'Sephardic' Halakhah the Attitude of Sephardic Decisors to Women's Torah Study a Test Case - Ilan H....

8/11/2019 'Sephardic' Halakhah the Attitude of Sephardic Decisors to Women's Torah Study a Test Case - Ilan H. Fuchs

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Electronic copy available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1530060Electronic copy available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1530060

Bar-Ilan University Public Law and Legal TheoryWorking Paper No. 02-10

'Sephardic' Halakhah?

The Attitude of Sephardic Decisors to WomensTorah Study: A Test Case

Ilan H. FuchsTulane University, Jewish Studies Program

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15 SEPHARDIC HALAKHAH?

THE ATTITUDE OF SEPHARDICDECISORS TO WOMENS

TORAH STUDY: A TEST CASE

by

ILAN FUCHS *

A. Introduction

This paper examines Sephardic rabbinic attitudes to womens religiousand more specifically, advanced Talmud study. I draw on halakhic texts wthe second half of the 20th century by leading Sephardic rabbis that immigratIsrael. I first examine the terms Mizra x i and Sephardic and explain ogrounds I find reason to compare the rabbis discussed. I argue that themonolithic Sephardic halakhic tradition and that the rabbis discussed hdiverse communities that experienced and reacted to western andinfluences in unique ways. I then describe how these rabbis reacted to chwomens religious and secular education, changes they were forced to contheir communities were exposed to changing values and soc

studies,ritten in

ed ton what

re is noail from

secularanges infront as

ial realities. Examiningc rabbis have responded to the challenge of womens Torah study

ws us to test the claim that the Sephardic halakhic tradition is more flexible andtolerant of change than the Ashkenazi orthodox halakhic tradition.

* Schusterman Visiting Israeli Professor, Tulane University. I would like to thank ProfessorKimmy Kaplan, Dr. Amichai Radzyner, Sarah Fuchs and Sherwood Kerker for their comments.

how Sephardiallo

B. The Terms Mizra x i and Sephardic


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Fuchs: Sephardic Halakhah?

The definitions of the terms Mizra x i and Sephardic have inspiredscholarly debate.

muched from

dlecribe all

es, therom theescent.Jewish

y usedeably, suggesting these Jews form a monolithic religious and cultural

which

being aterms?gainedunities

thesesocial

hnicallyess ofcultural

their

ere areat thereshould

acterizeAshkenazi communities as such. 5 On the other hand, after the mass immigration of

ese communities to Israel there is some justification for using the terms Mizra x i

mim 1

s (Heb.),

umstances

4 Y. Shenhav, Jews from Arab Lands in Israel: An Ethnic Community in the Realms of NationalMemory (Heb.), in H. Hever, Y. Shenhav and P. Motzafi-Haller (eds.), Mizrahim In Israel: A Critical

Investigation of Israels Ethnicity (Heb.; Jerusalem, 2002), 105-151.5 B. Brown, The Spectrum of Orthodox Responses: Ashkenazim and Sepharadim (Heb.), in A.

Ravitzky (ed.), Shas: Cultural and Ideological Aspects (Heb.; Tel-Aviv, 2006), 41-122.

1 The term Sephardic originally referred to Jews expellSpain and Portugal at the end of the 15th century. Settling largely in the MidEast and North Africa, the term Sephardic came into common usage to desJews in these lands, regardless of their ethnic origins. In more recent timterm Mizra x i has been used to more accurately describe Jews who hail f Middle East and North Africa but who are not of Spanish or Portuguese dYet despite semantic attempts to distinguish differences among this large

population, the terms Sephardic and Mizra x i are still commonlinterchangentity with little regard for the traditions unique to the communities fromthey hailed. 2

Why then are Sephardic and Mizra x i Jewry perceived by so many asmonolithic entity? What unifies the many communities included in thesePerhaps the answer is rooted in the events that occurred after Israelstatehood in 1948, when Middle Eastern and North African Jewish commimmigrated en masse to Israel, thus signifying the relative end of communities in the greater Islamic world. 3 Their arrival was marked bytension, and they were immediately identified as Sephardic and an etseparate community of low socio-economic status. In this procstigmatization, their new countrymen in Israel ignored the multi-facetedidentities which they had built (for centuries) and brought with them from

far-flung communities in the Middle East and North Africa. 4 Indeed thmany common characteristics to Mizra x i communities in the same way thare many common characteristics to Ashkenazi communities; wecharacterize Mizra x i communities as monolithic only as much as we char

thor Sephardic to generally describe the Sephardic melting pot that resulted 1) from

1 S. Shaked, Eastern Jewrys Legacy Its Research Trends and Problems (Heb.), Pea

(1979), 7-14.2 C. H. Ben-Sasson, Eastern Jewrys Legacy The Matter, its Problems and Possibilitie

Peamim 1 (1979), 86.3 E. Meir-Glitchenstein, The Enigma of the Great Immigration from Iraq Causes, Circ

and Results (Heb.), Peamim 71 (1997), 25-54.


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Jewish Law Association Studies XX: The Manchester Conference Volume

Rabbi Ovadiah Yosefs attempts to create a monolithic halakhic model ofAshkenazi communities ,

all non-ments perception that

Ovadiah protect

halakhicions on a

ological level, though they argue these objections were held by a minority that.7

teristicsties. He ptive to phardicegan to

al arena,aningful

inority

.9

Manyseemed

to be shifting its loyalty to the anti-Zionist Ashkenazi Orthodox court, 10 bringingthe Sephardic public along with it. As interest in Shass cultural roots developed,

nstituents Mizra x i

x 20 (2008),

hought of b.; Tel-Aviv, 2001). For a critique of this approach see Brown

ination

allenge ofBaum-Bannai, The Rise and Solidification of Shas

(Heb.; Ph.D. thesis, Tel-Aviv University, 2004).10 Zohar ( supra n. 8), ch. 15; A. Chaim, The Sephardi and the Institutions of the Yishuv 1920-

1925 (Heb.), Peamim 21 (1985), 83-112; Z. Zohar, Sephardic Halakhic Tradition on Galut andPolitical Zionism, in N. Stillman and Y. K. Stillman (eds.), From Iberia to Diaspora: Studies inSephardic History and Culture (Brill, 1999), 223-234.

6 and 2) from the Israeli establishnon-Ashkenazi immigrants belong to another, single ethnic group.

Benny Lau and others report that there was some opposition to RabbiYosefs ideas. Lau describes the objections of several rabbis who wished totheir communities traditions from Rabbi Ovadiah Yosefs incompatibleapproaches. Lau and Nissim Leon report objections to Rabbi Yosefs actsocilacked the power to act on them

C. Is there Sephardic Halakhah?

Zvi Zohar describes a Sephardic halakhic corpus with unique characthat distinguish it from the halakhic traditions of Ashkenazi communispecifically emphasizes that the Sephardic halakhic tradition is more recemodernity and its challenges to tradition. 8 The tendency to portray the Seethos as tolerant and receptive to change was reinforced as researchers bexamine the Shas movement and its influences. Shass power in the politicits fierce criticism of the Israeli establishment, and the creation of a me

political force that grew beyond the traditional limits of influence of m

groups in Israeli society until then led to great interest in the movement perceived the Shas movement as a threat to the Zionist establishment as it

so too did interest in and research on the movements main co

6 B. Lau, To Return the Crown to its Old Glory (Heb.), Akdamot 8 (2000), 9-23.7 N. Leon, Changes in the Communal Synagogue in Mizra i Jewry (Heb.), Akdamot

89-107.8 Z. Zohar, The Luminous Face of the East Studies in the Legal and Religious T

Sephardic Rabbis of the Middle East (He

(supra n. 5), 74-84; idem, Mizra x i Rabbis and Religious Fundamentalism: Points for Re-Exam(Heb.), Akdamot 10 (2001), 289-324.

9 For basic anthologies about Shas see Ravitsky ( supra n. 5); Y. Peled, Shas: The Ch Israeliness (Heb.; Tel-Aviv, 2001). See also R.


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Jewry. Of particular interest to researchers was Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef, one of the

.12 Onehim as

on, buthar, the ples of

em byidentityleadersgree ofin thisEgypt,Rabbis

Abdullah Somekl and Yosef Chaim (known as the Ben Ish - ai) from Iraq,Egyptian decisors and others. 15 Zohar does not limit his definition to geographic

raphy seehought ofi Ovadiahnscholarly

, 2004).; idem, I

.), On thee of Israel

Citizens in the Writings of Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef (Heb.), in Ravitsky ( supra n. 5), 284-327;n I. Sivan

, 11-55 (2005),

tions. It isury as the pra n. 8),

.), in Peled ( supra n. 9), 110-159. For therld rather

o, Saving Moroccan Jewry for Torah:

, 112-129;Twentieth

Z. Zohar, Tradition and Change: Halakhic Responses of Egyptian and Syrian Rabbis to Legaland Technological Change, 1880-1920 (Heb.; Jerusalem, 1993), ch. 3.

15 For another example of this Mizra x i-centric attitude see Z. Zohar, David Hartman, Maimonidesand Sephardic-Mizraxi Rabbis in Modern Times: Comparative Analysis, in A. Sagi et al. (eds.),

Renewing Jewish Commitment: The Work and Thought of David Hartman , 2 (Heb.; Jerusalem, 2002),607-627.

leading figures in the movements religious and cultural spheres. 11

Numerous articles examine Rabbi Ovadiah Yosefs halakhic perceptionsof the major trends in the research of his halakhic philosophy is to portraysomeone who is not genuinely rooted in the Sephardic halakhic traditirather as someone who operates in an Ashkenazi Orthodox style. 13 Zvi Zomain proponent of this claim, supports his argument by providing examMizra x i communities traditional openness to the changes forced upon thmodernity. For example, he describes how Egyptian Jewrys religious

became unstable (in part) because the communitys religiousacknowledged the limits of halakhahs authority and granted a great delegitimacy to the secular Egyptian regime. 14 Zohar cites further examplesvein and attempts to describe the halakhic systems that developed in Iraq,and Syria as a unified Sephardic halakhic tradition with decisors such as

11 To date there is no scholarly biography of Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef. For a preliminary biog

B. Lau, To Return the Crown to its Former Splendor An Examination of the Halakhic TRav Ovadiah Yosef (Heb.; Ph.D. thesis, Bar-Ilan University, 2002), 19-78; A. Picard, RabbYosefs Halakhic Response to Contemporary Realities (Ramat-Gan, 2007). For a no

biography see N. Chen and A. Feffer, Maran: Ovadiah Yosef, The Biography (Heb.; Jerusalem12 B. Lau, Maintaining the Communities Customs (Heb.), Akdamot 10 (2001), 267-288Will Keep my Stand to Return the Crown to Its Former Glory (Heb.), in M. Bar-On (edChallenge of Soverenity (Heb.; Jerusalem, 1999), 214-277; idem, The Attitude to the Statand itsidem, Changes in the World of Sephardic Halakhah: From Tradition to Literature (Heb.), iand K. Caplan (eds.), Israeli Haredim: Integration without Assimilation? (Heb.; Jerusalem, 2003)31; B. idem, The Place of Kabbalah in the Writings of Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef (Heb.), Daat131-152.

13 Zohar calls this a model of reform restoration that has significant eschatological foundathe outcome of narratives that saw the halakhic literature from Safed during the 16th centoriginal Sephardic prototype that was losing ground to Ashkenazic imperialism; see Zohar ( su312-353; Z. Zohar, Return the Crown to its Old Glory (Hebclaim that the Sephardic Haredi population is an artificial copy of the Ashkenazi Haredi wothen a continuation of the original Sephardic world see Y. Lop

Taking Moroccan Students to Lithuanian Yeshivot After the Holocaust, Peamim 80 (1999)Y. Lopo, The Lithuanian Influence On the Torah World in Morocco in the Beginning of theCentury until the Rise of Shas, Kivunim -H adashim 2 (2000), 61-74.

14


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and chronological boundaries, and it seems his main

goal is to compare these

be thesecludes,

are not borders,

o distinguish between European/American Jewry and the restd Jewry.

zzai onat there

rabbiniclife in alimited

en wereerly fillchangescated in

assimilation. In time,en with great struggle against the rabbinic establishment, communal fear of

odern and the secular ultimately helped these women gain access to the

the 19th

In Ruth Roders examination of the role of women in the Codes of - adith ,ral codes, which are roughly equivalent to the Jewish traditions

ran and

16 M. Sot. 3:4; Sot. 21b. 17 Mishneh Torah, Hilkhot Talmud Torah 1:13; Shul x an Arukh, YD 246:6. Maimonides

distinguishes between the written Torah, which should not be studied, but if it is studied this is not atransgression, and oral Torah, which should not be studied by women in any case. This opinion wasaccepted by the Shul x an Arukh.

decisors to Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef and his halakhic philosophy.In conclusion, I argue that Mizra x i is the best term to be used to descri

North African and Middle Eastern communities, not for what the term in but rather for what it excludes, namely, Jewish communities thatAshkenazi. The term Mizra x i should not be limited to tight geographical

should be used t butof worl

D. Can Women Learn Torah? An Halakhic Overview

The Mishnah records a disagreement between Rabbi Eliezer and Ben Athe question of womens Torah study. The Talmud in Sot. 21a concludes this a general prohibition barring women from Torah study, 16 though laterrulings permitted women to study the basic rules needed to conduct dailysociety governed by halakhah. This traditional interpretation significantlyJewish womens access to religious learning. Without schooling, womtaught only enough about their faith and practice to enable them to proptheir roles as wives or mothers. 17 However, as western values and social

began to penetrate traditional Jewish communities, Jewish women, unedu

their own religious identity, were especially vulnerable toand oftthe mTorah study that would bolster their identity as Jewish women.

1. Womens Education in Mizra x i Communities in the Second Half ofCentury

(Islamic laws cent

Oral Torah), she finds that Moslem women were allowed to learn the Ko


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Islamic law (known as sharia ). These codes refer to women informed abcustoms and the rulings of Mohammed, the founder of Islam.

out theescribesto such

the 19tha basic

ed their

limited

beforeation isities inditionalom theon wasened in

ty forgirls to receive at least a rudimentary education, reports from 1883 and 1884 stillshow that a third of the children in the Alexandrian Jewish community did not

oder, Women Transferring Information Educated Women and Scholars in Islamic

th Centuryder in the

Empire in, 167-

mmunities

3.

ducational

ar-Kalifa,y to

d, 1896-1951 (Heb.),Peamim 82 (2000), 99-116; R. Simon, Education in the Jewish Community of Bagdad Until 1914(Heb.), Peamim 36 (1988), 52-63; Y. Meir, The Development of Education Among Iraqi Jews, 1830-1974 Heb.in M. Zohari et al. (eds.), Jewish Thought in Moslem Countries (Jerusalem, 1982), 428-447;Y. Yiftach, Jewish Education in Iraq in the Last Generations , 2d edition (Heb., Nahalal, 1984).

25 B. Yehoshua, Jewish Education in Afghanistan (Heb.), Peamim 9 (1981), 72-74.

18 Roder dfemale teachers and noted scholars, 19 though in the 17th century referencewomen in Islamic texts ceases. 20 E. Greenberg found that until the end ofcentury wealthy women were educated in their homes, and others receivededucation at local religious institutions. After missionary schools opendoors to Muslim girls, Muslim communities started to open their own schools.Later, before World War I, private schools opened and universities gaveaccess to women. 21

While we know religious education among Mizra x i Jewry existed eventhe communities sensed the threat of assimilation, research on this educlimited in its scope. 22 For example, research on the Jewish communMorocco, 23 Baghdad 24 and Afghanistan 25 describes underdeveloped traeducational systems: institutions lacked infrastructure, teachers came fr lowest rungs on the socioeconomic ladder, and the quality of educatiextremely low. In the 19th century, several modern vocational schools opCairo and Alexandria. While these schools offered, in theory, the opportuni

18 R. R

History (Heb.), Peamim 82 (2000), 4-10.19 Ibid., 11-13.20 Ibid., 14.21 E. Greenberg, Education of Women Between Cairo and Istanbul at the End of the 19

and the Beginning of the 20th Century (Heb.), in R. Roded et al. (eds.), Women and Gen Middle East in the Twentieth Century (Jerusalem, 2009).

22 Y. Geller, The Economic Basis of the Yeshivot and Talmudei Torah in the Ottomanthe 16th Century and the First Half of the 17th Century, Heb. From East and Maghreb 1 (1974)221. S. Assaf brings evidence for the existence of many educational institutions in Jewish coin the Islamic world between the 16th and 18th centuries; see S. Assaf, Sources for the History of

Education in Jewish Communities , vol. 2 (Heb.; repr. Jerusalem and New-York, 2001), 425-5923 Y. Dadon, Ohalei Yosef Yiz x ak and Beit Rivkah: The Activity of the Habad E

Network in Morocco, 1949-1965 (Heb.), M.A. thesis (Ramat-Gan, 2003), 1-4; E. Ralimian BThe Jewish Community of Southern Morocco The Sus Area From the End of the 19th Centur the Mid-20th Century (Heb.), M.A.thesis (Ramat-Gan, 2003), 71-77.

24 N. Gabai, The Education of Girls in the Jewish Community of Bagda


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receive regular schooling.

century,er than

t can be0%, andn29 and

ally

rast to the generally dismal level of education among Sephardic women.

bringast and

blished.ges thatJewish

navigatethe prayer book until Alliance opened its doors. While the organization introducedsecular education for boys and girls 33 and promoted womens religious education,

binic establishment was most distressed by Alliances declared intention to

or examples of the changes that modernity brought to womens education see N. The Position of Rabbi Shlomo Malka on the Status of Women

E. Bashan, From the East (Heb.; Lod, 1996), 147-156; E. Touitou, Jewish Education in

26 Finally, at the beginning of the 20thstatistical data from Egypt shows that the rate of Jewish illiteracy was lowthat of other segments of the Egyptian population. However, this statemenmisleading, as literacy among Jewish men was still a little more than 5among women only around 30%. 27 Although Nili Gabai, 28 Eliezer Bashaothers 30 identify several examples of learned Sephardic women especi

31 these examples are all exceptional and stand in starknotable is Osnat Mizrachicont

2. The Alliance Education System

With the formation of Alliance, a French-Jewish organization designed towestern values and French culture to Jewish communities in the Middle E

North Africa, a major network of educational institutions was finally estaThese institutions played a critical role in the educational and social chanoccurred in Sephardic communities in the 19th century. 32 In Morocco,women received virtually no religious education, and few women could

the rab

26 Ibid., 78-80. F

n, Conservatism and RevolutionismIlain the Jewish Society of Sudan (Heb.), Peamim 91 (2002), 123-151.

27 Y. Landau, The Jews of Egypt in the 19th Century (Heb.; Jerusalem, 1967), 76-77.28 Supra n. 24, at 98.29

Morocco in the 18th Century (Heb.), Shinuyim Be- -

Century1993),

evine-Melammed, Rabbanit Osnat A Rosh Yeshiva in Kurdistan

Heb.in S.iance in Mediterranean Communities at the End of the 19 th Century and its

Influence in the Social and Cultural Situation (Jerusalem, The Institute for the Research of Sephardicand Mizrachi Jewry, 1987), 7-14.

33 M. Levy, The Status of Jewish Women in Morocco, 1860-1965, (Heb.), M.A. Thesis (Ramat-Gan, 2003), 131-142; M. Lasker, Jewish Education in Morocco (Heb.), Peamim 9 (1981), 78-99;Bar-Kalifa ( supra n. 23), 78.

inukh 33 (1982), 137-148.30 Ibid, 238-240; Y. Shitrit, Frecha bat Yosef A Hebrew Poet in Morocco in the 18th

(Heb.), Peamim 4 (1980), 84-93; Y. Shitrit, Frecha bat Rabbi Avraham (Heb.), Peamim 55 (124-130.

31 O. Melamed and R. L(Heb.), Peamim 82 (2000), 163-178.

32 G. Weill, Alliance in Mediterranean Communities at the End of the 19th Century,Schwarzfuchs (ed.), All


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change Jewish womens status, modernize Sephardic communities, 34 anthe withered values of the Middle East and North Africa.

d break blished

y the rabbinic establishment as

abbinicwomenhristian

oping asuccessful school system throughout the Middle East and North Africa. Similarsuccesses resulted in Egypt, 39 Iran, 40 Turkey, 41 Tunisia, 42 Algeria 43 and in

0-1920 , 2Influence of Alliance on Jewish Communities in Moslem

istics as a Missionary Movement, Heb. in Schwarzfuchs ( supra n. 32), 31-cuments,

e Jews in, 1986), 261-263; E. Abarbiya, Community Culture and Nascent

9 (Heb.),2-124. For

ent to establishing a modern school in Istanbul in 1858 see

it, The Struggle for the Emancipation of the Jewish Woman in Marrakesh ChangesT. Cohen et al. (eds.), A Woman in the East, A Woman from the East

amat-Gan,

mim 229 (1981),

Alliance Israelite Universelle and the Politics of

hought inrception of

Jewish women from Tunisia see E. Shelly-Newman, School as a Landmark in the Life of ElderlyWomen from Tunisia, Heb. in Cohen ( supra n. 37), 233-248.

43 Y. Sharvit, Jewish Education in Constantine (Algeria) During a Period of Change, 1837-1939(Heb.), Asufut 14 (2002), 315-356. He claims that there was no tension between the rabbinicestablishment and Alliance, although Alliance did lead to changes in the system of religious education.

35 Schools estain the 1860s in Greece and Turkey, viewed bunwelcome agents of change, were likewise scorned. 36

In other communities, Alliance was ultimately accepted by the r establishment, 37 which recognized that illiterate and uneducated Jewishwere too often tempted by the promise of education offered by local Cmissions. 38 Despite rabbinic opposition, Alliance succeeded in devel

34 A. Rodrigue, Education, Society, and History Alliance and Mediterranean Jews, 186

(Jerusalem, 1991), 87-93; Z. Zohar, On theCountries and its Character 35; M. Laskier, The Jews of Morocco and the Alliance Israelite Universelle: Selected DoEng. From East and Maghreb 3 (1981), VII-XXIV.

35 Dadon ( supra n. 23), 6-7.36Y. Barnay, Jews in the Ottoman Empire, Heb.in S. Ettinger (ed.), The History Of th

Moslem Countries (JerusalemFeminism The Community of Izmir on the Eve of the Young Turks Revolution, 1899-190M.A thesis (Ramat-Gan, 2002), 50-60. For changes in the perception of women see ibid., 11the objections of the rabbinic establishmAssaf ( supra n. 22), 522-524.

37 E. Shitr Between 1901-1939, Heb. in(Ramat-Gan, 2005), 146-149.

38 E. Bashan, The Jews in Morocco in the 19th Century and the English Mission (Heb.; R 1999), 49-50, 238.

39 Landau ( supra n. 27), 91-98.40 A. Cohen, The Jews of Iran and the Educational Enterprise of Alliance (Heb.), Pea

(1985), 93-128; idem, The Attitude of Iranian Jews to Modern Education (Heb.), Peamim 43-58; idem, Maktab The Persian - eder (Heb.), Peamim 14 (1982), 57-76.

41 A. Rodrigue, French Jews, Turkish Jews The Jewish Schooling in Turkey, 1860-1925 (Eng.; Bloomington, 1990).

42 O. Cohen, Jewish Education in Tunisia, Heb.in M. Zohari et al. (eds.), Jewish T Moslem Countries (Jerusalem, 1982), 367-393. For the importance of education in the pe


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Libya, where the Allianc

e schools were a main factor in changing the

ery lateescribeslayed a

ll, thesein the

eligiousyoung Jewish women only came to fruition after the Chabad-Lubavitch

udied intudy of, young

n. 49 and theliancesrization

education inYemenite communities where there were no Alliance activities to communities

ere such schools did open. The limited research available shows that the51

nal Aspects of Libyas Jewish Community Between the Secondnd the Beginning of the 20th Century (1835-1911) (Heb.), M.A. thesis

ens education see at 66-71.

m Habanim and Otzar Ha-Torah and Jewish Education in Morocco, 1860-aifa, 1989), 28-30.

he Jewish Community of Syria, 1840-1880ommunity

from the Mid-Eighteenth Century to the Damascus Blood Libel (Heb.), M.A thesis (Ramat- to the endtury to the

-32; Harel(ibid.), 87-96.

51 Y. Shaar, Jewish Education in Yemen, in M. Zahari et al (eds.), Heb. Jewish Thought in Islamic Countries (Jerusalem, 1982), 417-427; A. Ben-David, Jewish Education in Northern Yemen andits Roots in Judaism , (Heb.; place of publcation not mentioned, Self Published, 1984); A. Ben-David,

Education as a Mirror Jewish Education in Yemen as a Mirror Image of Education in Talmudic

communities attitude to the status of women. 44

The rabbinic establishment in these communities reacted only at a vstage by creating religious educational institutions. Orly Zaguri Ochanah dthe various forms of these institutions in Morocco and notes that women pvery important role in the communal support for these institutions. 45 Stiinstitutions were targeting male students, and the female students remainedAlliance schools. 46 (The organized and wide-reaching effort to create r schools formovement established its own educational institutions for girls 47 after the SecondWorld War). 48

In Syria we find a similar phenomenon. Until the 19th century, boys stthe traditional kitab , and after reaching bar mitzvah continued their sTalmud and halakhah in the madras . When Alliance entered the scenewomen were finally allowed to attain some level of formal educatioEventually, however, tension broke out between the French Alliancecommunities traditional rabbinic leadership, as the latter feared that Aldisrespect for the principles of religious leadership would encourage seculaamong its students. 50 It is interesting to compare the situation of

whdifference in womens education in such communities was very significant .

44 O. Dadoush, Social and Educatio

Half of the 19th Century aamat-Gan, 2006), 50-66; on the changes in wom(R 45 O. Zagory Ochana, E

960 (Heb.), M.A thesis (H146 Landau ( supra n. 27), 41.47Dadon ( supra n. 23).48 Zagory ( supra n. 45), 57.49 Zohar ( supra n. 14) 49-60; Y, Harel, Changes in t

(Heb.), Ph.D. thesis (Ramat-Gan, 1992), 84-98; S. Sonnenschein, Daily Life in the Jewish Cof AleppoGan, 1983), 91-93. For an overview of educational institutions in Syria from the 19th centuryof the 20th century see Z. Zohar, Education of Jews in Syria from the Mid-Nineteenth CenBeginning of the 21st Century (Heb.), Peamim 109 (2007), 5-32.

50 Z. Zohar, A Social-Cultural Drama in Mandate Aleppo (Heb.; Jerusalem, 2003), 19


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12/36


Halakhic Sources and Decisors

Jewishhat dealtify any

uryan 18thh study.

- ai),ue by

ation tod them

sharede local phardic

n in Israel reflects individual communities newfoundmmonalities as they came into contact with influences that threatened to disrupteir traditional ways of life.

he 17thn. Meirorocco

dsively

hee of his

n extant

Ibn Mousa addresses the question of womens Torah study twice, once during a

scussionaboutterpretation of the Mishna is problematic.

55 M. Benayahu, The History of Rabbi Avraham ibn Mousa and his Son Rabbi Moshe Ibn Mousaand their Spiritual Legacy (Heb.), Michael 5 (1978), 9-133. Ibn Mousa was apparently born in 1660,and he died on March 8, 1733, according to his tombstone.

56 A. ibn Mousa, Min x at Sotah (Jerusalem, 1999).

E.

Prior to the mass immigration of Middle Eastern and North Africancommunities to Israel in the 1950s, there are only three known sources twith the question of womens Torah study, and thus one cannot idenSephardic halakhic tradition in this matter. Two of these sources a 17th centTunisian book that touts the qualities of the ideal Jewish woman andcentury text from the Ladino-speaking community oppose womens ToraThe third, a 19th century Iraqi text written by Rabbi Yosef Chaim (Ben Ishsends mixed messages. I will first examine these texts and will then continanalyzing halakhic sources written by Sephardic rabbis after their immigr Israel in the 1950s. Comparing the sources and the rabbis that produce

before and after the immigration, I find that the Sephardic communitiesimmigration experience, including their inhospitable reception by thAshkenazi population, served to unite an otherwise diverse group. The Sehalakhic responsa writtecoth

1. Rabbi Avraham Ibn Mousa

Rabbi Avraham Ibn Mousa, one of North Africas prominent rabbis in tcentury, authored a book in which he discusses the ideal Jewish womaBenayahu 55 reports that Rabbi Avraham Ibn Mousa was born in Tetwan, Mto a family of Spanish descent and later served as a rabbi in the cities of Sali anMarrakesh, Morocco, finally settling in Tunisia. Ibn Mousa wrote extenabout kabbalah and wrote many books about the Talmud, interpretations on tPentateuch, and liturgical poems. Though most of his writings were lost, on

books on tractate Sotah was published according to four of the five knowmanuscripts. 56

discussion about the Talmud (Sot. 21a) and the second time during a diabout the liturgical poem Eshet - ayil (Woman of Valor). In the discussionnSot. 21a he argues that Maimonides i


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According to Maimonides, Rabbi Elazar objects to womens Torah studythey will misinterpret the Torah and will come to see it as idle teaching.interpretation, which Ibn Mousa finds more accurate, argues that womensTorah will cause them to be cunning and will give them the knowledge toforbidden actions. Rashi suggests that this cunningness can be manifestdifferent ways: either the mind is sharpened, enabling one to reveal the

becauseRashis

study ofconcealin two

truth, orere did

shouldudes byich can

Hexists ining the

cludes by stating that even if a woman is worthy ofand and

of theof theSome

tionshiphe nation of Israel, but others, such as ibn Mousa, believe it

des Mousawri man ofval

e thing,lso be a

ts bothind a righteous

somethings, about

oem thatsays a woman of valor is beyond pearls and who shall find her? 58

' .' .

57 Ibid., 170-171.58 Ibid., 174.

this cunningness can lead one to build castles in the sky. So from whMaimonides get his interpretation?

Ibn Mousa interprets Maimonides differently. He argues that a womannot be taught Torah just as she should not be taught foolishness. He conclquestioning why Maimonides differentiates between the Written Torah, wh

be studied by women de facto, and the Oral Torah, which is always forbidden.suggests that this may mean that the danger of foolishness only ewomens study of the Oral Torah. In spite of this apparent leniency in studyWritten Torah, Ibn Mousa consome merit for studying Torah, she will gain more by aiding her husbchildren in their study of Torah. 57

Following this discussion of Sot. 21a, ibn Mousa offers his interpretationliturgical poem Eshet - ayil . This poem, traditionally recited by the manhouse before the Shabbat meal, describes the ideal Jewish woman.commentators suggest Eshet - ayil is a metaphor describing the rela

between G-d and tcribes the actual characteristics expected of the Jewish woman. Ibntes that a woman who studies Torah cannot be an eshet x ayil (a woor):

It is close to impossible that two opposites should be found in onthat a woman will be wise in the wisdom of the Torah and will awoman that fears G-d. And I have not found one woman who exhibithese qualities in all those. And the poem says Who can f woman? Her value is beyond pearls. That means she has gainedwhich is beyond pearls, that is, the Torah that was given by Mosewhich it is said it is more priceless that pearls. This is like the p


14/36


First heuity. He(e.g. for

men ports histhe wise becausel role as

tinues tostudiesto be a

e she will receive spiritualnsidered

te in thesa tookan who

womanns lives

ousas text fairly accurately bes the status of women in his community. Ibn Mousas text is comparable

th Ashkenazic texts of the time period that restrict womens Torah study to thets relevant to their traditional gender roles. 62

Meam Loez , conceived of and begun by Rabbi Yaakov Kuli, is a commentarynach first published in Istanbul in 1730. Written in Ladino because

as not widely understood among Balkan Jewry, Meam Loez was

60 Ibid., 176.61 Ibid., 177.62 I. Fuchs, The Role of Women as Functionaries in the Halakhic System: A Historical and Legal

Analysis (Heb.), Ph.D. thesis (Ramat-Gan, 2009), ch. 1.

,

Ibn Mousa then explains what will result from womens Torah study.says that this is similar to learning idle things, which will lead to promiscexplains at length that someone who studies Torah for the wrong reasonswealth or respect) will meet a bad end. Yet despite his arguments against wostudying Torah, he actually believes they should study Torah, and he supclaim that women should study Torah with the verse from Eshet - ayil thatwomans husband lacks nothing. He says that the husband lacks nothingshe studies Torah in addition to, and without compromising, her traditionaa mother and wife. In this case, she can even study Oral Torah. 59 He condescribe a woman who works during the day as a homemaker and at nightTorah, mainly halakhah, in her spare time. 60 Her husband, who is expectedscholar himself, should learn Torah with her. 61 Whilrewards for ensuring that her children and husband study Torah, she is comore meritorious than most women because of her own study.

There seems to be a contradiction between the interpretation of the debaTalmud and his interpretation of the poem. It is possible that Ibn Mou

poetic license in interpreting Eshet - ayil , or perhaps he referred to a womstudies alone and therefore can also study the Oral Torah.

This source reflects the gender roles and characterization of the idealcommon in its time. Although we lack significant information about womein this time and place, we may assume that Ibn Mdescriwisame basic tex

2. Meam Loez

on the Ta

Hebrew w

59 Ibid., 175.


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widely read and widely impacted daily Jewish life. 63 Meuchas Gineoh argeven though Meam Loez was not written for women, since it was written invernacular

ues thattheir

it was widely circulated and highly influential among the female

a laterTorah

tudy notr study,

d be better able tor work.

other hand, a woman who does not allow her sons to study Torah or whoriticizes teachers will be punished. 66 There are more examples like this in Ladinoterature. 67

book ofd of

Sephardic halakhah, 68 though few have investigated his kabbalistic or halakhic

ury andominent

ife of then (supra n.

bout the readership of Ladino literature specifically, whethere readers. See Y. Ben-Naeh, Review of Matthias B. Lehmann,

ic Culture (Heb.), Zion 74 (2008), 488. He comparese Ben Ish

alonika, dating from 1550, where thewith their

68 His biography is discussed primarily by traditional sources, e.g., A. Zakkai, The Gaon RabbiYosef Chaim: The Greatest Babylonian Rabbi in the Last Generations (Heb.), Ma x beret 10 (1961), 38-42; also Y. Alfasi, A Light Shines from the East (Heb.; Jerusalem, 1994).

69 A. Ben Yaakov, Rabbi Yosef Chaim of Baghdad (Heb.; Jerusalem, 1977); idem, A Collection ofPoems, Books and Sermons by Rabbi Yosef Chaim of Blessed Memory (Heb.; Jerusalem, 1994); S.

population. 64

The section of Meam Loez relevant to our discussion was written byeditor, Rabbi Yitzchak Argoati of Istanbul, 65 and deals with the weeklyreading of Parshat Ekev. Here Argoati defines the womans role in Torah sas studying for herself, but rather as aiding her father and sons in theisacrificing her personal needs so that the men in her family shoul

pursue their religious studies, and encouraging her husband to study afteArgoati says that in these ways a woman can reach a lofty spiritual level.

On thecli

3. Ben Ish Chai

Rabbi Yosef Chaim from Baghdad, known as the Ben Ish Chai after hissermons, was (and remains) one of the most important figures in the worl

works or his extensive public activity in the second half of the 19th centthe beginning of the 20th century. 69 Rabbi Yosef Chaim was born to a pr

63 A. Meuchas Gineoh, Ishklavia Di Su Maridu: A Look at the the Day-to-Day L

Sephardic Jewish Woman According to Meam Loez by Rabbi Yaakov Kuli (Heb), in Cohe37), 25-34.

64 Ibid, 28. Scholars disagree aomen should be included among thw

Ladino Rabbinic Literature and Ottoman Sephard the influence of Ladino literature on women to a book written by R. Yosef Chaim (author of thChai) that is discussed below.

65 Menuchas Gineoh ( supra n. 63), 27.66

Meam Loez , Devarim, 2 (Jerusalem, 1970), 567.67 See the quotation from the book Seder Nashim from Sauthor writes that women do not have a share in studying Torah, since this will interfereobligations to care for their children (Menuchas Gineoh [ supra n. 63], 30).


16/36


rabbinic family, and he achieved a position of leadership in the commBaghdad. He was a disciple of Rabbi Abdallah Som

unity ofech, and he remained the most

tes thatrs to all

to hiskenazic

- ayeithe 19th

Jews ofas the

s in theor these

certain pennessstem. 75

on fromRabbi Shimon Agassi, who believed they would cause rampant secularization andassimilation among Iraqi Jewry. He also criticized what he perceived as theimmodest dress the schools encouraged, as well as the non- and even anti-

.D. thesis,mons of Rabbi Yosef Chaim (Heb.),

), 35-43; D. Rotman, Niflaim Maasekha by Rabbi Yosef Chaim of Baghdad:and its Historical and Literary Context (Heb.), Peamim 109 (2007), 59-93; L. Jacobs,

erspectives on Jews and

munity ofBar Aba

eb.; Jerusalem, 1981),e see S. Regev, The

Attitude Towards Secular Education Among the Jews of Babylon: R. Yosef Chaim and R. ShimonAgassi (Heb.), in Y. Avishur et al. (eds.), Studies in the History of the Babylonian Jews and TheirCulture: Proceedings of the Second Congress for the Study of Babylonian Jewry (Heb.; Or Yehuda,2002), 118-97.

75 Imrei Binah , 1 (Jerusalem, 1908), sermon 1; Zohar ( supra n.15), 610-612; Regev, ibid.

prominent leader of the Iraqi Jews until he passed away. 70

Shmuel Mondani, one scholar who has studied Rabbi Yosef Chaim, nohe has a very specific way to arrive at halakhic decisions, in which he refesources relevant to the topic at hand, even when they are foreigncommunitys halakhic tradition. 71 As such, he refers extensively to Ashsources like Rabbi Moshe Isserles and other contemporary decisors like the

Adam and the Shul x an Arukh Harav , who wrote in the beginning ofcentury, as well as kabbalistic sources. 72

Rabbi Yosef Chaim led his community at a time of great change for theIraq in general, and of Baghdad specifically. One such change westablishment of the Alliance schools and other modern vocational schoolJewish community. 73 Rabbi Yosef Chaim did not show explicit support f institutions, 74 although he seems to have agreed to give sermons invocational institutions supported by Alliance, perhaps signifying some oand even support for the changes occurring in the traditional educational syOn the other hand, the establishment of these schools met fierce oppositi

_____

Mondani, The Halakhic Approach of Rabbi Yosef Chaim in the Ben Ish Chai (Heb.), Ph Regev, The Moral Literature and Ser (Ramat Gan, 2005); S.

Yahadut Bavel 1 (1996The AnthologyThe Responsa of Rabbi Yosef Chaim of Baghdad, in A. A. Chiel (ed.), P

daism: Essays in Honor of Wolfe Kelman (New York, 1978), 189-214. Ju70 Mondani, ibid., at24.71 Ibid., 73-74.72 Ibid., 122-145. On his use of kabbalah in his halakhic writings, see ibid., 200-218.73 On these schools see supra n. 24.

74 For his activities see E. Agassi, The Beginning of Secularization in the Jewish ComBaghdad and the Efforts to Control It, Based on the Sermons of Hakham Shimon Aharon AbaAgassi (Heb.), in M. Zahary et al. (eds.), Jewish Thought in Islamic Countries (H306-314. For the attitude of Rabbi Yosef Chaim to secular knowledge and Allianc


17/36


traditional education the schools provided. 76 Though Rabbi Yosef ChaiRabbi Agassi were not contemporaries, the obvious dichotomy between thresponses to new educational institut

m andeir two

ions highlights even more clearly Rabbi

omen).women

onthe role as that aucationshouldto the

hildrensture heretc. 78

study isof his

piled byns since

an whoible, itsuld not

her hadoutlined for her, and as he was not interested in overseeing her studies the tutor

h, Talmud, and its commentaries. Upond to his

to Hebrew.Arabic in hebrew letters in 1906. The Authors name was omitted in

eans law was

2007), 33-

79 Y.Chaim, Niflaim Maasekha , ed. B. M. Hazan (Jerusalem, 1989), 233-239.80 Y. Chaim, Od Yosef - ai (Jerusalem, 1958), 178-181.81 R. Kadosh, Between the Ideal of Fearing God and Social Documentation A Study of Niflaim

Maasekha by Rabbi Yosef Chaim of Bagdad (Heb.), M.A. thesis (Ramat-Gan, 1998).

Chaims relatively accommodating position.

In 1906, Rabbi Yosef Chaim published Kanun el-Nasa (Laws of WWritten in Judeo-Arabic, this book deals with halakhic rulings relevant toand is organized in such a way that women can study the book in six-mcycles. 77 The book includes a section on girls education and outlines thmother plays in her childrens education. For example, Rabbi Chaim teachemother should be mindful of what her children do and eat, their religious ed(mostly that they say the correct blessings over their food), and that theynot go with other children to bathe in the river or go unsupervisedcommunal bath-house. Concerning womens education, he wrote that cmost important source of Jewish knowledge is their mother. She should nur daughters spiritual virtues at a young age and also teach them to sew, knit,

Another interesting source for Rabbi Chaims views on womens Toraha story about a talmidat x a kh am (learned woman) he relates in onesermons, 79 even though the story is unrelated to the sermon itself. 80 Rivka Kadoshsuggests that this story, which appeared in an anthology of his stories comone of his students after his death, was especially appropriate for his sermohis audience usually included many women .81

The story goes like this: Once there was a very wealthy and learned mhired a tutor for his daughter with instructions that he should teach her B

basic commentaries and Hebrew grammar. He warned that his daughter shostudy Talmud. In six months, the daughter learned all the material her fat

decided to continue with the Mishnalearning this, the father became angry and fired the tutor. He explaine

76 S. Agassi, Zehav Sheva (Jerusalem, 1989), 25-29.77. Y. Chaim, Laws of Women , (Heb. Jerusalem, 1979), 2. This edition was translated in

The original book was printed inthis edition and it was printed in Livorno Italy since the Arabic word Kanun that m

reserved only government documents.78 Ibid, 25-28. A detailed discussion about the status and importance of women among the Jews of

Iraq may be found in: N. Ilan, Kanun al-Nesa (The Law of Women) (Heb.), Peamim 109 (57.


18/36


daughter that Talmud study is for men, and that when she marries she whave time to study anyway, except perhaps for the weekly TorahHowever, the daughter would not give up. She studied independently, histudies from her father. One day her father met a man whom he took to be poorand ignorant in Torah. His daughter, however, questioned him in a knowleway and found him to be a Torah scholar. The father was shockeddaughters erudition, whereupon she revealed her continued study of the Tand he came to accept her desire to study topics beyond the weekly TorahBecause he included it in his sermons, one may assume that Rabbiapproved of the message it sent

ill not portion.ding her

dgeable by hisalmud,

portion.Chaim

to female congregants, namely, that the study ofl cases,

as askedh is a kabbalistic text recited at midnight

vuot , a

x i se textsto studyly with , Tikun

s have

containto

se textsTorah at

on theused by

other,s not to be

ed. The custom in our homes is that women start before dawn, but they donot say Tikun - atzot , and just learn Peti x at Eliyahu and other similar texts. Mygrandmother of blessed memory used to learn 18 chapters of Mishnah.

82 Rav Pealim , 1 (Jerusalem, 1980), Sod Yesharim section 9.83 A. Shtal, Ritual Reading of the Zohar (Heb.), Peamim 5 (1980), 77-86. On the development of

Kabbalah in North Africa see M. Idel, The Beginning of Kabbalah in North Africa (Heb.), Peamim 43 (1990), 4-15.

the written Torah and its commentaries is acceptable, and in exceptionawomen may also study Talmud.

A more detailed response was given by Rabbi Yosef Chaim after he wif women could recite Tikun - atzot , whicconsisting of passages from the written and Oral Torah, and Tikun Leil Shasimilar text recited on the night of Pentecost. 82

While reciting Zoharic texts without understanding them is an accepted Mizra practice, 83 this source does not reveal whether the women reading theunderstood them, although it seems that they were knowledgeable enoughthe written Torah and pray daily. Rabbi Chaims answer deals mainwomens ability to recite various kabbalistic texts, such as Tikun Leah

Rachel, Tikun Shevii Shel Pesa x and Tikun Hoshana Raba. These text

mystical significance and are important for our purposes because they portions of both the Written and Oral Torah. Rabbi Yosef Chaim objectedwomens recitations of Tikun Rachel and Leah because recitation of thewould require women to study the Torah appearing in them, and studyingnight corresponds mystically to the undesirable value of judgment. Menother hand represent mercy, and, unlike women, can ease the judgment aroreciting the Tikun . As part of this debate Rabbi Chaim mentions his grandm

ho studied 18 chapters of Mishnah every day: But Oral Torah iwobject


19/36


, ,

, ,

84.

asudying

possiblee is noerefore

rning otheror men,so.

udyingmystical

example, discusses Imrei770 that

of theto refer

manner.ng Oral

thatwomen

methingclusive

prising,

bbi Eliezer prohibited women to studyTorah was that it will lead to immodest behavior and will allow women tofornicate easily .87 On the other hand, we have the story he told in a sermon where

(Heb.; Jerusalem,

85 G. Scholem, Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism , 3d ed. (Eng. New York, 1960), 37.86 C. Weissler, Woman as High Priest: A Kabbalistic Prayer in Yiddish for Lighting Sabbath

candles, Jewish History 5:1 (1991), 9-26.87 Y. Chaim, Ben Yehoyada (reprint ed. Jerusalem, 2006) on Sot. 21a.

The sentence: But Oral Torah is not to be objected is unclear. Halakhah,stated in Maimonides and the Shul x an Arukh , prohibits women from stTorah, and the study of Oral Torah is even more severely prohibited. It isto explain these remarks as referring only to kabbalah, meaning that ther kabbalistic reason to object to women studying Oral Torah at night, and thwomen may recite parts of the Oral Torah before dawn. Concekabbalistic texts he states that Tikun Leil Shavuot is only relevant f although Tikun Hoshana Rabbah is different, and women should recite it al

This responsum attests to learned women adopting pious customs and stOral Torah. Gershom Scholem writes that women were absent from thesphere in Judaism, 85 although Chava Weissler, forShifrah, a book of womens personal supplications ( tex inot ) published in 1was written by a woman and contains kabbalistic references. 86

There are more examples, but they all have to do with the peripherymystical sphere, and what was written by Rabbi Yosef Chaim seems alsoto a ritual act and not to an attempt to gain knowledge in a structuredHowever, it is still surprising to see that he does not object to women recitiTorah included in kabbalistic texts or 18 chapters of Mishnah daily. The facthe says that there is no reason to object, based on mystical reasons, toreading these texts, while completely disregarding halakhic issues is sothat warrants discussion. It seems to me that it is difficult to offer a conexplanation, but his disregard for the issue of womens Torah study is sur and that feeling is strengthened when we see that in his book about the legends ofthe Talmud he writes that the reason Ra

he supported a young woman studying Talmud.

84 The study of 18 chapters of the Mishnah on a daily basis, facilitating completion of the Mishnahin a month, is mentioned in different kabbalistic books, e.g. Hanhagot Tzadikim1953), 19.


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While these sources may reflect Rabbi Chaims ambiguous position on tof womens Torah study, it is important to examine how he responded to changesoccurring on the ground in the Jewish community of Baghdad. Althosupported some of the changes in the field of education, it is hard toconclusions about his halakhic opinion in this matter. As noted earlier, Nidescribed a tradition of some learned Iraqi Jewish women, and perhaps ttradition caused Rabbi Chaim to be more tolerant of educated women fr Baghdad Jewish families. Possible support for this argument, according tois that in only one case was there a positive feminine figure in his storie

possible to argue that since this is just a ritual reciting of texts without necunderstanding them it didnt fall under the category of studying Torah. Hodont think that it is a good explanation, since in the story used in his ser woman described stu

he issue

ugh hecome toli Gabaihis Iraqiom eliteKadosh,s. 88 It isessarily

wever, Imon the

died Talmud in depth. It may suggest that he accepted womenat the reason they study is positive and that they dont

isuse their knowledge.

Non-Haredi Sephardic Rabbis Open to Liberalism and Change

issue ofMesas.

allengesdeas of

secularism 90 and relationships with non-Jews 91 in a very tolerant way. Serving as

halakhic

oetic and

Maghreb)(eds.), Hit x adshut U-Masoret (Jerusalem, 2005), 7-9.

adership and Rabbinate of Rabbi Yosef Mesas (Heb.), Massekhet 6(2007), 171-195; A. Rosenak, The Honor of the Public as a Protective Term in the Writings of RabbiYosef Mesas (Heb.), Akdamot 20 (2008), 55-70; Z. Zohar, Halakhah as a Non-FundamentalistLanguage Rabbi Yosef Mesas and the Butchers of Telemasan (Heb.), Jewish Culture in the Eye ofthe Storm (Ein Tzurim, 2002), 569-591.

91 Zohar ( supra n. 15), 617-619.

studying after they proved thm

F.

1. Rabbi Yosef Mesas

The first document dating from the mid-20th century that deals with thewomens Torah study was written by the Moroccan Rabbi YosefAccording to current research, Mesas did not want to clash with the chmodernity presented to his community, 89 and he responded to the i

a rabbi in Telmasan, Algeria; a dayan (rabbinic judge) in Mekenas, Morocco, andas Chief Rabbi of Haifa in Israel, Mesas became familiar with the

88 R. Kadosh, The Literary Oeuvre of Rabbi Yosef Chaim in Its Homiletical Context: PSocio-Ideological Aspects (Heb.), Ph.D. thesis (Ramat-Gan, 2005), 211.

89 M. Bar-Asher, Innovative and Daring Figures Among the Rabbis of the West ((Heb.), in M. Orfali and E. Hazan

90 I. Mor-Yosef, The Le


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challenges created by secularism, and a review of his rulings shows that he

women. Whiless shedto note

entson andange in

, acknowledging his waning influence over a community that hadous and

hisof hision to

dates too studyld all

etails a number of women that studied Torah andtly. Heomen

id-18thf a richmanner

anted tod Rabbiince hisnded toAzzai,

. Rabbiis also

exempt from the study of Torah! She answered that he did not remember the

rds of Maimonides, who said that a woman who studies Torah is rewarded asugh he is not obligated to do so.

r in the

92 Y. Mesas, Na x alat Avot (vol. 1-6, Jerusalem. 1971-1987).93Z. Zohar, She Who Studies Torah is Greatly Rewarded: Rabbi Yosef Mesas and a Womans

Right to Study Torah (Heb.), Peamim 82 (2000), 150-161.

preferred to respond to halakhic questions with leniency.

Zvi Zohar has examined several of Rabbi Mesas writings on learnedand has addressed the question of Mesas response to womens Torah studythe sources Zohar has reviewed are not explicitly halakhic, they nonethelelight on Rabbi Mesas general approach to the issue. It is also importantthat historically this period saw a weakening of the rabbinic establishmauthority over the Jewish community due to forces of secularizatiimmigration. Rabbi Mesas was one of the few rabbis to respond to this chthe status quotraditionally looked to its rabbis for guidance and direction in both religisecular matters.

Rabbi Mesas used to teach a regular class in Pirkei Avot; through the yearslessons were collected, and his son sporadically published volumesteachings. 92 Zvi Zohar 93 examined these writing, paying special attentRabbi Mesas approach to womens Torah study. In a sermon that Zoharthe summer of 1953, Rabbi Mesas discusses the Mishnah that says, All whTorah are rewarded many things. Rabbi Measas explained that the wor comes to include women. He dwere talmidot x a kh amim , even though the Shu x an Arukh ruled differenrefers his audience to the encyclopedia Otzar Yisrael , where the heading w

provides a list of talmidot x a k ham .

He then tells two stories. The first one is from Algiers from the mcentury. The story is about a young, pretty woman who is the daughter ofather, who wont marry because she wishes to study Torah in the samethat the Talmud mentions in connection with the Tanna Ben Azzai, who wstudy Torah non-stop and thus refused to marry. Her father approacheAiyash, one of the most important rabbis of Algiers, and asked him to convdaughter to get married. The daughter explained that since a man is comma

procreate and can be exempt from this if he wishes to study Torah, like Benthen a woman even more so, because she is not obligated to procreateAiyash asked her: a woman might be exempt from procreation, but she

womeone who performs a mitzvah even thoso

Moreover, she said she was not interested in reward either in this world o


22/36


next. Rabbi Aiyash was convinced, and he asked her father to allow herTorah. After a short while Rabbi Aiyash dreamt that a Spanish fleet wasattack the city, and the learned woman came out and struck their heads.after a while a real Spanish fleet that was on its way to the city drowned

to studyabout toIndeed,

in a storm.old.

of poore dowryents sheght and

re was buried under her bed.and she

have anudy of Torah, and the desire to study Torah can exempt a man

compel

on, butth otherussion,

ing in aelies on

he wishes to embed these values in Jewish culture witharch ons within

time that resorted to such discourse.e find more texts that discuss the merit of women, and we also find some that

iscuss the changing reality of womens status. This approach is similar to thedern orthodox rabbis in the 90s.

Rabbi Malka was born in Morocco in 1911 to a family of rabbis. He studiedwith his father and brother and served as a rabbi and a dayan in several Moroccancommunities. Before he came to Israel he was the deputy to the head of therabbinical court in Casablanca. When he came to Israel he served as the Rabbi of

The girl continued to study Torah, came to Israel and lived to be 100 years

The second story takes place in Telmesan. A pretty girl, the daughter parents, wouldnt marry a rich groom even though her parents needed th because she wished to study Torah. After a lot of begging from her par asked for three days to think about it and consider. After three days of thou

prayer, the girl dreamt on the third night that a treasuAfter they dug they found a big treasure that her parents could live on,could study Torah without having to take care of her family.

Zvi Zohar claims that these stories send several messages. Womenequal part in the stor a woman from family life. Furthermore, men who have authority cannotwomen to get married.

Its hard to draw any conclusions about halakhic positions from a sermthis can still teach us about Rabbi Mesas views. It seems to coincide wielements of his halakhic writings. Even though there is no halakhic discZohars work does shed light on the position of a Sephardic rabbi operatcontext of modernity, who wants to be part of a modern society that r liberal values whileminimal tendency to insularism. The other examples mentioned in reseRabbi Mesas show the same tendency of wishing to adopt liberal valuetraditional Jewish society.

This is not the only rabbinic source of theWdrhetoric used by mo

2. Rabbi Moshe Malka


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Petach Tikva. 94 He was the author of several books, and among other things dealwith the issue of Talmud Torah for women.

ty 1973,certain

o studyah waswomen

n of the

exempthnah inor this,

is tantamount to studying inord All thatcon

for] Written Torah and all the commandments that women are boundcan obey

them.

the

rah, and

g Torahs Rabbi part in

ut whene depths of

and own

getting wiser and more developed than men.

, 97

94 M. Malka, Mikveh Mayim , 1 (Jerusalem, 1968), introduction (unpaginated).95 Ibid., 3:21.96 Ibid.97 Ibid.

95 In a responsum dated Januar Rabbi Azriel Licht, who was in charge of Jewish religious studies in aschool, approached Rabbi Malka after a rabbi in the area forbade women tTorah. He wanted to know whether having women teach or study Tor objectionable. Rabbi Malka answered that since it is a regular custom forto teach and study Torah it is obvious that this is done with the permissioTorah sages of the generation. He cited several sources to prove that.

He begins with the Talmud (Kidd. 29b), which states that women arefrom studying Torah. As noted, according to R. Eliezer, cited in the Mistractate Sotah, women are not allowed to study Torah. The reason f according to the Talmud, is that womens Torah study

er to be cunning enough to be able to sin without being caught.cerns Oral Torah. However, Maimonides also writes that

[As by and pertain to them, women need to know them, so that they

96

However, Rabbi Malka doesnt deal with the fact that Maimonides in

beginning of his remarks did not allow women to study even written Toruled that only de facto this was not an offense.

Rabbi Malka makes a further point. The prohibition of women studyinis based on the ruling of Rabbi Eliezer in the Mishnah. This ruling, explainMalka, was the outcome of a historical period when women did not take

public life. They only took part in private life in their private homes. Bwomen take a big part in communal, public life, They delve into thexternal wisdoms and fill the benches of the universities, they run offices

businesses, they have a say in the running of the state and in politics, they are

,


24/36


In such a situation Rabbi Malka maintains that Rabbi Eliezer would adwomen may and indeed must be taught Oral Torah, so

mit thatthat the study of Torah may

ser

sinterpretld Rabbiand theyase them

oceany can go

y Torah andteach it they would stay home to deal with wool and linen, I would agree. But to

orbid!

?

? ,

Torah isalmuds

ivity.the Beiscertain

ssion isand he

s of thiscationalould beexclude

ying Torah. This is a good example of a halakhic text that usesterminology utilized by modern Orthodox rabbis in the late 20th century. Hisreasoning, that there was a change in the historical context that warrants a

oning in

98 D. Ellenson and E. Ben-Naim, Women and the Study of Torah: A Responsum by Rabbi ZalmanSorotzkin of Jerusalem, Nashim 4 (2001), 119-139.

99 Cf. my findings about the modern orthodox rabbinate, Fuchs ( supra n. 62), ch. 5.

ve a weapon against the heresy they encounter. He writes:

Because of the concern that there is a shadow of a doubt that she will miand misuse Torah, should we give up all the benefits that we gain? WouEliezer have said such things in our time, when girls fill the secular schoolsgo about the street until the early hours of the morning? Would we relefrom the study of Torah so they can have time to go around and swim in theand go to the movies? Can we exempt them from the study of Torah so theto secular schools? If I knew that if we would forbid women to stud

give her the opportunity not to study and to deal with idle things, heaven f

, ,

? ?

, ,

Thus, Rabbi Malka maintains that in our days, a woman not studyingcomparable to a woman engaged in idle activity the opposite of the T

statement that compares women studying Torah to people engaging in idle actHe mentions a sermon that was given by Rabbi Sorotzkin, who supportedYaakov school chain for women in Ashkenazic communities, despitecriticisms of changes in the traditional ways of education. 98 The discumainly on the practical level. He understands that reality has changed,declares that the main consideration from his point of view is that rabbigeneration do not oppose what is happening in womens religious eduinstitutions. Moreover, he adds that even the words of Rabbi Eliezer shinterpreted in historical context: the current reality does not allow us towomen from stud

reinterpretation, is novel. He is one of the first to use this kind of reashalakhic discourse. 99


25/36


It is interesting to compare his approach with that of Rabbi Shlomo Mauncle.

lka, his Nachum

artoumJewish

cosm of

odernThe

ich areto treatoroccan

d, a bbinical

s R bi Elijah Hazan, who sent Rabbi Malka to Khartoum we find

ositive positions towards modernity and some novel positions concerningomens status. 103

ed as a judge in the Tel Aviv and Jerusalem rabbinical courts upon immigrating to Israel.An enthusiastic student of Maimonides halakhic tradition, 104 Kapachs expertisewas not limited to traditional Jewish studies. His knowledge of other disciplines,

e (Heb.),9), 90-111.

uestion of

nd Hazan

Betzalel, A Saying of the Jewish Woman of the East, in N. Ilan et-al (eds.), A Good Eye: Dialogue and Polemic in Jewish Culture (Heb.; Tel-Aviv, Herzog Center, 1999), 197-223; Zohar(supra n. 14), ch. 6.

104 S. Daichovsky, Characteristics of the Halakhic Methodology of Rabbi Kapach (Heb.), in Z.Amar and H. Sery (eds.), Sefer Zikkaron Le-Rav Yosef ben David Kapa x Z.T.L. , 2d ed. (Ramat-Gan,2006), 23-28.

100 The personal history of Rabbi Shlomo Malka was discussed byIlan, who wrote about his position as rabbi of the Jewish community of Khin Sudan. This community was relatively small and was connected to thecommunity of Egypt. The changes in this community, which was a microMizra i Jewish communities, ax llow us to learn about the processes that took placein the first half of the 20th century.

The analysis of Rabbi Malkas publications teaches that he adopted a moutlook concerning womens place in public life, including education. 101

common processes they go through in respective communities, whundergoing an accelerated process of modernization, and their attemptsthese phenomena in similar fashion, teach us about possible reactions of Mrabbis to secularism and also about the rabbinical perspective towards the worl

phenomenon which calls for additional research with regard to other rafigures in Morocco. 102 As Nachum Ilan pointed out with regard to other rabbifor example ab

pw

3. Rabbi Yosef Kapach

Rabbi Yosef Kapach, a leading Sephardic decisor from Yemen, serv

100 N. Ilan, From Morocco to Sudan: Rabbi Shlomo Malka A Leader in Time of Chang

Peamim 80 (199101 N. Ilan, A Conservative Revolutionist: The Position of Rabbi Shlomo Malka on the Q

Jewish Women in Jewish Society in Sudan (Heb.), Peamim 91 (2002), 123-151.102 N. Ilan, The Tolerance of Rabbi Shlomo Malka and its Limits (Heb.), in Orfali a

(supra n. 89), 16-30.103 Y.


26/36


including philology

tings.al Jewish

of

beginsishnah

fferenceves that

ser hand,

they areKapach

y women wouldruled inview of

thatorah asa-torah

c notions are inferred throughnai, and

hich are

h in thisshould say that there is no prohibition on the entire

ed on thed of the

first chapter of Mishnah Hagigah, have what to rel there isno prohibition to teach them. 107

ya Gaonseb.), ibid., 132-146; H. Shay, Rabbi Kapachs Translation of

), ibid., 147-166.106 Z. Amar, Some Principles of Rabbi Kapachs Method of Identifying Plants and Other Realia

(Heb.), ibid., 68-73; Y. Seri, Rabbi Kapachs Tradition About Translation of Animal Names in theTorah, (Heb.), ibid., 82-93; E. Segal, Halakhah and Reality: Three Themes in Rabbi Kapachs Writtenand Oral Works (Heb.), ibid., 94-106.

107Y. Kapach, Ketavim , 1 (Jerusalem, 1989), 103.

105 and biology 106 also influenced his rabbinic wriIndeed most of his published works are scientific editions of medievwritings, specifically Maimonides. He has also published a few halakhic workshis own.

In the 1970s Kapach addressed the issue of womens Torah study. Hewith a discussion of the exact wording of Maimonides commentary on MSotah that prohibits women from studying Torah. He deals with the di

between Rashis interpretation and Maimonides interpretation. Rashi beliethe prohibition of womens Torah study stems from the fear that women will uthe knowledge they acquire to behave immodestly. Maimonides, on the otheclaims that the reason is that women will not appreciate the materialstudying, and they will consider the teachings of Torah to be idle teaching.finds Maimonides interpretation curious and wonders whconsider the Torahs teaching as idle. He also wonders why Maimonidesaccordance with Rabbi Eliezer, since Rabbi Eliezer represents the halakhicBeit Shammai, a view which, when disputed, is generally not accepted.

Rabbi Kapach proposes a novel explanation of Maimonides. He thinksMaimonides sees the focus of the prohibition of women studying Treferring to the thirteen exegetical techniques of the rabbis ( middot she-hnidreshet bahen ). He explains that many halakhimidrashic exegesis and are based on the tradition given to Moses at Siwomen will not understand this aspect of the Oral Torah. They will thereforeconsider disagreements among the sages about midrashic interpretation wfar from the plain meaning of the text to be idle teaching.

His conclusion is that the prohibition applies only to teaching Halakhamanner: From now on youOral Torah, but only on those that are really oral and are ostensibly basmidrashic techniques. But those that have solid foundations, as in the en

y on. Regarding this

105 E. Schlossberg, The Contribution of Rabbi Kapach to the Study of Rabbi Saad

Commentary on the Torah (HMaimonides Commentary on the Mishnah (Heb.


27/36


' ' , '

.

Why does Maimonides distinguish Oral Torah from written Torah?Kapach doesnt have a convincing explanation of this. He concludMaimonides had a source that we do not have today. In any case, he clawomen can study on their own and that women can teach other women. Hteacher can study Talmud so that she can properly teach written Torah, andalso teach her students. He adds that the prohibition is that a father cannohis daughter, and some say that this means only that a man is not alloweda woman. He also says that a woman who is adamant t

'

Rabbies that

ims thatence a

she cant teach

to teacho study Talmud is not like

such aoes not, which

give

wever,ry, andity. He

t of thed

currentals with

ontext. parisones whounique

etation,hich haschangesshed to

allow women to study Torah to whatever extent was possible according to the

xts, even at the price of an interpretation which is far from thene.

sponsum testifies to a change in accepted values. It hasonly one parallel, in the writings of the 7th Lubavitcher Rebbe, which also reflect

108 Ibid, 104.109 Ibid, 105.

most women, who Maimonides feared would misunderstand Oral Torah;woman should not be discouraged from studying. 108 This, of course, drefer to commandments which women must study so they may fulfill themshould be studied in depth. For if a woman does not do so, she mightimproper weight to certain commandments or their details. 109

All of this applies to the study of Mishnah, Talmud and halakhah. Howith regard to Jewish philosophy, Rabbi Kapach writes that this is mandatoall women should study it according to their level of intellectual capacquotes Maimonides in the Guide to the Perplexed, who wroite that par knowledge of God is derived from the study of nature, so women and men shoul

be taught elements of mathematics, physics, geometry and astronomy.

Rabbi Kapachs conclusion doesnt really mention changes in perceptions as the reason behind his response. Most of his discussion defundamental aspects of the issue, without considering the historical cHowever his response does reflect a changed perception of women in comto that of the other decisors discussed here, as well as of other authoritioperated in both the Ashkenazic world and outside. Rabbi Kapachsinterpretation of Maimonides, which contrasts with the accepted interpr testifies both to Rabbi Kapachs halakhic independence, a phenomenon wnot yet been researched properly, and to his desire to address value-relating to womens status in modern society. Clearly, Rabbi Kapach wi

halakhic tetraditional o

This extraordinary re


28/36


changed perceptions of womens roles in modern reality, which I have dealtelsewhere.

withsitated a

orah study, they merely accept de facto that there is reason ponsume part in

ch isents in Jewish philosophy, accounts not only for the

rast between this answer and others, but also for its uniqueness. It isoundbreaking response in expanding the boundaries of.

65 and

e suchessed to

e toen in an

s Toraherakhotto their

lives should be encouraged, so that women will not turn to books of heresy.ov, the

halakhicthat for

fifty years Israeli schools have been teaching young women Mishnah without any

2.

Y. Levine, Rabbi Nissims Responsum about Women and Torah Study (Heb.), Akdamot 13(2003), 33-56.

112 M. Beresh, Rabbi Nissim Ruled that Girls Can Study Torah (Heb.), Yediot A x aronot ,6.4.1961, 2.

113 I discuss this issue in my dissertation; see Fuchs ( supra n. 62), ch. 5.

110 While other responsa recognize the fact that reality neceschange in womens Tfor change. But here we see a positive perception of the change. This resdoesnt condemn past reality, but it recognizes the fact that women can tak the world of Torah study.

It should be noted that the philosophical heritage of Rabbi Kapach, whi based on rationalist elemcontunquestionably a gr

ens Torah studywom

4. Rabbi Yitzchak Nissim

Rabbi Yitzchak Nissim, Chief Sephardic Rabbi of Israel between 191973, was a student of the Babylonian (Iraqi) halakhic tradition and frequentlycited the Ben Ish - ai in his responsa. Yael Levine has published onresponsum on the issue of womens Torah study. 111 This responsum, addr Rabbi Akiva Tennenboim, was prompted by the letter Tennenboim wrot

Nissim after a newspaper publicized 112 that Nissim permitted young wom

important Religious Zionist school to study Torah .113

Tennenboim presented the traditional sources that prohibit women

study, and Nissim clarified that the students in question studied Tractate Bin the Mishnah. Nissim argued that the study of halakhot that are relevantdaily

Nissim also cites the Chafetz Chaims letter of support of Beis Yaak Ashkenazi Orthodox educational school network for girls, and noted thatliterature includes several examples of learned women. Finally, he stated

protest.

110 Fuchs ( supra 62), ch.111

n.


29/36


Rabbi Nissim knew female Torah scholars. 114 Levines research uncoveredissims correspondence with one woman in particular whose letters demonstrateer extensive knowledge of halakhah. While Levine concludes that Nissim did not

ppose the idea of women as halakhic decisors, I believe this conclusion isnfounded.

ily ofthe

sn mostalakhic

rabbinic

Most of the books he wrote are written in a simple style, and target the largedebate,

h. In hisssue of

Halevi of.

Betweenzky (ed.),

265; M.

m, 2003),iversal Political Values and Religious Zionism: A Guide to the Thought of

Nhou

5. Rabbi Chaim David Halevi

Rabbi Chaim David Halevi was born in Jerusalem in 1924 to a famTurkish descent. 115 A graduate of Porat Yosef and Shaarei Tzion, two ofSephardic yeshivot in Israel at the time, Halevi later served as a judge in IsraelSupreme Rabbinical Court. 116 Identifying as a religious Zionist whesupporters of this doctrine were Ashkenazim, Halevi became a prominent hdecisor who played an important role in developing the Sephardicestablishment in Israel.

public that had only basic religious training. He avoids detailed halakhicalthough in some of his halakhic articles he deals with issues in dept 117

halakhic rulings he cites many kabbalistic sources. 118 He discussed the i

114 Levine ( supra n. 111), 39.115 G. Amitai, The Life of My Father, My Teacher, My Rabbi, Rabbi Chaim David

Blessed Memory (Heb.), in A. Sagi et al. (eds.), Yahadut Shel - ayyim (Jerusalem, 2005), 386116 M. Helinger, Religion and State in Religious-Zionist Sephardic Thought

Compartmentalization and a unifing bond Rabbis Uziel and Halevi (Heb.), in A. Ravit Religion and State in Jewish Thought in the Twentieth Century (Heb.; Jerusalem, 2005), 219-Helinger, Modernity, Halakhah and Democracy A Comparison Between the Early Leibowitz andRabbi Chaim David Halevi (Heb.), in A. Berholtz (ed.), Massa El Ha-Halakhah (Jerusale354-384; Z. Zohar, UnRabbi Chaim David Halevi (Heb.), in A. Sagi et al. (eds.), Yahadut Penim Ve- - alog Bein

in an Ageof Rabbi Chaim David Halevi (Heb.), Yisrael 8 (2006), 73-94; A.

im David5.

117 M. Faluch, Rabbi Chaim David Halevi Halakhic and Philosophical Heritage (Heb.),Peamim 81 (2000), 108-119.

118 Y. Ahituv, Popular Kabbalah and Modernism in the Writings of Rabbi Chaim David Halevi(Heb.), in Sagi ( supra n. 115), 13-42; M. Halamish, Kabbalah in the Halakhic Rulings of Rabbi ChaimDavid Halevi (Heb.), ibid., 205-214.

utz: Di

Olamot (Jerusalem 2000), 111-123; Y. Hamitovski, Oz Veshalom : Territorial Compromiseof Redemption in the ThoughtRosenak, Educational Factors and Halakhic Writing: Holiness in the Thought of Rabbi ChaHalevi, Hagut 7 (2006), 171-200;.Amita iibid, pp. 389-39


30/36


Torah study for women in his book Makor - ayyim Li-Benot Yisrael , literally A

e deals

ed, it isansweruses onhe termh. But

rbade women to study Torah,ver, it isse they

try to

ition ishen it is

of thath oneshat her

d this issecular

f Rabbisecond, proach

anges in

Rabbir role in public life.

ssion ofwomen

n. Manyhe daily

religious newspaper of the National Religious movement, Ha-Tzofeh , where hether reason for publishing that responsum. 121

119 C. D. Halevi, Mekor Chaim Li-Benot Yisrael (Tel-Aviv, 1977), 205-208. A shorter version was published in his book Aseh Lekha Rav , 2 (Tel-Aviv, 1978), ch. 52.

120 Faluch ( supra n. 117), 111.121 C. D. Halevi, Mayim Chaim , 2 (Tel-Aviv, 1995), ch. 69.

Source of Life for the Daughters of Israel. 119 To his short halakhic ruling aboutthe subject he added a long footnote, which is actually a letter in which hwith the issues of Torah study for women.

The question was whether, in a period when religious society is threaten justified to teach girls who are high school graduates Oral Torah. Theopens with a discussion of the Mishnah in tractate Sotah. Rabbi Halevi focRabbi Eliezers statement in the Mishnah and notes that he did not use tforbidden; he was merely displeased with women studying ToraMaimonides did not see matters this way, so he foand thus it seems that women are not allowed to study Oral Torah. Howewell known that some women were talmidot x akhamim , probably becaustudied on their own. So at this point Rabbi Halevi says we shouldunderstand why women are allowed to study on their own.

He explains that according to Maimonides, the reason behind this prohibthat most women interpret words of Torah as idle teaching. Therefore, wclear that a woman is studying with proper intentions, she is not partmajority that was forbidden to study. That is why the prohibition to teacdaughter Torah applies only to a young child, when it is not clear wcharacter is. However, after she is an adult there is no such concern, ancertainly the case in a world where, in contrast to the past, women studysubjects.

This response manifests two prominent characteristics of the writings oHalevi. First, his attitude to historical change as a halakhic factor, 120 andhis use of the laws objectives as a source of interpretation. His positive aptowards changes in womens education is part of a larger structure of ch

perceptions concerning the role of women in modern lifer.

In other responsa dealing with the issue of women in judicial roles,Halevi maintained that women should definitely take a biggeEven though he doesnt deal with the material women can study, his discuwomen in judicial roles indicates that he did not see anything wrong withstudying Torah to the extent necessary in order to be ordained as a Dayayears after he wrote this responsum, he published a short article in t

clarified that he had ano


31/36


The article published in Ha-Tzofeh quoted students who maintainedrabbinic prohibition of women studying Torah is not relevant in our time, so weshould be more lenient about it. One of the students said that the approactalmudic rabbis was irrelevant. Rabbi Halevi said that he doesnt understand how areligious woman can say such things, because a decree by the Sages cannullified by the Sanhedrin and because this view completely undermines theauthority of the rabbis and the halakhah. He explained that his ruling pe

that the

h of the

only be

rmittingays, butthat onel realitychangesnatural

imited.

ty ofistorical,m othererationsroles in

n we look at all of his responsa concerning the other in the Jewish worldof non-

oints onwever,

lakhic tools leniently, in alar andcurrent

issue. Itent category than a secular Jew

r a gentile. (Note that changes in reality concerning womens roles alsofluenced the core perceptions of Rabbi Chaim David Halevi.)

This text reflects two important phenomena: (a) it allows women access toy by

sources

122 H. Borgansky, The Attitude of Rabbi Chaim David Halevi to Secular Jews (Heb.), in Sagi(supra n. 115), 43-68; R. Lubitch, The Rightous Among the Nations in the Writings of Rabbi ChaimDavid Halevi: Community and Natural Law and the Attitude to Gentiles, ibid., 215-234; A. Ravitzky,Ways of Peace and the Status of the Gentiles in the Writings of Maimonides: An Exchange of Letterswith Rabbi Chaim David Halevi (Heb.), ibid., 255-285.

women to study Torah was not a leniency which was made up in our dsomething based on the essence of the halakhah. From this we may inferof the bases of Rabbi Halevis rulings was the understanding that socianecessitates permitting women to study Torah, in light of the valueconcerning womens roles in society and the changed perceptions of theirabilities, which in traditional society were considered to be l

Rabbi Halevi operated in a manner which does not undermine the authorihalakhah. He was influenced by considerations both metahalakhic and hwhich find explicit expression in his writings. In this respect he differed frodecisors who did not explicitly state their motives, even though their delibdo reflect between the lines issues of values and of changes in womensthe public sphere and changed perceptions of their natural abilit ies.

Wheit seems that he has a tendency to be lenient. Invest

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