Talmud Torah has undergone a profound change in the last twenty years. As new batei midrash (study-halls) fill with women of all ages, the next step in harbatzat Torah, the spread of learning, has occurred. It is indeed a moment of great joy as hundreds more bear witness,מה אהבתי תורתך כל היום היא שיחתי״”, How I love Your Torah. It is my meditation all the day.”1 Women’s right to learn all of Torah is gaining mainstream acceptance in the modern Orthodox community. This is evident by the near universal inclusion of Torah she-ba’al peh (Oral Law) instruction for girls in modern Orthodox high schools, Gemara and text-based halakha tracks in post-high school programs, and the growth of institutions of advanced learning for post-college women including training in halakha. It is an appropriate time to engage in heshbon hanefesh, soul searching, and evaluate critically what has been accomplished, what expectations have gone unfulfilled and what the future might portend.
הנה ימים באים נאם ה׳ אלקים והשלחתי רעב בארץ לא רעב ללחם ולא צמא למים כי אם לשמוע את דברי ה׳.״”
“Behold, days shall come says the Lord God and I shall send a famine in the land; not a famine of bread nor a thirst for water but to listen to the words of God.”2
“Women’s visibility in the field of Torah scholarship and leadership are on the rise”
Echoing the words of the prophet, women are seeking greater levels of education for themselves often inspired by the examples set by their daughters. Growing numbers of teachers, many of them female, provide opportunities and nurturing environments for women to tackle new texts and gain new skills. For girls, pressure is being placed on modern Orthodox day schools and high schools for equity in curriculum, time and academic expectations. Young women are receiving an education that is far more comparable to their male counterparts than in years past and some girls are taught Talmud by women allowing them to form crucial rebbe-talmida (student) relationships. Women’s visibility in the fields of Torah scholarship and leadership are on the rise with the advent of yo’atzot halakha (halakhic advisors) in matters of niddah and menstrual laws, to’anot beit din (rabbinical court pleaders) and increasing numbers of Orthodox women pursuing Judaic studies in the academy.
Perhaps it is only in the glow of these unprecedented achievements that we can see the barriers that remain and the promises yet unfulfilled. The true success of radical change is when it becomes normative and even commonplace. Indeed, the pioneers who demanded full access to the texts of our tradition have, in many ways, been replaced by women who take their entitlement to learn Torah in all its forms for granted. This is indeed a revolution.
And yet there are few female Gemara instructors in our high schools, few women serving as community leaders, and even fewer female Torah scholars. I believe there are a number of factors, institutional and personal, at play.
While the modern Orthodox community has begun to recognize that low salaries and low prestige dissuade many young people from choosing Jewish education as a profession, the unique barriers facing the budding female Torah scholar have not been sufficiently recognized. Coeducational high schools are, by and large, not hiring women to teach Talmud to their male and female students and there are too few “girls’ only” high schools to hire all the qualified applicants.
Moreover, from a larger cultural perspective, advanced Torah learning is not idealized for women as it is for men. Women who pursue advanced learning do not, as a rule, receive affirmation from parents and peers and may experience great ambivalence about their choice. In the absence of overwhelming mesirut nefesh, self-sacrifice, many women will not pursue this track without parental and societal support. The cultural ideal of talmud Torah kineged kulam (the supreme value of Torah study) and the prestige granted the talmid chakham or the rosh yeshiva are currently unattainable for women.
How might these more entrenched cultural barriers be addressed? The women’s batei midrash may still have much to learn from the traditional yeshiva. The yeshiva environment is allencompassing. It provides an intellectual and spiritual home for its students.
Women’s learning institutes are not termed “yeshivot” and in fact, are often more akin to high schools and universities where emphasis is placed on completing a set curriculum and following a schedule of classes rather than the ideal of vi-hagita bo yomam va-laila (devotion of all one’s time to study). Additionally, a newly arrived yeshiva student finds peers and older, more learned colleagues in his beit midrash; there are many stages to be mastered in the path from student to maggid shiur or gemara teacher. In contrast, for women, anyone who has spent a number of years studying is already a teacher.
“…the unique barriers facing the budding female Torah scholar have not been sufficiently recognized”
Changing ingrained expectations and attitudes as well as creating new kinds of Torah institutions are necessities if we are to maintain and expand women’s accomplishments in Torah study; they are also not immediately attainable. In the meantime, we might adapt tools that have proven useful in helping women enter other fields which have been traditionally closed to them. One of these tools is mentorship. The women who fought to learn when no such institutions existed were mentored by their fathers. Now, teachers, both male and female, need to take on this role. Additionally, parents and community leaders must insist that faculty positions in Talmud departments be open to women. This will provide necessary employment for women who are currently learning, as well as inspire the next generation of learned women.
We are quickly approaching a crossroads. We can choose to be satisfied with a more educated laity that includes women, a situation unimaginable a few short years ago. We can also choose to further the dream if we are willing to make the hard choices necessary to foster the talents of a highly educated cadre of new leaders. I believe that the Jewish community will be richer when it calls upon all its potential leaders, male and female, to lead.