by Guest

Va’ethanan: Where Are the Women?
by Rabbi Judith Hauptman

This week’s parashah, Va’ethanan, contains the Ten Commandments and the first paragraph of the Shema, two key sections of Torah. God says in the Shema that He wants us to love Him exceedingly, with all our heart and soul (Deut 6:5), and to make that love manifest by engaging in ritual acts and good deeds. Why love God? The answer is that God freed us from slavery in Egypt in order to bring us to the land of Israel which He gives us as a nahalah, in perpetuity (Deut 4:38-40). In exchange, says the rest of the parashah, God demands our total loyalty. Straying on our part will lead to disaster.

Where are women in this picture? They at first appear to be absent. The fourth commandment of the ten says: “Observe the Sabbath day and keep it holy . . . you shall not do any work–you, your son or your daughter . . . so that your male and female slave may rest as you do” (5:12-14). Since all the verbs appear in the masculine singular, it would seem that this rule, and others like it, are addressed to men only. The sixth commandment, “Do not commit adultery” (v. 17), which tells a man not to sleep with a married woman, is addressed to men only, because adultery is defined as a man having sex with a married woman. And the tenth commandment, “You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife (v. 18)” is clearly addressed to men only.

If we look at Shema, we see that the first paragraph is articulated in the masculine singular: take these teachings to heart (levavekha) . . . ponder them all the time . . . tie them on your arms and head . . . ” (Deut 6:4-9). But the next set of verses, which warns against complacency, switches back and forth from singular to plural: “watch out” (hishamer lekha, v. 12), in the singular, to “do not go after other gods” (lo teil’khun, v. 14), “do not try God’s patience” (lo t’nasu, v. 16), and “keep God’s mizvot” (tishm’run, v. 17), all in the plural. And then “do what is right and good” (v’asita, v. 18), in the singular.

How can we explain these peculiarities? I think there is an attempt in these words to address everyone, men and also women. Linguistically speaking, in a gendered language, which Hebrew is, masculine singular is the way to address all individuals, men and women alike. There is no other way of doing it (in the singular). The shift to plural is a way of stressing that point, saying that it is to all the people that God speaks, men and women alike.

There is no denying that men are primary and women secondary in the Torah’s legal system, as is evident in marriage and divorce and inheritance law. This is hard to accept. But the point is that we do not have to read women back into the Torah. They are there, right in the words. The lofty moral messages are addressed to women, just as they are to men. Women are part of the system and part of the covenant. They are obligated to keep most mitzvot. It is therefore our job today to convert women’s status from secondary to primary. And we have recently made great strides in this area. But we should not rest until we reach full equality.

Rabbi Judith Hauptman is the E. Billi Ivry Professor of Talmud and Rabbinic Culture at the Jewish Theological Seminary (NY). Her book, Rereading the Rabbis, A Woman’s Voice (1998), explores what the Talmud has to say about women and the law on ten different subjects, including marriage, divorce, and niddah. Her other two books, rather dry and technical, trace the evolution and inter-relationship of various rabbinic texts.
She is also the founder and rabbi of Ohel Ayalah, a free, walk-in High Holiday service, in Greenwich Village, aimed at people in their 20s and 30s (www.ohelayalah.org).

Posted on July 26th, 2007 Filed under: Guest Posts |