Through many of the topics here in the forum, the issue of the rights and obligations of the man and the woman have been brought up many times, and always raise the same difficulty - "Is judaism sexist?".
This is an interesting question, since it does seem at a first glance that women are in a way "discrimenated". For example:
- Men have an obligation to pray, whilist the woman doesn't. The woman does not have to obligation to do some mitzvot, such as the tzitzis, or teffilin, and most festival mitzvot, whereas the man does. The Talmud and the Torah studying were meant for the man, rather than for the woman.
There are a few points I will cover -
- The woman's obligations are actually far greater than the man's.
The mitzvot were meant to set a man's mind streight, which is something the woman need less, since her mind is wired differenly than the man's.
The woman would not have time to fufill her obligations if she were obligated to to all the other mitzvot.
Just beacuse it's not an obligation, it doesn't make it not allowed!
Indstead of seeing the lesser-obligations of the woman, we should actually realise what the woman's obligations really are. The woman is the pillar of a household, as the rabbies have said - "He who has found a wife, has built a house". In other words, the wife is the support of the man, the family - she is the strength of the entire household. It is her job to make sure the little kids get up in the morning and say "modeh ani" or bless over their food. It is her job to send the kids off on time to school to learn Torah. Not only is the woman not less-important in judaism than the man, she is actually more important, because without her, the man would not be complete.
The woman needs the mitzvot less than the man -
The man, without the study of torah would fall to the persuasive powers of his evil inclination, while the woman, who has a different look at the world, would not need this study to subdue her mind. The woman has a certain level of spirtuality naturally implimented in her - the woman is the source of purity in the house. The mitzvot are the man's "avoda" (=service) to G-d to keep him occupied lest his mind go astray.
The woman has a different mission on earth, and that is to strengthen her family. The woman has mitzvot the man does not, and she has strengths the man does not. The woman has 3 mitzvot that are very special:
- Lighting the candles before the shabbat. Seperating the halla portion from the bread. Tvilah in the mikveh.
If the woman had been given an obligation to do the other things, she would have less time to do the more important things she really was meant to do, that is, to be the pillar of support of the household.
- Lighting the candles before the shabbat - Considering the point of the woman's mitzvot are to strengthen the inner light of the household, I would say the most important of the woman's mitzvaot is lighting candles on Shabbat and the holidays. The candles are several things, but above all, they are symbols of inner light, symbols of harmony, of peace, of domestic tranquility. That's why there's one candle per family member. The woman is the axis around which the family world turns, and on Shabbat, the Jewish woman, the mainstay of the home, strengthens and enlightens these things.
Seperating the halla portion from the bread - In the times of the Temple, it was mandatory to donate part of any dough to the Temple preists, called "the kohanim". The kohanim served in the Temple as the representatives of all the Jewish People, and thus deserved renumeration. This job was given to the woman, as she is the caring, and the type to make sure that the man continues his avoda (hence she gets a large portion of his reward from learning!).
Tvilah in the mikveh -
It is the married woman's obligation to perserve the sanctity of the home through immersing monthly in the purifying waters of the Mikvah. The woman is the conduit through which purity is channeled to the entire household.
Just because There is not obligation, doesn't mean she cannot do these things! This was actually set this way to make it easier for the woman! Torah did not obligate the woman, because the Torah wanted to allow the woman to do fufill her important obligations, and if she has time, then she can (and is encouraged to) do further, beyond her obligations. If she had the normal obligations and the obligations the woman has around the household currently, the stress would hurt not only the quality of her normal obligations, but of the extra ones added too. This way is most productive and helpfull of the woman.
***
So you may ask - "now that I'm not married, and I'm at home, why don't I have obligations?". Well, first of all, you should be married xd (joking). But in the event you aren't... Just because your not obligated, does that stop you from doing mitzvot? 3nodding . On the contrary! Feel free to do as many as you can!!! blaugh
I hope this helps!
Notes -
This is being constantly updated, as I am finding new things to add every moment xd .
Updated: The 3 mitzvot of the woman.
