Weekly Dvar Torah: Torah and the Jewish Woman
Preparing for Matan Torah.
When Hashem spoke to Moshe and instructed him to prepare the Jewish people to receive the Torah, He said; כֹּה תֹאמַר לְבֵית יַעֲקֹב וְתַגֵּיד לִבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל. “So shall you say to the house of Jacob and tell the sons of Israel”
The Midrash says that “the house of Jacob”, are the women. Why are they called the “the house of Jacob”, because the woman is the one who builds the Jewish home, nurtures the Jewish home, and basically, she is the one who keeps the Jewish nation going.
Therefore, G-d tells Moses, first you shall speak to “the house of Jacob”, because they are a most important component of the Jewish people. Now that the Jewish people are going to establish their identity as a nation by receiving the Torah, you must first talk to the women.
What is it about the woman that makes her so central to Torah and the Jewish people?
I think that we must clear the air first.
In modern culture the housewife and mother for some reason are seen to have a secondary role. The man is the breadwinner, he goes to work, he produces and he invents, and makes money. The mother, however, is seen as the backbencher, who does all the less important work.
Now think for a moment, what would the world look like if we had no mothers, no housewives, nobody who looks after the children, or for that matter, gives birth to the children. What would we ever have? No home to come to, no family, no structure, because all we are busy with is pretending for others what great achievers we are.
Without the woman, we have nothing to live for, we have nothing to go to work for, we have nothing to invent for. Period.
This is why the woman is called the עֲקֶרֶת הַבַּיִת = the foundation of the home, she is the ְבֵית יַעֲקֹב = the house of Jacob, she is the house who makes the home.
The same applies to Torah. Many have the wrong understanding as to why women are relieved of doing Mitzvos that are time limited. They think that this gives the woman a second-class status in Yiddishkeit.
Truthfully, a Woman has a far more superior role in Torah being a mother and housewife, than any man. Even the most devout man cannot fulfil his mission without the foundation, that is the woman.
One cannot keep most Mitzvos if there is no home. No children. And of course, no wife.
Therefore, before we approach the receiving of the Torah, Moshe must talk to the women. The house of Israel. Because if there is no house there is no Torah.
Let me explain. Manhood needs the Torah to make you a good person, because by nature if you have no structure and no guidance, you can and will be out of control. You need something to get you under control. You also need a purpose and reason for doing all that you are doing.
A woman doesn’t need any of this control. Because the best of life, and all the beauty of life, is already naturally ingrained in her essence.
Just look what happened long before the Torah was given. When Amram, the leader of the Jews in Egypt, divorced his wife because of the decree by Pharaoh to kill all newborn males, it was Miriam who convinced him to get back with his wife in order to have Moses, the redeemer of the Jews. And what did the righteous Jewish women do when their husbands were slaving away for the Egyptians? They would meet them in the fields, and entice them to have more children to make the Jewish nation grow ever more, even in Egypt. And G-d credited this act of the women, as a reason to redeem the Jews from Egypt.
And this all happened even before G-d declared the Jews as a nation at Sinai. Because the women don’t need the structure in order to know what’s the right thing to do. Therefore, they didn’t need to be burdened by the keeping of Mitzvos that takes them away from the original and most important task, which is to build the Jewish nation.
Also, after the Torah was given, the women proved themselves far better than the men. They didn’t participate in the worshipping of the golden calf. They were the ones who begged for a share in the Holy land. They are the ones who teach the children first about G-d, and the first words of Torah. And they create an environment of a Jewish home for the husband and growing children. And they are the ones who perpetuate the growth of the Jewish nation.
Every year when it comes to the time of Matan Torah, we remember that the women were spoken to first, because they are the nurturers of Torah and the Jewish family. And what is so special about the Jewish woman, is that she welcomes the Torah again with such enthusiasm and with the same excitement as she welcomes her husband and children every time they come home, and she creates for them a warm environment, so they can feel comfortable at home.
A man is like the day laborer who needs structure. A woman is a natural producer with love and warmth, something a man can only manage after he really keeps Torah with all its particulars. The woman is far superior to the man naturally. Therefore, before you get the manual of how to do your work, make sure that you have a home. And this is how Hashem approached the giving of the Torah.
Have a Homecoming of a Shabbos,
Gut Shabbos
Rabbi Yosef Katzman
