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Question:
Dear Rabbi Weiman,
I am wondering what do you believe and teach on women and "their
place" in the home, in the Jewish Community and in society?
And do you ever have classes on this?
Thank you.
Respectfully,
Diane
Answer:
Dear Diane,
Thanks for your email. Women’s issues come up in classes
fairly often but I don’t have much written material on the
topic. I usually find handling specific questions on an individual
basis more useful. But here is my basic response:
The core issues of life, which is what Kabbalah focuses on, are
the same for men and women. It’s much more important for
a woman to think about her relationship with G-d, than roles.
For example, if a woman is given a gift for management, she should
think of how best to serve God with that talent. The other issues
of being in the home and raising children etc. may fall into place.
She could use that gift in business, or volunteering for a non-profit,
community service or in her own home.
A woman, just like a man, should strive for a relationship with
God, and to reach her absolute greatest spiritual potential, and
when she gets close to reaching that potential, she can pray for
more potential, and while she’s doing that, she can think
about fixing the entire world, bringing about world peace, and
global consciousness of the Infinite and His will for mankind.
You see, ultimately the “roles” can be detrimental.
The needs of the times may dictate a change of roles. In the times
of Devorah the prophetess it was an embarrassment to the men to
have a woman be the top authority in Law, yet she knew that she
should and needed to fulfill that space, even though it wasn’t
a standard role for a woman.
Generally speaking the sages and prophets of old were men. The
spiritual make-up of men, the society, the psychology etc. made
men more attuned to this role. But, don’t think that a woman
who was inspired to be a sage or a prophetess was held back. There
were many women who fulfilled these roles also.
A woman who is striving to reach her spiritual potential will
be able to figure out on her own if she needs to get herself into
a position of power, hire a man, or inspire a man to take a position
of power. A woman who’s focused on roles may miss out on
the bigger picture.
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