I often think of my position in orthodox society as an Orthodox Jewish woman: My love of my religion often conflicts with my feelings as a modern woman who is a product of the feminist revolution.
Today however, I thought about the other side of the coin: How does it feel to be an Orthodox Jewish man? The token feminist anwser of course, would deal with the subconcious internalization of man's dominant position, and the viewing of this position as normal.
But I don't want to settle for that anwser, because I'm not sure that its right, and even if it is right, it is only part of the story. How would I view it if I were obligated to attend minyan three times a day, to encase myself in phylacteries, to spend time studying Torah, to volunteer to be the shaliach tzibur if no one else was available, unable to leave for class in the middle of shacarit because my doing so would prevent someone from saying kaddish?
I probably would resent it, and maybe even grow jealous of women, who don't have all of those cumbersome obligations. So not only would I not understand how a woman could actually complain about being counted for a minyan, I would wish that I were not counted, and not understand how she fails to appreciate her luck and her freedom.
Of course, I am not an Orthodox Jewish man, and these speculations of mine could be totally off, but I think that women must recognize that while desire to grow closer to God may lead to desire for more religious obligations and rights within the Jewish community, our position may not be as disadvantegous as it seems.
(Especially if one buys into the apologist theories that a: Women are gifted with a higher spiritual intuition which allows them to connect more directly to God, without the medium of certain mitzvot that are necessary to men, who are on a lower spiritual level and thus need those mitzvot to guide them b: Women are not obligated in time-bound mitzvot, because those mitzvot are supposed to remind one of the importance of time, the ephemarality of life, and dedicating time to God, and women, due to their natural cycles, are more in-tune to the passage of/preciousness of time than men.)
On the apologist theories, my reading of the gemara was always that the "women are exempt from mitzvot asei she-hazman grama" idea was a mnemonic, an easy way to remember some subset of things women are exempt from, and not actually a fundamental principle. That's what it seems to me Rav Yochanan says. That's primarily the reason I don't buy the apologist explanation - I'm not sure Chazal ever thought there was any actual meaning to the category per se, so it seems like a modern chiddush. Much in the spirit of your third way of interpretation - if you can find meaning in it and enhance your spirituality, great, but not at the cost of actual halakhic content.
ReplyDeleteSource is Kiddushin 33b-34a, punctuated by me, copied from Mechon Mamre (http://www.mechon-mamre.org/b/l/l3701.htm):
ת"ר: איזוהי מצות עשה שהזמן גרמא? סוכה, ולולב, שופר, וציצית, ותפילין. ואיזוהי מצות עשה שלא הזמן גרמא? מזוזה, מעקה, אבידה, ושילוח הקן. וכללא הוא?! הרי מצה, שמחה, הקהל - דמצות עשה שהזמן גרמא - ונשים חייבות! ותו, והרי תלמוד תורה, פריה ורביה, ופדיון הבן - דלאו מצות עשה שהזמן גרמא הוא - ונשים פטורות! אמר רבי יוחנן: אין למדין מן הכללות.