Women's Role in Judaism

Judaism is multifaceted. If we would want to reduce all of Judaism’s goals into just a few categories, it can be said that its objective is threefold. Judaism is about bringing light, holiness and purity, into our own lives, our homes and to the entire world. These three ideals are the three traits associated with women in particular.

Named After a Woman

When we come across a Torah portion named after a woman, it is only natural to reflect on the Torah’s view of women and their role in Judaism. This is obviously the case this week when we read the Torah portion entitled, Chayei Sarah, “The Life of Sarah.” One does not have to look much further to find direct references to the unique view Judaism has of the woman and her special qualities.

When Isaac was introduced to his wife Rebecca, the Torah relates he was duly impressed with her, because her presence in his home reminded him of his mother Sarah, and thus the best choice for his partner in life and the Matriarch of the Jewish nation.

Three Miracles

What was it about Rebecca that was so impressive?

To answer this question it is important to examine the way the Torah describes Isaac’s marriage to Rebecca:

And Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent, and he married Rebecca.

Rashi explains that Isaac was convinced that Rebecca was a suitable match for him, when he brought her into his home and saw her resemblance to his mother Sarah.

What was it about Rebecca that so reminded him of Sarah?

Our sages tell us that three very special things occurred.

Firstly, our sages tell us that when Sarah was alive, the candles she lit before the Shabbos would last, miraculously, until the next Shabbos. They remained lit for an entire week; until she was ready to rekindle them for the next Sabbath. This Chanukah-esque miracle was an expression of the spiritual light that dominated the home in Sarah inhabited.

[Yes, even the Matriarchs knew about the Sabbath and the need to usher it in by lighting candles! According to Talmudic tradition, the Patriarchs and the Matriarchs anticipated the practices of Judaism.] A second miracle that occurred in Sarah’s home was that there was always a blessing in her dough; that there was always more dough than the amount of flour and water she used. This was an expression of the holiness and dedication of the process of Jewish food preparation and is reminiscent of the laws of Kashrut which instill holiness into our food.

A third most unusual phenomenon associated with Sarah was the presence of a cloud, indicating the presence of G- d, hovering over her home.

This cloud - similar to the cloud that hovered over Mount Moriah to identify the site where Abraham was to sacrifice his son Isaac, and which became the site for the Holy Temple - was G-d’s way of saying that this home was a pure home; that there were no moral or spiritual obstacles to G-d’s presence there.

With Sarah’s passing, notwithstanding the presence of both Abraham and Isaac in this home, these three miracles disappeared.

When Isaac brought Rebecca back into his home, however, these three occurrences resumed. At that point he recognized the uniqueness of his Rebecca that she possessed the same qualities as Sarah and he therefore married her.

What do these qualities symbolize, and why did these miracles not occur when Abraham and Isaac lived there, after Sarah’s passing and before Rebecca’s rival?

Judaism’s Three-Pronged objective

Judaism is multifaceted. If we would want to reduce all of Judaism’s goals into just a few categories, it can be said that its objective is threefold.

Judaism is about bringing light, holiness and purity, into our own lives, our homes and to the entire world.

To be sure, all of the Mitzvos (commandments) contribute to the illumination, sanctification and purification of our lives, homes and the world. There are, however, three Mitzvos where these ideals are most pronounced and obvious, because the physical performance of these Mitzvos vividly reflect their spiritual character. And these three Mitzvos are the ones that apply specifically to women:

1. The mitzvah of lighting the Shabbos and Holiday candles, before the onset of these holy days.

2. The mitzvah of Challah, separating a piece of dough and dedicating it to G-d. (In Biblical times this would be accomplished by giving it to G-d’s servant, the Kohein. Now, we burn the Challah, but the symbolism remains the same. By extension, the Mitzvah of Challah includes all of Judaism’s dietary laws, whose objective is to sanctify all of what we eat.

3. The mitzvah of family purity and mikveh, that brings spiritual purity and rejuvenation to the marriage and the Jewish home.

Women’s Special Role

According to the Midrash, the one to initiate these three practices and objectives – in a most dramatic fashion – were the Matriarchs, specifically Sarah and Rebecca. Their Shabbos candles illuminated their homes not only on the Shabbos but the entire week. Their dough was blessed because of the sanctity that was instilled into their food. And the cloud that hovered over their home was a sign that G-d felt “comfortable” in their home that was physically and spiritually pure.

These three qualities, purity, light and holiness, are the three traits Judaism asserts are more prevalent among women. Women are better suited to make the home a clean (both physically and spiritually) pure abode for G-d. She is also endowed with the ability to instill light and warmth, holiness and dedication, in ways that the Torah asserts men cannot.

This is certainly the reason that women were given three special Mitzvos of Kashrus (specifically the separation of dough), Family purity (specifically the immersion in the Mikveh and related laws) and the lighting of the Shabbos candles before the Sabbath.

To be sure, contrary to the myth, women are obligated to fulfill most of the 613 Biblical commandments. The foregoing three are not the only Mitzvos a woman was given. Virtually all of the 613 commandments are applicable to women as they are to men. It is just that women were given these foregoing three Mitzvos with which they are to distinguish themselves. However, these three commandments exemplify a woman’s unique status in Judaism. They, and not the men, were given the responsibility to usher in a week of purity, light and holiness.

With the above analysis we can also understand why women were exempted from several of the 613 commandments. It is related to their enhanced connection with light, purity and holiness. All of Judaism rests on the objective of bringing light to the world, purifying it by ridding it of all the negativity and elevating the world to a higher more spiritual and G-dly level.

Since women contribute a disproportionate measure of these three pillars of Judaism they are not in need of some of the Mitzvos that men have to do to accomplish the same goal.

Similarly, our sages tell us it is the women who will usher in the future final redemption, at which time the entire world will be engulfed in purity light and holiness.

Situated in Galus-exile, Divine light is concealed, moral impurity is rampant and the source of Holiness, the Bais Hamikdash-the Holy Temple has still not been rebuilt.

It is therefore the women who observe the three Mitzvos of Shabbos and Holiday candle light, Mikveh and Challah that contribute to the end of Galus and the onset of the true and complete Redemption through Moshiach.

From the book Light from the Future: Parshas Chayei Sarah by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.