I have often had the experience, in which a man will come to my home, wishing to receive guidance for a problem. My wife, Sima, will often have an insight that adds another dimension to the discussion. The man will politely remain silent while she is speaking, only to resume the conversation where we left off, before the "distraction" of a female "barging in" on a serious problem. That is an example of the way women are usually viewed. Just stand there and look pretty. Perhaps serve me a cup of coffee, But certainly, don't allow yourself to be heard; no matter how helpful, or even vital, your ideas may be. Sadly, traditional Jewish values were little different from those of the surrounding world. In fact, there is a Talmudic statement, which can be seen as shocking. “Anyone who teaches his daughter Torah teaches her tiflut” (BT Sotah 21b). "Tiflut" can have the meaning of "vanity" or may even mean "prostitution". What?! How can that be?! Since, according to the Oral Torah, the obligation to study Torah "day and night", is only incumbent on males, with women and girls exempt, it was apparently felt that study would teach women subtlety. that would enable her to deceive her father or husband, placing her in great jeopardy in a world where decent women stayed at home. To be sure, wealthy Jews often hired tutors who would teach their daughters how to read and write, as well as some Torah, this was the exception rather than the rule. When the first (and only...so far) female Hasidic Rebbe, the saintly Maid of Ludmir, Hannah Rachel Verbermacher (1805–1888), began wearing Tallit and Tefillin and writing learned discourses on Talmud, many East European rabbis were scandalized. There were, however, many Hasidic men who followed her, as she was wise, pious, and eloquent. (There were, in the early Hasidic movement, several devout women who were seen as "go-to" people for advice and blessings, but the Maid of Ludmir was the only one to have a formal standing. It should also be noted that Rabbi Nachman had a very different approach; regarding his daughters as disciples in every way, and valuing highly the religious devotions of women in general)). I have discussed elsewhere the fact that Rabbi Meir's wife, Beruriah (second century), was herself a great scholar.But a false Midrash known as "The Letters of Ben Sira", written in the Middle Ages to discredit Judaism,, presented a horrible story about her. The other rabbis, feeling that she was too "upity", had a young scholar go to woo her. They would prove that women are incapable or real piety or integrity. Eventually, according to this pseudo Midrash, she acceded to the young man's pleas. He thereupon revealed that he had been sent to test her, and she had failed. She then ran to the roof of her home, jumping to her death. Sepharadic rabbis immediately recognized that this "Midrash": was a parody. Why, it even had a story about Jeremiah accidentally impregnating his daughter, when the Book of Jeremiah tells us that he never married. Ashkenazi rabbis were far less critical, and it was accepted and quoted by RASHI in his commentary on the Talmud. All modern day historians recognize the true, sinister origin of this work. Nevertheless, the damage was done. Generations of Jews, since the ninth century, have been raised with this low opinion of women reflected in the canard against Beruriah. One prominent twentieth century rabbi even wrote a very controversial responsum on the issue of artificial insemination, based largely on the Jeremiah story in the same work. These negative attitudes only began to change on the eve of the first world war. The change, fittingly enough, came through a woman; a seamstress, named Sarah Schenirer. I once heard the Lubavitcher Rebbe say that she "saved Judaism". Indeed she did. I will tell her story next time.
