Torah is the path of Truth- A Response to the words of Rav Kelner

The thoughts publicized by Rav Kelner began a widespread debate on many topics such as: women's Torah learning, the fundamental differences between men and women, the roles of men and women in building the material and spiritual worlds.

As the Midrasha's goal is primarily in developing women's Torah learning and as we see the immeasurable importance in it, we are including two responses to Rav Kelner written by our teachers Dr. Merav (Tubul) Kahana and Rav Yuval Cherlow. As Merav concluded in her essay "Torah is the path of truth".
 

Dr. Merav (Tubul) Kahana

After the storm of reactions to Rav Kelner has died down, I hope to address the main points in a serious manner. When we remove the hurtful words and phrases he uses, we can see that they are ideas that many rabbis, rabbaniot and batei midrash ascribe to. They usually choose nicer words and a different style to express their thoughts, but it is the same idea and it is worth discussing.

Rav Kelner's outlook is based on the words of the Maharal when he explains the basic differences between the gender roles. He quotes Rav Kook from whose rulings we can gather that men are talented, fit to be leaders, intelligent "and in the higher aspects of the world, in culture and worldwide assumptions, women are not meant to be able to reach these achievements" (Rav Kelner).  As far as he is concerned, a women's entire world is "with the delicate feelings of a woman, and her soft nature she is meant to balance the pressured life of man (who is active, militant, aggressive and bold), with her inner peacefulness; as she is a "mother of Israel", bringing souls of "the eternity of Israel" into the world, with warmth and motherly love" (Rav Kelner).

However, there is another, opposing, Jewish way of thinking. Stating that this is the only way to understand the words of Chazal and the Torah is wrong. For instance, the Ba'al Ha'Akeda had a different approach: "in the two names Isha Chava, we understand the two goals of women- the name Isha (woman) denotes that she came from Ish (man) and she, like man, can understand ideas and Hassidut, just like all the Mothers and righteous women and prophetesses… and the name Chava- Mother of all living beings is expressing her purpose as a mother to bear children and to raise her children. And if a woman is unable to bear children, then her purpose is like that of Man who also doesn’t bear children."  Having children and raising them is definitely a very important part of a woman's world, but it is not the be all and end all.

Are men and women different? It would seem so. But should we sum these differences up in a list? Generalizing that all men are like this and all women are like that- this is a double mistake. Firstly, we see that whatever way we describe the genders, there are so many exceptions to the rule. Secondly, every time someone tries to characterize the genders (especially the women) this usually is used to minimalize a women's capabilities saying that they are not able to perform certain duties. However, we see that women can excel in the home and in the workplace, and they are intelligent as well as sensitive, and capable of doing good and being a positive influence. If a woman has been blessed by Hashem with the intelligence and insight to learn and understand should she be confined only to the realms of her home?  We have been fortunate to have women who have made amazing scientific breakthroughs (even if they haven't all won the Nobel Prize) and we have also been fortunate to have women who are at-home mothers who use their intelligence and creativity to raise their family.

It's important to stress the point about women learning Torah. You can stay with the notion that "men can add to their knowledge through culture, science and arts while the women need to further develop their inner self, not through literature and books" (8 chapters, by A Takid), you can also posit on what Rav Kook would say giving the new reality we live in today. But even if you say these things, you must realize that there are other opinions such as the Ba'al Ha'Akeda which we mentioned and the recent Lubavitcher Rebbe who saw women's learning as one of the signs of the Geula and said that this is also an influence on the inner sanctuary of the home as it " adds to the enthusiasm that the children will have for learning" (Sefer Hasichot).

It is an educational, moral and spiritual mistake to make only secular studies available to women but to tell them not to study religious topics (although Rav Kelner thinks that any form of learning isn’t on women's level, but no one would say not to learn secular topics).

How can we reach the high levels of love and fear of Hashem, which is also incumbent upon women, only through our feelings? Our worship of Hashem will be very superficial. This is without even discussing the fact that women want to be able to quench their thirst for the spiritual world, in order to cleave to Hashem. In this modern and post-modern world, the best thing we can do for our children is to teach them the path of Torah and to learn Torah. To know the Torah and sanctify it. The various Midrashot are not hospitals to fix deficiencies, rather a path to the Geula like the Lubavitcher Rebbe said. So many homes built on the foundations of Torah come out of the students learning in the Midrasha and the Torah flows from them to all of Am Yisrael. Women face many challenges today, there is a change in women's status and the enlargement of women's Torah learning. Women have many decisions to make today while still keeping within the laws of tradition. They need to continue to raise happy healthy children I a complex world and they have an equal partner with whom to share the responsibilities. They are in complete cooperation in building a Bayit Ne'eman B'Yisrael.

It's not realistic to limit women's secular and Torah education and it is not just. We are living in the times of Geula, as the Rebbe said, women's wisdom and learning is a big part of that and Torah is the path of truth.
 

Rav Yuval Cherlow

When Hashem created Man and Woman he blessed them and commanded them:

"Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and rule over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the sky and over all the beasts that tread upon the earth." 

The Torah is teaching us that in the foundation of creation man and woman are equal, they were both created in Hashem's image, they are both entrusted with the continuation of the world, and possess the qualities to do this and they complement one another as they were created together and were part of one another. This is the first statement that the Torah makes about mankind and is a foundation for what is written in the Torah. Every myth that one of the genders is inferior is shattered when reading the basic words of the Torah.

This we learned from Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Hacohen Kook Z"L: "… this is the order or things from the time of creation. The Torah, at the end of the story of creation, states: "And Hashem created man in His image; in the image of Hashem, He created him; male and female He created them".  The only creations made in Hashem's image were man and woman. Man- one being who is two, with equality and perfection connected together. Then the Torah details the creation of man and woman… that woman was created from the rib, but the emphasis was that they were created together, equal…"

Throughout the generations, many negative ideas were written about women. I don’t think we should try and cover them up trying to make them sound positive towards women. These ideas were written at a time when women were oppressed and busy with basic needs of existence, following behind the men. A world without the amenities we have today, running water, electricity, diapers, a fridge, freezer etc. etc. where women were busy with the daily grind and that was the background to these thoughts and ideas. We now have freedom from those chains (although we are enslaved to other things) and we can now return to the first chapter of Breishit to the foundation of the world.

This fact does not eradicate the gender differences, as chapter two goes on to elaborate that man and woman were created with different characteristics. These differences are not rated on a scale of who is superior and who is inferior. Rather, it is looking for the differences in the two chapters, to point out how man and woman are similar or different. The Halakha is always referring to this- what emphasizes the differences and what emphasizes the similarities.  There is a wide spectrum of possibilities to include women in Halakha and Torah learning with women also participating in part of the Mitzvoth that are time bound.  The Halakha seeks to differentiate itself from other cultures where there is no marked difference between man and woman.

It is a great Z'chut to be part of women's Torah learning, where women can make a unique contribution to Torah study. Certainly we, who are aware of what is written in chapter two and know the differences between men and women, knowing that they are observations that can never be rigid generalizations. We should rejoice in this process, as it is a blessing to us all, to remove the punishment that we received when we were banished from Gan Eden and walk on the path to a brighter future.