Why I Changed My Mind About Female Rabbis

The Modern Orthodox are right

Girl power Talmud scholars at Midreshet Lindenbaum. Maybe they should learn a bit less Talmud and a bit more about Tznius? Credit: https://ots.org.il/jewish-link-matmidot-scholars-program-publishes-torah-journal/

Recently, I came to the conclusion that liberal Modern Orthodoxy is right about teaching girls and women Talmud, and appointing them as rabbis/halachic authorities. The reason for my newfound acceptance is not because my chareidi viewpoints changed. Nor is it because the halacha changed. Nor is it because the Modern Orthodox found a halachically acceptable way of accomplishing this. Rather, it is something else completely. Let me explain.

You see, when I originally saw this nonsense about teaching girls Gemara, I thought, WHAT??? You're going to take these sweet, innocent Bais Yaakov girls, plop them in a Bais Medrash, and make yeshiva bochurim out of them? Kollel yungeleit? Get them to sit for hours on a small point in a Rashba, break their heads over a R' Akiva Eiger, furiously fight with their chavrusos in a milchamto shel Torah? And when (if) they get married - then what? They will go to a.... “kollelet”? Who is going to cook, bake, clean, do the laundry, take care of the children, nurse the baby, change the diapers, make Shabbos¹ - if the wife/mother is out all day and night at the kollelet??? Ridiculous! And I was, and still am, completely right about that. But then I got a little better acquainted with what the liberal Modern Orthodox consider "Talmud" and "Gemara" study...and then I understood. 

Forget about women for a second. What does "learning" mean for these Modern Orthodox MEN? What does "learning" mean for their MALE rabbis and teachers? Does it involve sitting for hours delving into fine points in the Rashba? Does it involve breaking their heads over a R' Akiva Eiger? Does it involve heated battles in the Bais Medrash over Rashi's shittah in a sugya? 

Uh.... actually...well...not exactly.

Surprise, surprise.

You see, such a learning style wouldn’t be very modern, would it? Where would the “Modern” in Modern Orthodoxy be if they stuck to such outdated methods? It would be symptomatic of "self isolation, contempt for critical thinking, and academic approaches, and an excessive adherence to religious axioms of Torah study from prior generations", as Fozziebear recently put it!  Rather, the output of the modern Talmud scholars at the “Department of Talmud” is something like this: 

Men’s jewelry in medieval Jewish society: Nahmanides’ approach (Shalem Yahalom, Ph.D. 2000–2003, Bar-Ilan University, Department of Talmud)

A Scary Place: Jewish Magic in the Roman Bathhouse (Yaron Eliav, Associate Professor of Rabbinic literature and Jewish history of late antiquity at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor)

But Is it Funny? Identifying Humor, Satire, and Parody in Rabbinic Literature (Eliezer Diamond, Rabbinic Scholar at Jewish Theological Seminary of America)

This is good representative sample of what the modern study of Talmud involves. As you can see, delving into the fine points of the Rashba and R' Akiva Eiger, it is not. But what happens when these modern scholars try to mimic what goes on in a yeshiva, by pretending to "delve" into the poskim? Let us look at the scholarly output of the inimitable Yeshivat Chovevei Torah:

The Halakhic Parameters of Delaying Procreation (Moshe Kahn, Teacher of Talmud and Jewish law at Stern College for Women, the Graduate Program in Advanced Talmudic Studies at Stern College, the Drisha Institute)

Here we have the "posek" going through the motions of appealing to halachic authorities and acting as if he is working through them. But like a “psak” from ChatGPT, he gets the language right, but the content is garbage. His first question is "Does a couple’s wish to delay fulfilling the commandment to procreate require rabbinic permission?" Meaning, does engaging in something that is halachically controversial require consultation with a posek? I am pretty sure you can guess where this is going. He then goes on to issue a blanket heter of delaying procreation, on what grounds? That it would be a "hiddur mitzvah" of piryah v'rivyah if the couple would have more money. Yes. I kid you not. Towards the conclusion, he makes clear what his real motivation was, peppering the "psak" with lines such as

Yet, because the women are again embarrassed or fearful, they either avoid the rabbi and suffer ensuing guilt or they conceive a child whether they feel ready or not. Paradoxically, their initial submission to rabbinic authority creates a subsequent aversion to that same authority. 

and

Many young couples are at this time struggling to reconcile the contradictory objectives of their education. They have been taught to develop their talents, pursue their education, and become self-sufficient financially and emotionally. On the other hand, they are taught humility and subordination to rabbinic authority. At best, the couple is confused about the extent of their autonomous decision making. The conflict is at once philosophical, theological, and psychological. There is potential for grave harm in this situation. Young people experience great pressure to marry at an early age and are frequently overwhelmed by the combined pressures of marriage and parenting...  

Well, ok then. So much for an attempt at serious halachic analysis

We can observe the same dynamic with our favorite person in the world, our dear friend Natan Slifkin. There is a clear opinion from one of the Rishonim, the Tashbetz, brought in the Rama, that it is permitted for somebody to take money for in order to learn Torah. But Natan doesn't like that, so what does he do? He simply ignores the psak of the Tashbetz and the Rama, and decides, based on his historical analysis, that they could only mean "elite scholars" despite their explicit statements to the contrary. After being shown how ignorant he is in learning, in a followup post, he dismisses the whole idea of knowing how to learn, claiming "What I am saying is that not much is actually required for analyzing texts..." This is what "learning" looks like for the liberal Modern Orthodox. 

Now we come to the female Talmud and Rabbinic programs, which have existed for several decades, so we can certainly take a look at the products of that system. For example, Midreshet Lindenbaum. And here are…uh…the results. Enjoy.

Sami Gubin from Dallas focused on the symbolism in the Mishkan and the application of those symbols as a paradigm for the optimal Jewish experience.

….

Other topics explored in the journal include Tekoa Sultan-Reisler’s piece on how the Torah and oral tradition urge the Jewish people to promote environmental activism and progressive climate policies

….

Rabbanit Chana Henkin suggests that, “By the nature of their role in Judaism, women partake of both [obligatory and voluntary mitzvot]. Perhaps, in addition to infusing Jewish life with a vital energy and religious excitement, women might give over to men a thirst for religious spontaneity, eino metzuveh v’oseh, some uncommanded religious initiative, with which to enrich their metzuveh v’oseh.”

Need I say more? 

Conclusion

The Rambam (Talmud Torah, 1:13) explains the reason to avoid teaching women Torah:

ואף על פי שיש לה שכר צוו חכמים שלא ילמד אדם את בתו תורה. מפני שרב הנשים אין דעתם מכונת להתלמדאלא הן מוציאות דברי תורה לדברי הבאי לפי עניות דעתן. אמרו חכמים כל המלמד את בתו תורה כאלו למדה תפלות.

Even though a woman is rewarded for learning Torah, the Sages prohibited one from teaching Torah to his daughter, because most women do not have the proper mindset to learn Torah properly, but transform the words of Torah into frivolity because of their lack of understanding

However, with the liberal Modern Orthodox, this reason no longer applies. There is no danger that teaching women Torah will cause them to transform it into frivolity, because the men have already done so for them! Therefore, I conclude that it is certainly proper for those communities to teach girls Gemara and appoint women as rabbis. In fact, based on the standards of liberal Modern Orthodox “Torah study”, and based on the Rambam, I believe females will make better Talmud scholars and are preferable as rabbis to the males.

1. I want to make it clear that I am not, ח”ו, denigrating these tasks in any way. To the contrary, the role of a Jewish wife and mother as an Ezer K’negdo is more exalted than any secular profession, be it a mathematician, astronomer, brain surgeon, or even the President. She is the one who makes the house a Torah house, who raises Shomrei Torah children, who keeps Judaism functioning for all generations. Kal v’chomer if she supports a husband in kollel, or if she encourages her working husband to succeed in his Torah study. This is how we are mechanech our daughters and they accept it very naturally, with almost no resistance (compared to the other areas where we do have challenges, such as tznius, materialism, peer pressure, etc, not to mention the greater challenges of being mechanech our sons). It is just the secularists, who value only material wealth, power, prestige, and illusory “equality”, who see this role as demeaning.