Mishna. Ben Azzai says it is a requirement to teach your daughter Torah, whilst Rabbi Eliezer says that anyone who teaches his daughter Torah, ‘it is as if he  taught her Tiflut’ – obscenity or triviality. 

 Throughout our history, R’ Eliezer’s opinion was the dominant and accepted ruling, and until the last century or so, generally, women did not study Torah, never mind actual Talmud study. This has vastly changed, but only in recent decades. Let’s explore how and why the change is taking place.  

Appreciating context in a Talmudic exposition is really important. In the times when the Talmud (in this case it’s a Mishna) was written (approx. 1900 years ago), and for many, many centuries before and after, it would have been historically difficult for women to study the Talmud. By and large, women were not encouraged to be educated. They spent their days drawing water from the well, doing laundry by hand and in the laborious task of food prep, running a house and supporting their family. Most women were not taught to  read or write, and thus it would have been very difficult to teach them the abstract complexities of the Talmud. In fact, it was considered to be irrelevant  for them at that time.  

Until recently, the Talmud, written in Aramaic, with an intense and lengthy legalistic and often aggadic style, was totally inaccessible to anyone who didn’t have an inordinate amount of time to invest in its study. However, today with the advent of the Steinzalz and Artscroll Talmud translations and elucidations, the commonplace of Talmud YouTube videos and Podcasts etc., the study of Talmud has become so much more accessible. 

The original statement of Rabbi Eliezer, discouraging the teaching of  Torah to girls and women, was set in a time and a place that is irrelevant today. On the contrary, today, to deny women Torah scholarship  is simply non-sensible.  I recently visited a small Modern Orthodox Yishuv (settlement area) in Israel, in which there are 12 daily Talmud study groups for women. Even more than there are for the men. That’s quite extraordinary progress! 

There is an interesting and important episode that occurred with Rabbi Shlomo Riskin in the famous Upper West Side Modern Orthodox Shule, Lincoln Square Synagogue, just over 40 years ago. This episode is recounted in full in Shlomo Riskin, Listening to G-d (New Milford, CT: Maggid, 2010), pp.193-96. Riskin recounts that when he was appointed Rabbi of Lincoln Square, some professional and highly intelligent women approached him seeking out opportunities for Torah scholarship. Riskin created study groups for these women, not only in Tanach (Biblical studies), but in Talmud as well. They studied diligently for several years and advanced in their Torah scholarship. Once, on the festival of Shemini Azteret, the day before Simchat Torah, the day we rejoice upon the completion of the reading of the Torah, eight women, who had spent the last couple of years in in-depth Torah study, knocked on Rabbi Riskin’s door with a weighty question: “Tomorrow evening ushers in Simchat Torah, when every male, even a male child, gets called up to the Torah and is offered the opportunity to dance with the Torah. Every male is filled with such joy of Torah… but only the males, not us, the females. Why can’t we read from, and dance with, the Torah?… Didn’t G-d call out his Sinaitic Revelation, both to men and women? Why aren’t we adult, learned women as privileged as a male child?’’. 

Rabbi Riskin was very taken with their question and promised to answer their query the next day. He stayed up all night pouring over the Talmud and Codes of Jewish Law and Rabbinic responsa that addressed the issue so he could properly answer them. He knew, of course, that the prevailing tradition in Orthodox synagogues was that only men carry, read from, or even touch the Torah; but what became rapidly apparent to Rabbi Riskin during that night of Torah research, was that while custom excluded women from physical contact of the Torah, there was actually no legal problem with it in Halacha. Therefore, the following morning, Rabbi Riskin ruled that they could hold a women’s service at which they could read from the Torah, without the Bracha that Jewish Law mandates for men before and after the reading, as well as dance women’s Hakafot with the Torah. 

After the holiday concluded, the same group of women returned to Rabbi Riskin’s house to tell him what an ecstatic experience they had and how women from the ages of 15 to 75 had wept with joy at being allowed to be in such close proximity to the Torah for the first time in their lives. Rabbi Riskin was overjoyed, and then ‘all hell broke loose’. 

A prominent rabbinic scholar of a neighbouring congregation and eventually the Rabbinical Council of America (RCA) heard of Rabbi Riskin’s innovation, and they announced that if Riskin’s synagogue had performed such a service for women and allowed them to read from the Torah, it could no longer be considered an Orthodox synagogue. Riskin was devastated, as he had felt he gave the women an historically significant religious experience, and now his Rabbinical credentials were being challenged. As a side note, ultimately this episode was a one of the catalysts that prompted Rabbi Riskin to eventually leave America and come to Israel and become the founding visionary, pioneer and spiritual leader of the Yishuv (Israeli settlement) of Efrat. Efrat has now grown into multiple neighbourhoods and is burgeoning into a small city that is continuously growing and is extremely popular in Israel. 

To work through the challenges he now faced, Riskin decided to consult with some of the foremost Jewish leaders of the world at the time. He consulted with his teacher, Rabbi J.B. Soloveitchik, who assured him that although it was not the prevailing custom in the orthodox Jewish community, Halacha permitted what he had done. Then Rabbi Riskin went to see the Chabad Rebbe, Rabbi M.M. Schneerson. He wanted to hear what he thought about the situation, although he knew that in Chabad synagogues around the world they didn’t hold women’s Hakafot and Torah readings. 

The meeting with the Rebbe was one of the longest that Rabbi Riskin had ever had, it lasted more than two hours. The conversation covered many issues involving women in Halacha, during which the Rebbe said the greatest challenge to Orthodoxy in this century is the place of the Orthodox woman. He told Riskin that he had revived the custom of young girls lighting shabbat candles because he wanted girls, no less than boys, to feel that they are connected to Hashem, and he thought that it was especially important at this point in time in our history. He spoke with glowing terms about the importance of Torah study and in fact, Talmud study, for women. This greatly and pleasantly surprised Riskin.  

The Rebbe and Riskin discussed all the main legal sources concerning the issue of women’s Hakafot and Torah reading. While it was clear that, according to Jewish law, there was no problem with women holding or reading a Torah scroll, it was also equally clear that the custom had developed over time, that women don’t touch the Torah scroll during their menstrual period. This, in turn, expanded into a custom that women never touch the Torah. However, in the code of Jewish Law, it is clear that women not touching the Torah was only a custom, albeit one widely practised, it was nevertheless not binding in Jewish Law.  

At the conclusion of their discussion, Riskin explained to the Rebbe the kind of women who were coming to his synagogue. Many of them highly intellectual individuals who were drawn to, and inspired in their Judaism and Jewish practice largely through their attraction to Torah study. He was concerned that some of them would weaken their connection and leave their Orthodox Jewish way of life if they were forbidden to partake in the innovation that Riskin had made. The Rebbe’s response was a very clear and classic one, “Not only may you do it, you must do it!”  

A third great American Jewish Rabbinic leader, Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, the pre-eminent 20th century decisor of Jewish law similarly told Riskin that if there were women who would leave Orthodoxy if Riskin withdrew permission to continue having the special women’s Hakafot and Torah reading, he should definitely not stop such services. Riskin walked away from the discussion with the three great Torah scholars, Rabbi Soloveitchik, the Rebbe, and Rabbi Feinstein, feeling that he had received tremendous confirmation for what he had done. He understood that this was not a blanket approval for all circumstances, however, it could be applied to circumstances similar to that of Lincoln Square Synagogue. 

This brings me back to the innovations that we explore here in Moriah College. As a Modern Orthodox school, we continuously strive to synthesise the modern world with our Halachic values and Torah truths, thus, we often find ourselves being pioneers as we create innovative experiences for our children and particularly for our girls and women to be able to connect to Hashem and assume their role in our community,  

May we all continue to be able to inspire all of our children in their Judaism, to enhance their Jewish identity and their connection with Hashem. 

Wishing you all a wonderful Term 3.  

About the Author

Rabbi Yehoshua Smukler is the College Principal at Moriah College in Queens Park, NSW.