Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzato, the great 18th century Italian Jewish thinker, kabbalist, poet and writer, famously opens his classic ethical treatise “Mesilat Yesharim” with the comment that he is not going to teach new things but rehearse well known ideas as we all need reiteration and review. What is true for the spiritual health of an individual is also true for organizations, institutions, and ideological movements. From time to time, it is critical to vigorously reaffirm for ourselves and our students the values we hold dear.
As members of the Modern and Centrist Orthodox communities, there are many core values we share with our Haredi brethren. These include unwavering commitment to shmirat hamitzvot and the binding nature of halacha, deep passion for Talmud Torah as a core value, concern for the welfare of the Jewish people, and an eschatological vision of a redeemed world under malkhut shamyim.
At the same time, we have significant differences with regards to the value of general knowledge, the place of the State of Israel in our religious worldview, the spiritual standing of the non-Jew, the role of women in halachic leadership roles, and the legitimacy of intensive Talmud Torah for girls and women.
As a Jewish Studies teacher at a co-educational school, it is this last point that I would like to take up. Both the Haredi and Modern/Centrist communities have undergone a revolution in the last century regarding Jewish education and Talmud Torah for women. The acceptance of the Bais Yaakov movement in the mainstream of the Haredi world supercharged the base knowledge and skill level of the average Haredi girl and woman. Yet, in deference to its understanding of the Talmudic dictum that looked askance at women studying Torah, the traditional model of women’s education, and other sociological factors, the Haredi world refused to allow entry to women into the inner sanctum of classical yeshiva learning, i.e. the rich, living world of intense study of Gemara, Rishonim and Aharonim, as well as psikat ha-halakha (halachic rulings). This remained the exclusive purview of the male members of the community.
In sharp contrast, led by the pioneering efforts and broad shoulders of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik zt”l and prominent and preeminent students who carried that torch, such as Rabbi Chaim Brovender, Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, Rabbi David Silber, Rabbi Saul Berman, Rabbi Moshe Kahn z”l and Mori ve-Rabi, Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein zt”l, and their students, the doors to the world of serious Talmud study to girls and young women were opened up. In subsequent decades, what started as a trickle became a major movement, and the opportunities for deep, high-level Gemara learning, led by learned women who had been mentored in the early 1970s-1990s, became a reality. This trend continued to flourish with many yeshiva day schools and high schools making Gemara study an essential requirement for both young men and women. Institutions opened in Israel that encouraged women to go further and further in their learning. The Modern Orthodox community embraced this perspective. We embraced the notion that learning the core texts of our tradition in all their complexity and beauty is an essential element to ensuring abiding commitment to Torah and mitzvot, personal connection to God and the deepening of one’s spiritual vistas. The profound encounter with the entire range of the texts of our tradition fosters bonding with the Almighty and the transmission of our mesorah.
Today, it is critical to reaffirm these values that our mentors and teachers worked so hard to actualize and not take them for granted. The world of Talmud Torah for women is strong and has many outposts in the world. Yet, some voices in parts of our community are pushing back and questioning these values. There are voices in major learning centers of our community that convey to young men and women the message that high-level Talmud Torah for women should not be a priority, and Talmud study should not be encouraged or highlighted. These voices sometimes impact our women and institutions, making them feel as if they are “less religious” or “less frum” if they advocate for and engage in serious Talmud study. These perspectives also impact the young men who will be these women’s future spouses and affect what type of person they look for in a soul mate.
If the values of Talmud Torah for all members of our community are indeed dear to us, we as individuals and as a community must reaffirm them boldly and broadly. It is essential that we continue to learn and teach based on the halachic and hashkafic guidance that our revered mentors and their talmidim and talmidei talmidim advocated and worked hard to achieve.
It is imperative for all our day and high schools and their leadership to reaffirm our commitment to these values, for our parents to insist that this be preserved as a major part of the curriculum, and that our community institutions express our collective support for women’s Talmud Torah and its central place in a healthy Modern/Centrist Orthodox community.
As the Rav wrote more than 70 years ago:
Not only is the teaching of Torah she-be-al-peh to girls permissible but it is nowadays an absolute imperative. This policy of discrimination between the sexes as to the subject matter and method of instruction which is still advocated by certain groups within our Orthodox community has contributed greatly to the deterioration and downfall of traditional Judaism. Boys and girls alike should be introduced into the inner halls of Torah she-be-al peh.
And a final word from a teacher and lover of Torah, Rabbanit Shayna Goldberg of Midreshet Migdal Oz in Gush Etzion:
I learn and teach Torah because it builds my religious world and shapes its contours. I learn and teach Torah because it enriches my life and fills it with meaning. I learn and teach Torah because it brings me closer to my Creator. I learn Torah because I cannot imagine my life any other way.
Rabbi Helfgot is a Machon Siach scholar and a member of the Torah SheBaal Peh department at SAR High School. He serves as rabbi of Congregation Netivot Shalom in Teaneck and is an adjunct faculty member at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah. He taught for many years at the Drisha Institute for Jewish Education as well as serving on the faculty of the Wexner Heritage Program. He has authored and edited a number of volumes in English and Hebrew.
About Machon Siach: Machon Siach was established in 2015 with a legacy gift from Marcel Lindenbaum z”l, honoring the memory of his wife, Belda Kaufman Lindenbaum z”l”.
