Episode 12: Torah Study for Women

00:01 Continuing the story of the history of Chassidus, and the account of the Maharal of Prague and his family line, which eventually led to the birth of Rabbi Schneur Zalman, the Alter Rebbe, who founded Chabad Chassidus, we bring here passages describing the difference in outlook between the Kabbalists, who preceded Chassidus—those who studied Kabbalah, taught it, and spread its teachings—and their opponents, who opposed the study of Kabbalah, among other things. Those who studied Kabbalah, for example, also taught Torah to their daughters. Those who opposed Kabbalah objected to girls studying Torah. We follow this whole process through Rabbi Schneur Zalman, the son of that Rabbi Moshe whom we remember as a grandson of the Maharal of Prague. His son, Rabbi Schneur Zalman, marries Rachel, the daughter of Rabbi Boruch Batlan. The fundamental difference between Rabbi Moshe, the Maharal’s grandson, and Rabbi Boruch Batlan is that Rabbi Moshe opposes the study of Kabbalah, while Rabbi Boruch Batlan is a chossid of Rabbi Yoel Baal Shem of Zamość. As we recall, Rabbi Yoel was a student of Rabbi Adam Baal Shem, who was a student of Rabbi Eliyahu Baal Shem of Worms, the first of the tzaddikim to begin spreading the study of Kabbalah. So Rabbi Boruch Batlan, Rabbi Yoel’s student, was a chossid and also taught his daughter Torah. But Rabbi Schneur Zalman, Rachel’s husband and Rabbi Moshe’s son, held that girls should not be taught Torah. Rachel therefore did not reveal to her husband that she was, in fact, a great Torah scholar—perhaps even a greater scholar than he was. Let’s continue with the story. As long as Rabbi Schneur Zalman lived in the wealthy home of his father, Rabbi Moshe, he lacked nothing. Later, though, when the whole family left Poznań and wandered to Poland, Rabbi Schneur Zalman began to suffer financial hardship, because his view was

03:05 as we have already said, that girls should not be taught Torah. He left his daughter Devorah Leah—yes, his daughter with Rachel—without an education. So their daughter Devorah Leah was left without Torah study, even though Rabbi Schneur Zalman’s wife Rachel was a great Torah scholar, as we have discussed and explained. Although Rachel did not share her husband’s view that girls should not study Torah, she respected his wish that their daughter not study it. Now we come to a conversation between Rachel, Rabbi Schneur Zalman’s wife, and her daughter Devorah Leah. She says to her: “Now, my daughter,” said Rebbetzin Rachel, “you know how your father, Rabbi Schneur Zalman, was educated among Torah giants and G-d-fearing people who nevertheless strongly opposed teaching Torah to their daughters. I, by contrast, was brought up among great scholars of Kabbalah and mussar who also cherish ordinary people, and whose view is clear that girls, too, should study Torah. These two approaches to education come from two views in the Gemara. One view says that a person should teach Torah to his daughter as well. The other says he should not. Even the view that says he should not does not forbid women to study. Rather, it holds that he is not obligated to teach his daughter Torah, and that the study might even do harm.” Devorah’le asks her mother, “How could Torah study harm women? Why are boys obligated to study, and what is more, the more diligently they study, the more praiseworthy it is? Why might study harm girls?” Her mother Rachel answers her: “People’s natures differ. Our Sages taught us in the Mishnah, in tractate Sanhedrin, that people differ from one another in their faces, their features, and their appearance.” In fact, Rachel explains to her daughter, everything Hakadosh Boruch Hu created in His world falls into four general categories. The lowest is the inanimate: stones, earth, metals, and more. Above it is the plant kingdom, such as

06:16 trees, grasses, herbs, and the like. Above that are living creatures: domestic animals, wild animals, birds, creeping creatures, and fish. And above that is the finest category, humankind, called “the speaking being.” In the way Hakadosh Boruch Hu created human beings, they have an advantage over the other three categories. All four categories—the inanimate, plants, animals, and humans—have a soul. For everything G-d created, whether on land, in water, or in the heavens—the sun, moon, stars, and angels—Hakadosh Boruch Hu created with a body and a soul. The soul gives life to the body. Rebbetzin Rachel explains that the soul of each created being accords with its body. So the soul of a plant cannot be compared to that of an inanimate object, and the soul of a human being cannot be compared to that of an animal. Likewise, the souls of the angels differ from those of the heavenly host—the sun, moon, and stars. The heavenly host differs from the creatures of the earth and also from the angels, for it is made of finer matter than the creatures of the earth. But they are all composed of four fundamental elements: fire, air, water, and earth. The host of heaven—the angels, however—are composed of only two elements, air and fire, as we say: “He makes His angels winds, His ministers a flaming fire.” As noted, Rebbetzin Rachel continues to explain, all four categories of created beings—the inanimate, plants, animals, and humans—have a soul. In each created being, the quality of its soul corresponds to its physical body. There must therefore also be four kinds of souls: the inanimate soul, the growing soul, the animal or vital soul, and the speaking soul. Rebbetzin Rachel goes on to explain that each of the three lower categories—the inanimate, plants, and animals—contains all three of those souls: the inanimate, the growing, and the animal soul. But the dominant soul is the one that corresponds to its nature.

09:42 Take a stone, for example: it is inanimate. It also has a growing soul, for it grows from small to large, and it has a vital soul, for it is alive. But in an inanimate object, those two souls are concealed and not readily visible. A stone’s growth takes many years, and its life shows no movement. Its principal soul is the inanimate soul. In a plant, the body is inanimate, and it also has a vital soul, but its principal soul is the growing soul. That is especially evident in this created being, because it grows. Animals, too, have bodies that grow from small to large—that is the work of the growing soul. But the principal soul in an animal is the vital soul, which finds expression in the movement of its limbs. As the familiar rule says, every living thing moves. Above all these is the human being, the foremost of created beings. In addition to all the others, Hakadosh Boruch Hu placed within a person an intellectual soul. The intellectual soul can reason: it can take an idea, develop it, understand it, and delve into any subject, whether science or another field of knowledge. It can also convey these things publicly, speaking in clear language. In this respect, the soul of a speaking human being is higher even than the ministering angels. The human being is the central creation in all that Hakadosh Boruch Hu created. The Sages of the Gemara said that a person has six characteristics: in three, a person resembles animals, and in three, angels. What joins these two extremes—the resemblance to animals and the resemblance to angels—is the unique soul of a Jewish person, which is revealed only through Torah study and the observance of Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s mitzvos. At the same time, every person has different views and different talents. In some people, those talents develop and become apparent; in others, they show themselves less. And so there are

12:41 People have different characters. It depends on their surroundings, on their upbringing, and on their inner development. The human species, known as the speaking species, is divided into two distinct groups: men on one side and women on the other. This division is not only physical, Rebbetzin Rivkah explained. A man’s body differs from a woman’s, but there is also a spiritual and psychological difference in their natures, their character traits, their intellect, and the workings of their souls. Hashem created the man with a firm nature and the woman with a gentle nature. Firmness and gentleness are two traits in human nature, and of course, each has its advantages and can also have its shortcomings. When it comes to studying knowledge and Torah, firmness has an advantage over gentleness, because a firm nature learns things as they are. A woman’s gentle nature, however, may be subject to change and to uncertainty, unlike a firm nature, which holds fast to its understanding. When Hashem gave us the Torah, which includes mitzvos for both women and men, He said to Moshe Rabbeinu, “Thus shall you say to the house of Yaakov and tell the children of Israel.” “The house of Yaakov” refers to the women, and “the children of Israel” to the men. Hashem instructed Moshe Rabbeinu to address the women, whose nature is gentle, in gentle language, called “saying.” The men, whose nature is firm, He instructed Moshe Rabbeinu to address with “speaking”—not “saying,” but “speaking,” which is forceful. And because women have a gentle nature, which may be subject to change, some of the sages of the Gemara hold that Torah study, whose main purpose is instruction in the halachos of positive and prohibitive mitzvos, should not be taught to women. They hold that, because of their gentle nature, women would not be able to delve into the depths of the halachos and might make mistakes. Furthermore, they would not have the same firmness in orderly conduct as men, whose nature is firm. All

15:51 of this Rebbetzin Rivkah explained to her daughter Devorah Leah in response to her question about why boys study Torah while girls do not need to. Devorah Leah, despite being a very young girl, understood her mother’s explanation well. In her great joy, she kissed her mother’s hands in gratitude for explaining to her the basic reasons of those who oppose teaching Torah to women. She asked her mother, Rivkah, to tell her about her own upbringing and how she had behaved as a child. Then, Devorah’le said, she too would try to behave that way. Devorah’le was very reserved by nature, and she had even concealed from her mother what she had already learned of Torah. For example, she had learned how to write in Lashon Hakodesh. She had obtained a textbook and spent a year learning to write clear Hebrew in a fine hand. So she sat down and wrote out all the stories her mother told her, going over them many times. She was in very good spirits, hoping that her mother, Rivkah, would indeed set a regular time to study Torah with her.