Women’s Rights:
Before we talk about women’s rights we must delve briefly into the matter of human rights. For that we must understand what “rights” are. In western culture “rights” simply means “I have it coming to me, I deserve it - give it to me”, or “so & so owes me such & such benefits”
The Hebrew word for “rights”, zkhut, means merit. Basically this means that yes one deserves something but must merit it. It is not “free for all”. The word also shares a common word root with the word concept of refining/refined. So we see even more that “rights” need to be earned, or are reserved for specific people or conditions.
Human rights mean that people have certain types of treatment/relationship coming to them. Yet that does require behavior fitting for a human being. In effect one who acts like a cruel aggressive beast cannot be given the same “rights” as one who behaves properly, in kindness, caring for the rights or welfare of others.
Also people with special needs do have a right for special considerations etc.
No one in his right mind would demand that a thin weakly man lift a 50 kilogram (125 pound) sack of potatoes & climb a hill or ladder with it. No one in his right mind would ask doughnut bakery worker, who has neither the training nor the capability to fly a Boeing 747 jumbo jet. Except in cases of emergency need, who would waste the time or energy etc of a special talented brain surgeon with the task of a street cleaner?
These sorts of things, sending people to do tasks not fit for them, were done by the evil Pharaoh of ancient Egypt to the Bnei Yisrael in bondage, in his project to break them.
Now as for women’s rights; the first thing we must realize is that a woman has the undeniable right (& responsibility) to be a woman. No one has any right to ask or demand of a woman to be a man, to imitate a man.
Nor does a woman have any real, true reason to want to be like a man. In case some people have not noticed, women’s bodies are built differently than men’s. Most people do not know how different they are built. Their brains are built differently as well.
Neither aspect of the difference is derogative. Both genders have their purposes for which they are built. Both designs are absolutely necessary for the proper working order of the world.
If you could build a battery with 2 positive/plus poles would a lamp light in a circuit with such a battery? No. The same would be if you would place 2 normal batteries in that circuit but with their identical poles touching so that again you have identical poles at the connection points of the circuit. Here too the lamp will not give light.
You could not use a piper cub for a high altitude high speed bombing task. It would not be able to even start to get to the required altitude nor could it carry the payload. Nor can you use a B2 or B111 for low altitude slow speed crop dusting. They would crash.
Medical scientists have discovered that a woman’s brain is “hard wired” to be more emotional, more easily frightened, panicked etc than men. Likewise it is known that several tasks that have traditionally been men’s tasks can cause damage to a woman’s body such that conception will be less likely to succeed, & if conceives that she would have trouble keeping the pregnancy.
It is not for naught that throughout the civilized world, or semblance thereof, nations have not required or even let women be in combat units of armies (except for extreme temporary situations). Look at the U.S.A., England, Europe, Canada etc women are in medical or auxiliary corps & not combat or heavy bodily stress tasks in their armies. Seasoned combat commanders have stated clearly that the presence of women in active combat is a definite extraneous hazard for them & to the entire unit.
In Israel there are 2 types of hoes used in agriculture. On is called “ma’adeir” the other “turia”. The former is the common hoe. The latter is larger & considerably heavier. In the early days of the settling & building of the renewed Jewish farming women used the turia like men did. However it was discovered by experience that the result was that those women had more miscarriages even after they had stopped working with the turia. Therefore a law was passed that forbid women to use a turia.
There are things men can do better than women, & there are things women can do better than men. There are things that are safer or surer for men to do than women, & there are things that are safer or surer for women to do than men. There are also things that are the basically the same for both genders.
In the general world scene there was indeed a long period of restrictions on certain rights to women that indeed was unfair. The suffragettes fought that quite successfully. However in recent decades there sprouted a new wave that was in a number of ways simply nutty. If one looks at many of the publicized activities & announcements by their leaders the question begs to be asked, “Are they for real or are they just seeking attention that their parents or spouses didn’t give them?”
In the continuation of that wave there is now a trend in Israel of women who seem to want to be dissatisfied with being women & seek to be like men while still being women. They want to be in both worlds.
If one looks into what the most publically noticed group is doing & where they do it, it becomes all too obvious that they are going only for what is publically visible & physically easy. It is so very obvious they are even hungrier for “look at me! Pay attention to me”, than the “bra-burners” of several decades ago.
A 2nd somewhat quieter group does go for the harsher, harder tasks of men & indeed do endanger/harm themselves, & in cases of insisting of being combat soldiers endanger others as mentioned above.
What could possibly be the drive behind these 2 categories is a question that very much needs to be asked. While I do not propose myself to be the ultimate expert I do see from my past studies & experience several relevant answers.
1] Due to some difficulties in their childhood they have a fundamental state of displeasure/dissatisfaction with their lives, an emptiness, which they seek to fill - somehow - any way possible. Being unhappy with being a girl/woman they seek fulfillment in “as if boys/men”.
2] Due to lack of attention in their childhood, or form husbands in the case of married or divorced women, they seek it now however they can & this is a way to be sure to get it.
3] By the method of psychological analysis of Dr. Freud there is a phenomenon wherein girls at some point discover that boys have an appendage between their legs that girls don’t have, & they feel jealousy of that. Most get over it as they grow. Yet there are always those who don’t. So seeking to be allowed to do things that are classified as “men’s only” is a way to act out that jealousy.
4] There is the matter of gilgulim/reincarnation. Some women are gilgulim of men. These often tend to have some male traits or are attracted to doing “men’s jobs” etc.
5] Some are simply angry at some wrong, or imagined wrong, that they feel men have done to them & seek their revenge this way.
Those 5 causes do not make it right. In each of them, these women need help to get over the problem they have to enable them to be normal women. By normal woman I do not mean “get back to your kitchen & shut up” in way shape or form. Far from that. Between the demands of Torah Life that women MUST be respected & that they have many facets of their beings capabilities & importance, along what I said above this should be understood.
Strengthening in Emunah (faith, trust) in HaShem, that HE runs the world even to the day by day, moment by moment, events even in their private lives, would be a solution to these. There would be no more of the “replacement attention seeking”, of the jealousy, of the revenge etc.
The first human woman in the world, Hhava (Eve) is described in Torah as “mother of all which lives” (Bereisheet 3:20). Also we see that HaShem, The Creator, said that HE will make for man a mate as is written, “I will make him a help mate for him to be opposite him”. Those 2 verses show us what the prime purpose of a woman in this world is. Mothering & helping a man, her husband; helping him to achieve his purpose here, including gently wisely prodding him when needed.
Mankind was ordered to be fruitful & multiply. That means bringing children into the world & raising them, & those children also bringing children and so on through to end of time. That means the woman getting pregnant, delivering children & raising & caring for them. It means giving them from the light that her husband, their father brings to the household. Like the moon reflecting sunlight to the earth in the night. The world outside of the Garden of Eden is in a spiritual/moral state of “night” - darkness, & the mother must gather “light” from her husband (who must provide it, as in the aspect of “daylight sun”) prepare & give it in turn to their children.
Another part of her task in this world is to be her husband’s “mirror”, to reflect in front of him his character traits. From her he must learn what he needs to fix in himself to fulfill the reason/s he was sent here. Of course it is best that she do it wisely, cleverly & not like a sledge hammer. The best guidance for her doing this right is to be found in the book “Women’s Wisdom” by Rav Shalom Arush Shlit”a. (BTW the penultimate guidebook for men in the field of marital bliss is “Garden of Peace” by the same author.)
In summation we see that a woman is sent to life in this world by HaShem, The Creator, The Boss of all, for Maternity, feeding taking care of the clothing etc for her next generation, & accompanying - guiding etc her husband for fulfilling his incarnation requirements.
This does NOT mean being stuck within the 4 walls of her home 24/7. It does NOT mean a baby every year until she is destroyed. Not at all. There are numerous things she can do - in addition to mothering & “husbandraising” - along with that. It does mean that these are her primary cause de etre’, all other fields are extras. Those extras she must judge carefully by the measuring standards of their effect on her family & will they truly bring her closer to HaShem.
The Torah in Bereisheet tells that Hhava got pregnant from her husband Adam, not by artificial insemination. The same is true with ALL the other bringing of progeny throughout the TaNaKH (Holy Bible - Torah, Neviim {Prophets}, Ketuvim {King Solomon’s writings etc}. Not one lesbian pumping donated semen into another with a roasting baster. Nor can there be progeny from 2 males. This abomination aberration is considered so evil by The Creator, so against one of the very foundations of creation that this is the only sinner whose offer for a sacrifice in the Mikdash (Holy Temple) must be refused - rejected!
There is no requirement, nor a need for a woman to wear Talit (prayer shawl) or T’filin (Phylacteries), ditto as for reading in public from or touching a Torah scroll. There are indeed times in her life when she is forbidden to do so. Usually between 10 to 15 days a month from pre-teen to early middle age. You ladies know what I mean. In fact even outside of those days, if she did not dip herself in a kosher Mikvah, after the proper preparations, at the proper time, she is not permitted at all.
There is a requirement for her to be a mother with that that noble so very special task entails. There is a requirement for her to be a wife who guides her husband, & if he wishes & is able to learn Torah then whatever she does to enable him (without harming their children’s education, moral & emotional growth) to do so is also important for her to do & she will be well rewarded for it.
A kosher Jewish woman is the principal center of the home, a loving mother birthing & preparing her children for goods Jewish lives, her husband’s accompaniment & guide & at times teacher, the honorable modest caring respected Queen of her little kingdom, the representative of the Holy Sh’khina (the Divine Presence) in the home. If she can add to that a job, career, outside hobby etc without damaging her primary role in life that's fine too. Now that’s a lot more fulfilling & honorable than the cheap empty publicity & increased chance of debilitating or life threatening diseases that the “bra-burners” or Women Off the Wall” have going for them.
Before we talk about women’s rights we must delve briefly into the matter of human rights. For that we must understand what “rights” are. In western culture “rights” simply means “I have it coming to me, I deserve it - give it to me”, or “so & so owes me such & such benefits”
The Hebrew word for “rights”, zkhut, means merit. Basically this means that yes one deserves something but must merit it. It is not “free for all”. The word also shares a common word root with the word concept of refining/refined. So we see even more that “rights” need to be earned, or are reserved for specific people or conditions.
Human rights mean that people have certain types of treatment/relationship coming to them. Yet that does require behavior fitting for a human being. In effect one who acts like a cruel aggressive beast cannot be given the same “rights” as one who behaves properly, in kindness, caring for the rights or welfare of others.
Also people with special needs do have a right for special considerations etc.
No one in his right mind would demand that a thin weakly man lift a 50 kilogram (125 pound) sack of potatoes & climb a hill or ladder with it. No one in his right mind would ask doughnut bakery worker, who has neither the training nor the capability to fly a Boeing 747 jumbo jet. Except in cases of emergency need, who would waste the time or energy etc of a special talented brain surgeon with the task of a street cleaner?
These sorts of things, sending people to do tasks not fit for them, were done by the evil Pharaoh of ancient Egypt to the Bnei Yisrael in bondage, in his project to break them.
Now as for women’s rights; the first thing we must realize is that a woman has the undeniable right (& responsibility) to be a woman. No one has any right to ask or demand of a woman to be a man, to imitate a man.
Nor does a woman have any real, true reason to want to be like a man. In case some people have not noticed, women’s bodies are built differently than men’s. Most people do not know how different they are built. Their brains are built differently as well.
Neither aspect of the difference is derogative. Both genders have their purposes for which they are built. Both designs are absolutely necessary for the proper working order of the world.
If you could build a battery with 2 positive/plus poles would a lamp light in a circuit with such a battery? No. The same would be if you would place 2 normal batteries in that circuit but with their identical poles touching so that again you have identical poles at the connection points of the circuit. Here too the lamp will not give light.
You could not use a piper cub for a high altitude high speed bombing task. It would not be able to even start to get to the required altitude nor could it carry the payload. Nor can you use a B2 or B111 for low altitude slow speed crop dusting. They would crash.
Medical scientists have discovered that a woman’s brain is “hard wired” to be more emotional, more easily frightened, panicked etc than men. Likewise it is known that several tasks that have traditionally been men’s tasks can cause damage to a woman’s body such that conception will be less likely to succeed, & if conceives that she would have trouble keeping the pregnancy.
It is not for naught that throughout the civilized world, or semblance thereof, nations have not required or even let women be in combat units of armies (except for extreme temporary situations). Look at the U.S.A., England, Europe, Canada etc women are in medical or auxiliary corps & not combat or heavy bodily stress tasks in their armies. Seasoned combat commanders have stated clearly that the presence of women in active combat is a definite extraneous hazard for them & to the entire unit.
In Israel there are 2 types of hoes used in agriculture. On is called “ma’adeir” the other “turia”. The former is the common hoe. The latter is larger & considerably heavier. In the early days of the settling & building of the renewed Jewish farming women used the turia like men did. However it was discovered by experience that the result was that those women had more miscarriages even after they had stopped working with the turia. Therefore a law was passed that forbid women to use a turia.
There are things men can do better than women, & there are things women can do better than men. There are things that are safer or surer for men to do than women, & there are things that are safer or surer for women to do than men. There are also things that are the basically the same for both genders.
In the general world scene there was indeed a long period of restrictions on certain rights to women that indeed was unfair. The suffragettes fought that quite successfully. However in recent decades there sprouted a new wave that was in a number of ways simply nutty. If one looks at many of the publicized activities & announcements by their leaders the question begs to be asked, “Are they for real or are they just seeking attention that their parents or spouses didn’t give them?”
In the continuation of that wave there is now a trend in Israel of women who seem to want to be dissatisfied with being women & seek to be like men while still being women. They want to be in both worlds.
If one looks into what the most publically noticed group is doing & where they do it, it becomes all too obvious that they are going only for what is publically visible & physically easy. It is so very obvious they are even hungrier for “look at me! Pay attention to me”, than the “bra-burners” of several decades ago.
A 2nd somewhat quieter group does go for the harsher, harder tasks of men & indeed do endanger/harm themselves, & in cases of insisting of being combat soldiers endanger others as mentioned above.
What could possibly be the drive behind these 2 categories is a question that very much needs to be asked. While I do not propose myself to be the ultimate expert I do see from my past studies & experience several relevant answers.
1] Due to some difficulties in their childhood they have a fundamental state of displeasure/dissatisfaction with their lives, an emptiness, which they seek to fill - somehow - any way possible. Being unhappy with being a girl/woman they seek fulfillment in “as if boys/men”.
2] Due to lack of attention in their childhood, or form husbands in the case of married or divorced women, they seek it now however they can & this is a way to be sure to get it.
3] By the method of psychological analysis of Dr. Freud there is a phenomenon wherein girls at some point discover that boys have an appendage between their legs that girls don’t have, & they feel jealousy of that. Most get over it as they grow. Yet there are always those who don’t. So seeking to be allowed to do things that are classified as “men’s only” is a way to act out that jealousy.
4] There is the matter of gilgulim/reincarnation. Some women are gilgulim of men. These often tend to have some male traits or are attracted to doing “men’s jobs” etc.
5] Some are simply angry at some wrong, or imagined wrong, that they feel men have done to them & seek their revenge this way.
Those 5 causes do not make it right. In each of them, these women need help to get over the problem they have to enable them to be normal women. By normal woman I do not mean “get back to your kitchen & shut up” in way shape or form. Far from that. Between the demands of Torah Life that women MUST be respected & that they have many facets of their beings capabilities & importance, along what I said above this should be understood.
Strengthening in Emunah (faith, trust) in HaShem, that HE runs the world even to the day by day, moment by moment, events even in their private lives, would be a solution to these. There would be no more of the “replacement attention seeking”, of the jealousy, of the revenge etc.
The first human woman in the world, Hhava (Eve) is described in Torah as “mother of all which lives” (Bereisheet 3:20). Also we see that HaShem, The Creator, said that HE will make for man a mate as is written, “I will make him a help mate for him to be opposite him”. Those 2 verses show us what the prime purpose of a woman in this world is. Mothering & helping a man, her husband; helping him to achieve his purpose here, including gently wisely prodding him when needed.
Mankind was ordered to be fruitful & multiply. That means bringing children into the world & raising them, & those children also bringing children and so on through to end of time. That means the woman getting pregnant, delivering children & raising & caring for them. It means giving them from the light that her husband, their father brings to the household. Like the moon reflecting sunlight to the earth in the night. The world outside of the Garden of Eden is in a spiritual/moral state of “night” - darkness, & the mother must gather “light” from her husband (who must provide it, as in the aspect of “daylight sun”) prepare & give it in turn to their children.
Another part of her task in this world is to be her husband’s “mirror”, to reflect in front of him his character traits. From her he must learn what he needs to fix in himself to fulfill the reason/s he was sent here. Of course it is best that she do it wisely, cleverly & not like a sledge hammer. The best guidance for her doing this right is to be found in the book “Women’s Wisdom” by Rav Shalom Arush Shlit”a. (BTW the penultimate guidebook for men in the field of marital bliss is “Garden of Peace” by the same author.)
In summation we see that a woman is sent to life in this world by HaShem, The Creator, The Boss of all, for Maternity, feeding taking care of the clothing etc for her next generation, & accompanying - guiding etc her husband for fulfilling his incarnation requirements.
This does NOT mean being stuck within the 4 walls of her home 24/7. It does NOT mean a baby every year until she is destroyed. Not at all. There are numerous things she can do - in addition to mothering & “husbandraising” - along with that. It does mean that these are her primary cause de etre’, all other fields are extras. Those extras she must judge carefully by the measuring standards of their effect on her family & will they truly bring her closer to HaShem.
The Torah in Bereisheet tells that Hhava got pregnant from her husband Adam, not by artificial insemination. The same is true with ALL the other bringing of progeny throughout the TaNaKH (Holy Bible - Torah, Neviim {Prophets}, Ketuvim {King Solomon’s writings etc}. Not one lesbian pumping donated semen into another with a roasting baster. Nor can there be progeny from 2 males. This abomination aberration is considered so evil by The Creator, so against one of the very foundations of creation that this is the only sinner whose offer for a sacrifice in the Mikdash (Holy Temple) must be refused - rejected!
There is no requirement, nor a need for a woman to wear Talit (prayer shawl) or T’filin (Phylacteries), ditto as for reading in public from or touching a Torah scroll. There are indeed times in her life when she is forbidden to do so. Usually between 10 to 15 days a month from pre-teen to early middle age. You ladies know what I mean. In fact even outside of those days, if she did not dip herself in a kosher Mikvah, after the proper preparations, at the proper time, she is not permitted at all.
There is a requirement for her to be a mother with that that noble so very special task entails. There is a requirement for her to be a wife who guides her husband, & if he wishes & is able to learn Torah then whatever she does to enable him (without harming their children’s education, moral & emotional growth) to do so is also important for her to do & she will be well rewarded for it.
A kosher Jewish woman is the principal center of the home, a loving mother birthing & preparing her children for goods Jewish lives, her husband’s accompaniment & guide & at times teacher, the honorable modest caring respected Queen of her little kingdom, the representative of the Holy Sh’khina (the Divine Presence) in the home. If she can add to that a job, career, outside hobby etc without damaging her primary role in life that's fine too. Now that’s a lot more fulfilling & honorable than the cheap empty publicity & increased chance of debilitating or life threatening diseases that the “bra-burners” or Women Off the Wall” have going for them.