2. Jewish History; Where Are The Women?
1. The Bible
Although the focus of this article is modern Israel, let us begin with a
brief survey of the place and the role of women within the broad Jewish historical
story. As we survey Jewish history in general, there is no question that it
is seen largely as a history of men and their deeds. Starting from the Tanach,
the number of women who are mentioned in central roles is extremely small.
There are indeed a number of women who are always mentioned as being important
in the Biblical account, but even a brief appraisal will reveal the obvious
fact that most of them play secondary and minor roles, receiving their importance
by virtue of their influence on the story of the men who are the central characters
in the story.
The matriarchs have a significant role in the early Bereishit stories but
they are hardly the movers and shakers of those stories. It is true that with
them, we have full three dimensional pictures of female characters but their
importance is primarily, if not exclusively, in their influence on the continuation
of the male line down which the axis of continuity will be passed. Sarah,
for example, derives importance from her status as the wife of Abraham, but
Abraham’s status is in no way conditional upon his role as Sarah’s
husband.
As we go down the chronological line we encounter the significant figure
of Miriam, the sister of Moses, but once again it is hard
to resist the conclusion that her importance in the story as it has come down
to us derives primarily from her role as the-sister-of rather than as a person
in her own right. The only real leader or significant woman in her own right
in the early historical record is Devorah, and it is hardly coincidental that
she comes to the fore at the time of the Judges when the whole traditional
leadership structure is thrown into chaos by a serious of local wars with
which the established leaders are unable to cope. Only in such circumstances,
it might be suggested, is there a chance for individuals to be accepted in
leadership roles without reference to their role in the usual social hierarchy.
Thus, only now would it be likely to find a woman in such a leadership role.
In the later books of the Bible we find the important figure of Esther.
In the Jewish tradition, she has traditionally been seen, together with Mordechai
as a leader and a saviour of the Jews, and there are many who continue to
see her in such a light. However, once again there are those modern critics
– not only women – who have questioned this seeing her as an essentially
passive girl who manages to break through the stereotype only for a few brief
moments of glory. When compared with Vashti, her predecessor, there are many
in the feminist camp who see the former Persian queen as a stronger model
of impressive female action.
All in all, the Bible gives few models for Jewish women of later generations
to be more than the-sister-of, the-daughter-of or the-wife-of somebody else
who is decidedly and significantly male! The Biblical record tells us a lot
about men, while our glimpses of women are invariably viewed through the cracks
and interstices of the male stories.
One interesting exception to this is found in the last chapter of the Book
of Proverbs – Mishlei – where we find the text that we call Eishet
Chayil (Woman of Valour) which has become integrated into the domestic liturgy
on Friday night, Erev Shabbat. Here we see a picture of a “woman of
valour” who is a leading figure both in her own domestic “kingdom”
but also in her work as a merchant. This is a significant development, comprising
the most detailed description that we have until now of a woman engaged in
an important economic role, independent of her husband. We will return to
this later.
2. After the Bible
The general tendency of male dominance of the sources continues in the next
period: the second Temple. We have some significant stories about women to
be sure, in the Book of Susannah and the Book of Judith, (the latter of which
is seen by some historians to have been expressly written as a counterpoint
and alternative model to Esther). However, these are minor episodes or stories,
brief interludes in the larger male- dominated picture. For every significant
woman, such as the unnamed mother of the seven martyred sons at the time of
the Maccabees, we have the names of a hundred significant men. (1)
Things are no different in the rabbinic society of the Talmudic period, which
is ushered in by the Temple’s destruction. The stories that have come
down to us are almost exclusively told about – and usually told by –
Rabbis. Through their stories we have a picture of a whole complex Jewish
society. However, once again, women are left on the sidelines, invariably
mentioned in a supporting role in relation to a male character. Indeed, how
could it be different? The central activity of status in the rabbinic period,
the activity that provides the key to status in Rabbinic society, is that
of textual learning - the very activity which is specifically denied to women.
The Batei Midrash (study houses) and Yeshivot, the central institutions of
status within rabbinic society, are exclusively male preserves.
Indeed, we are told that an important dispute took place between the two
leading and contesting schools of thought, the House of Hillel and the House
of Shammai, over the question of how many children a man must have in order
to fulfill the commandment to be fruitful. Shammai opts for two sons as fulfilling
the obligation while Hillel talks of the need for one son and one daughter.
There are those who will point to the fact that the “winning”
opinion here is that of Hillel (as nearly always in such disputes!), in order
to counter the charge of bias in favour of males. But in fact, the truth is
very different. A society in which one of the two leading schools of opinion
could side with such a strong preference for boys as the key to fulfilling
the Halachic (legal) obligation, is a society where the issue is very much
alive and kicking!
The apologists might – and do – point to the presence of women
like Beruriah, the wife of Rabbi Meir, Imma Shalom,
the wife of Rabbi Eliezer and Yalta the wife of Rabbi Nahman as examples of
women who have an independent status, praised for their wisdom, their knowledge
and their good deeds independently of their husband. But once again, in almost
every case their stories come through to us as part of their husband’s
larger and far more complete stories, and without in any way taking away from
their importance, these women are only known because they are so exceptional
in their time.
Thus, as we come to the long medieval period in Jewish history, we have very
few models of active, central women from preceding periods that could guide
later women. Within the framework of Rabbinic and Halachic society, it was
very hard, if not impossible, for women to break out of the constraints of
their traditional domestic roles. The one major role where we do occasionally
find women playing significant roles is in commerce. In some Diaspora centres,
such as Spain and the Spanish Diaspora, we hear of women who are engaged in
significant independent economic activity, returning us to the aforementioned
model of Eishet Chayil, the Woman of Valour. One exceptional woman, Donna
Gracia Mendes, even played a formative and independent role in developing
the idea of using Jewish economic power to help oppressed Jews.
This role of the Jewish merchant-woman actually becomes accentuated in certain
places as the trend develops for men to involve themselves in full time Halachic
study, leading to a more important role as primary bread winner for many women.
This latter tendency should not be undervalued. Nevertheless, it is important
to remember as a corrective to any over-idealised picture, that the reason
for the development of the role of woman as the central bread-winner is that
men are involved in the high-status task of study which is closed off to women!
1.
There are those who will no doubt protest saying that the mother in question
has a name - Hannah - but the truth is that that name was only given to her
in the sixteenth century when the story was rewritten by a contemporary writer.
Some of the later rabbinic books gave her the name Miriam, but the original
mentions of her were all anonymous!