SB posted (in part) ============================= My English translation [Jerusalem Talmud] reads "The words of the Torah should be burnt rather than be taught to women." =============================
Before proceeding further, let me make four comments. 1. We are not Biblical literalists, nor are we Talmudic literalists. The Mishnah and the Gemara are full of contentious arguments among the g'dolei ha'dor (great ones of the generation), among whom I do NOT number myself. Therefore, one argument does not make a halakhah. 2. It is helpful to look at the Mishnah on Sotah to understand what the Talmud is describing. As it happens, my chevruta buddy and I are in the middle of studying Sotah on the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism Daf Yomit listserv (http://uscj.org/archives/MISHNAHYOMIT.html) and hope to finish the Mishnah by 2012. 3. Context is everything. On this issue, see the appended note, and never cite a line out of context. 4. While the Jerusalem Talmud is very important -- and we have Jacob Neusner to thank for brilliant scholarship in this neglected area -- the simple fact of the matter is that the Babylonian Talmud is preeminent. That translation of the two adjacent Mishnah verses reads (UCSJ): =============================== Section/Mishnah 3) Hence Ben Azzai said: a person must teach his daughter Torah, so that if she has to drink [the water of bitterness], she should know that the merit suspends its effect. Section/Mishnah 4) Rabbi Eliezer says: whoever teaches his daughter Torah teaches her lasciviousness. =============================== What does this mean? First of all, Jacob Neusner in his magisterial THE MISHNAH: A NEW TRANSLATION "Whoever teaches Torah to his daughter is as if he teaches her sexual satisfaction." The older Blackman translation renders this, "If any man teach his daughter Law, it is though he taught her lewdness." The ArtScroll translates it this way: "Whoever teaches his daughter Torah, it is as though he teaches her sensuality." BUT HERE IS THE KEY: the preceding verse (see also Section/Mishnah 3 from UCSJ above) reads, "...Ben Azzai says: A man should teach his daughter Torah, so that if she ever drinks {the bitter waters of the Sotah test} she will realize that merit can hold her [punishment] in abeyance. So what is this all about? First of all, this discussion immediately follows a detailed description of the Sotah ritual on ArtScroll pp. 56-57. {Note that the ritual described differs from Torah to Mishnah to Rambam.} Therefore, we are at the absolutely critical point of testing the woman accused of adultery. The Rabbis argued that knowing Torah could delay the effects of the "bitter waters" EVEN IF THE WOMAN WERE GUILTY. There is a prolonged discussion as to how long the effect could be delayed. Having said that, I cannot help but read the cited passage as saying that the Rabbis were terrified that teaching Torah etc. to a woman would lead her to think -- erroneously -- that knowing Torah would be like a "Get out of jail free" Monopoly card. THEY WERE NOT MAKING A BLANKET ATTACK ON THE PRINCIPLE OF TEACHING TORAH TO WOMEN. To substantiate that position, let me quote from the Art Scroll's citation of the Chofetz Chaim on this issue (P. 58): ..."It seems to me that this [law] applied only in earlier times when everyone lived in the place of his forefathers and the tradition of the parents held sway over everyone to conduct himself in the manner of his parents....{scripture quote Deut. 32:7}...In such a situation, we could say that [a woman] should not study Torah and that she should rely instead on the example of her upright forefathers. But now, as a result of our abundant iniquities, when the tradition of parents is exceedingly weakened and it is prevalent that one does live in the locale of his parents at all -- and this applies especially to those who are accustomed to study in the script and the language of the gentiles -- it is certainly a great mitzvah to teach them Chumash, as well as Neviim and Kesuvim, and the ethical teachings of our Sages, such as the tractate Avos and the work of Menoras HaMaor, and so on. Thus our faith will become fortified among other women...." See http://www.torah.org/learning/halashon/ccbio.html and note that he was born in 1838. And the UCSJ commentator, Rabbi Siegel, says: ==================================== This mishnah begins by describing what happens immediately after the sotah drinks the water. The second half of the mishnah broaches the idea that if the woman has some type of "merit" the effect that the waters have on her is delayed, even if she did commit adultery. Part of this mishnah deals with women studying Torah, an issue which is of great importance in our society. We should remember that in the past century great advances were made in providing women with proper education in Torah. Some of the statements in this mishnah are, to put it mildly, not flattering to women and do not reflect the society in which we live or women's place in that society. ==================================== FINALLY, I want to comment on the issue of context. When I studied Philosophy and Religion with the great teacher and scholar, Paul Schilpp, (http://www.opencourtbooks.com/categories/llp.htm) at Northwestern half a century ago, he started a course on Christian Scriptures (specifically, the Synoptic Gospels) with the following three quotes from KJ: 1. "And Judas went and hanged himself." 2. "Go thou and do likewise." 3. "And what thou doest, do speedily." You can dig out the sources yourself from http://bible.cc/ When the embarrassed laughter died down, he said, quietly, "Never quote text out of context." He spent the rest of that quarter on critical analysis of texts and the contexts in which they were written. We can and should do no less when studying our own texts. B'shalom _________________________________________________ Dr. Don Weinshank Professor Emeritus Comp. Sci. & Eng. 1520 Sherwood Ave., East Lansing MI 48823-1885 Ph. 517.337.1545 FAX 517.337.1665 http://www.cse.msu.edu/~weinshan Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the AJL =========================================================== Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: Hasafran @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu SUBscribing, SIGNOFF commands send to: Listproc @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu Questions, problems, complaints, compliments;-) send to: galron.1 @ osu.edu Ha-Safran Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org
