Obviously, when we talk about any subject, including the subject of the role of the Jewish woman, it's all based on what we learn in the תורה. How do we know what the role is supposed to be? Not from what people do, and not from what people decide, but what the תורה tells us. So we have to look in what the תורה tells us about the role of the Jewish woman. But the תורה doesn't only tell us what her role is, but the תורה actually tells us stories about those people who are supposed to be the role models to כלל ישראל, to the Jewish nation, of what was concerning them, and from there we could understand, what is the role of the Jewish woman? Now who are the models for the men and the women? Those are the אבות and the אימהות, our forefathers and the mothers, which is אברהם, יצחק, and יעקב, and שרה, רבקה, רחל, and לאה. And being that they are the fathers and the mothers, all future generations are supposed to follow in their footsteps, and therefore what we find concerning the role of the Jewish woman by the אימהות, this this from this we could understand what is the role of the Jewish woman later on by all generations, including our generation, and later on. So we find in the תורה right away, when it speaks about אברהם אבינו, we all know that when אברהם and שרה had a dispute, it was concerning whether ישמעאל should be sent away from home for the benefit of the education of יצחק, and שרה said that he has to go, and יצחק said and אברהם, I mean, said that he should stay, השם said to אברהם, \"כל אשר תאמר אליך שרה שמע בקולה.\" Whatever שרה will tell you, listen to her voice. And as the חזל, the rabbis, tell us, השם meant listen בקול רוח הקודש שלה, listen to the voice of the holy spirit, of the רוח הקודש that was in her. And as the חזל say, that the אימהות, the mothers, were גדולות, were greater in רוח הקודש, greater in נבואה, in prophecy, than the אבות, which means that שרה was greater in רוח הקודש, in the level of prophecy, than אברהם. And so was יצחק, רבקה compared to יצחק, and the other ones. So here we do see one thing, that the woman, in this case שרה, played a very important role, that she understood, so to speak, כביכול, better than אברהם how to educate the children. The same we find concerning יצחק and רבקה. It says that יצחק loved עשו, ורבקה אוהבת את יעקב, רבקה loved יעקב. And learning simple פשט, not going into deeper פשטים that חסידות explains, according to the simple פשט, רבקה had a deeper understanding in what's going on with the children than יצחק, which is similar to the case of אברהם and שרה, that שרה had a deeper understanding of what should be done with the children than אברהם. Now why is it, and what is the meaning behind this? So we have to look into the גמרא to see what is really the role of a man and what is the role of the woman. So actually, even though the title of this topic tonight is the role of the Jewish woman, this really includes the role of the Jewish man and the Jewish woman, to understand what is the role of each one. The גמרא tells us very practically, and from that practical statement in the גמרא we could apply it more in a spiritual way and more in a deeper way. The גמרא says like this: when a man goes out, goes out into the market or goes out to work, and he brings home, finally, food, the גמרא's expression is, a man brings home חיטין, brings home wheat. כלום חיטין כוסס? A person could chew wheat? What are you going to do with it? You bring it home, the man brings it home, and then what's going to happen to it? You can't eat it. It's the woman that takes it, cleans it, cooks it, bakes it, prepares it, and makes makes it ready to be eaten, to be used. And the גמרא says, therefore, it comes out that she is מעמידו על רגליו, she sets him on his feet, ומאירה את עיניו, she lights up his eyes. So basically what the גמרא tells us, very simply, concerning a very simple matter, that the man is the one that brings home the merchandise, brings home the items, brings home the food, but she's the one that develops it, she's the one that makes it so that it should be realistic and practical, and makes it in a way that it should be able to be used. So even though the גמרא speaks about food, but really the גמרא is trying to tell us The role, the difference between the role of the man and the role of the woman. The role of the man in the house is to bring in the atmosphere, to bring in the השקפה, the outlook, and bring in the proper feeling and the right behavior that the house is supposed to be built on. But to take those ideas that the husband, the man, has and to apply it in a practical way that the family should be able to benefit from it, and we should be able to actually behave in the proper way according to the philosophy that is supposed to come from the husband, that is the job of the woman. And that's taken from this גמרא, where the גמרא says that he brings the food, and if he wouldn't bring that food, she wouldn't have what to cook. So he, without him there is nothing. On the other hand, he could bring the food, but it's worthless, because if it's not developed and not brought down in a way that it should be able to be used and become realistic, then you have nothing from that food. And that's the difference in the role basically between the man and the woman. The man is able to, השם created the people that way, the man is able to understand and realize and know, obviously he learns and he does all these ענינים that he's supposed to do, but to understand what is really the right thing that's supposed to happen. But how to make it happen, and how to apply it to the children, and to their education, and to things like that, that השם gave the woman more understanding than the man. This is brought out in another statement of the חזל. The גמרא says like this, בינה יתירה ניתנה באשה יותר מבאיש, more בינה was given to the woman than to the man. Now it uses the term בינה. When we talk about the intellect, we all know that there are three parts to the intellect, and who more than Lubavitchers know that? חבד, חכמה, בינה, and דעת, these are three terms. Now in the English they translate one as wisdom, and understanding, and knowledge. I don't know if the English translation really fits to what these words mean, maybe they just picked three words just to have to, you know, to find a translation. But I'll tell you what חסידות tells us is the difference between חכמה and בינה and דעת. Anybody who just touched upon a little bit of learning תניא or anything in חסידות knows the difference, but I'll explain it anyway. They're all three parts of the intellect, but they're three different parts. חכמה is we call it the ברק המבריק, the lightning, is the נקודה, the point. בינה is the development. Using an example, when a person learns a subject, let's take a subject, a page, a דף in גמרא with many deep and details, and there are many questions he has and he doesn't understand it, it's not clear. What do you got to do? What you do is you sit down and you have to think into it. When you start thinking deeper and deeper, what happens is usually, and some people actually, not only because it says in חסידות, some people actually experience it, you sit down and you think about it and you think about it, and then finally what happens is, yeah, I got it! You get the point. You still don't know how this will explain every detail, how everything falls into place, but you got the point of the שכל, of this subject, and that is called like a lightning that comes into your mind. That's called חכמה. חכמה is the נקודה of שכל, the point of שכל. Then when you sit down, after you have that point, now you have to develop it. You sit down and you think about it and you see how it applies to this part, this detail, to that detail, that detail. And afterwards you see, after you develop the שכל through, they call it through בינה, then everything falls into place, and every detail makes sense. So חכמה is the נקודה, and בינה is the development. דעת, really it says, after you have developed your שכל, then you have to think about it again and again and again in order it should, in Yiddish we call it זאל אפלייגן, it should actually be penetrate into your mind. So that's that part. But as far as the understanding of it, חכמה is the נקודה, the point, and בינה is the development. So when the גמרא says, בינה יתירה ניתנה באשה יותר מבאיש, the woman has more בינה, it doesn't say the woman has more חכמה. A woman has חכמה, no one says that she doesn't have חכמה. There is actually a פסוק that says חכמת נשים בנתה ביתה, the חכמה of the women build the homes. So obviously the woman has חכמה. A woman also has דעת. It says נשים דעתן קלות. It says that the woman, their דעת is not so firm. But she has דעת. But it doesn't say the דעת is better than the דעת that a man has. It doesn't doesn't say that her חכמה is greater than the חכמה of the man. The בינה, at, yeah, it says the woman's בינה is greater than the בינה of the man. That means that the expertise of the man is the חכמה, and the expertise of the woman is the בינה. Which means, like I said before, חכמה is the נקודה. The the the man, the husband, is able to have and he should have the נקודה. He should set the tone, as we call it, that נקודה. But then that has to be developed, and how do you develop it? That's her job, to develop it and bring it down in a way that it should be practical. You can have very fancy, nice ideas, but it could be in a higher, higher sphere, in a higher world that it doesn't come down למעשה. A person can have all kinds of philosophies, abstract ideas, and they're not practical, it won't work in the house. You could come and bring it to the house, and the children won't understand it, you won't apply it to their חינוך and to running the house. So השם gave the woman this כח that she's able to take the idea that a man has, which it's up to him to bring that, and without him there is nothing, but she's able to take it and develop it. And this was the difference between אברהם and שרה. אברהם was the one that set the tone. We know אברהם was the one that recognized the truth, the unity of השם. שרה was the one, she followed him. So he brought that philosophy, so to speak, to the home, but she was able, more than אברהם, to apply it to how it's supposed to apply to יצחק and to ישמעאל and what he's supposed to do. That's why השם said, \"You, in this case, you listen to her, to רוח הקודש. She has more רוח הקודש than you.\" The אמהות, which were the women, had more רוח הקודש in this aspect of being able to bring it down practically, realistically to be able to apply it. And that's the difference between חכמה and בינה. The men have more of the חכמה, the women have more of the בינה.

We find that in a different statement of the חז״ל also. The גמרא says, איש ואשה זכו שכינה שרויה ביניהם. A man and a woman, if they're זוכה, if they merit, the שכינה dwells amongst them, השם dwells amongst them. Where do we see it? So the גמרא says like this: The word איש, which means a man in Hebrew, and the word אשה, which means a woman, are basically made up of the same letters. They both have an אלף and a שין. The difference is the man has a יוד, אלף יוד שין, איש is אלף יוד שין, the woman has a ה׳, אלף שין ה׳. So taking out the יוד and the ה׳, י״ק makes up השם's name. So it says איש ואשה, man and a woman, so if they're זוכה, if they merit, then the י״ק, השם, rests between them. חס ושלום, if they don't merit and they don't have the י״ק, then what do they have? אש, which is fire. Then there is fire at home. We know that, unfortunately. But if they merit, if everything's all fine, the שכינה rests between them. Which by the way has nothing to do with this topic, I once heard a ווארט just concerning this מאמר חז״ל in the name of the רבי. I didn't hear it from the רבי by פארברענגען, I didn't see it in a שיחה, but I heard from somebody that the רבי said it to somebody on יחידות. Someone asked the רבי about a couple having one bed, and the question that was asked was, obviously those times of the month that you can't have it, so obviously it'll be separate, what about the other times? Why can't we have one bed? And this person said that he knows that by religious אידן you have, by more פרומע אידן there are two beds, a separation in between. So he said, what about, what's wrong with one bed? So the רבי answered him in a joking way, he said it says that a man and a woman, the שכינה rests between them, you got to give him place. There is no place in between, so where's the שכינה going to come? It's an interesting ווארט. Said, because the לשון הגמרא, the expression in the גמרא is the שכינה is between them, so you got to give the place. Anyway, what it means is that if they behave properly and there is שלום בית, the שכינה is there. But which words, which letters make up the שכינה's name? The י״ק, the יוד and the ה׳, the יוד that's in the man's name and the ה׳ in the woman's name. But what do we see here? That the man has the יוד of השם's name and the woman has the ה׳. What's the difference between the יוד and the ה׳? So again, we learn in חסידות, brought down based on קבלה, that the יוד represents חכמה and the ה׳ represents בינה. And it says why also. The יוד is the dot. What's a יוד? יוד is a dot, that's all it is. A ה׳ is when you take that dot and you make a line. How do you make a line? You start off with a dot, you put your pen down, it's a dot, and then you make a line. So you make a line, you have a width and a depth and a length. When you take the נקודה, the dot, the point of חכמה, and you develop it, and then you get into all the details, what happens then is you take the נקודה of חכמה and you give the this נקודה, depth and width and and and length, the שכל becomes, has all kinds of dimensions. And that's the ה. So it says in קבלה that י is חכמה, and the ה is בינה. And that's exactly what we see here. איש, the man, has the י. So the man has the חכמה. The woman, she has the ה, because she has the בינה. And those are the two roles of the man and the woman. The man has the חכמה and he has, meaning he has the ability, plus he has the obligation, that it's his obligation to bring into the home the proper foundation, the proper foundation, to bring in the נקודה. But it's the obligation of the woman and her ability, more than the man, to take that and to develop it and to bring it out in a way that it should be practical and brought down, she develops it. Which is actually the way השם made it physically, too. Concerning the children, how are how's a child born? The father, the husband, the father is the one that gives, we call it the נקודה, the point, that's all it is, and then nine months it's developed through the mother, and at the end you come out with a complete child. So here too we see that the husband's part is just the נקודה, just the point, or call it the dot, it's נקודה, and the woman's part is the part of development. Which of the two are more important? We can't say. They're both important. It's not like people think that according to תורה the woman is חס ושלום, God forbid, a second class citizen. It's not true. They're both important. It says in in חסידות concerning חכמה and בינה that it's clear that without חכמה you can't have בינה. If you don't have that first dot, there's nothing to develop. You can't develop a שכל, you can't develop an idea if you don't have that first נקודה that you take to develop. On the other hand, it says clearly in חסידות, if you're going to only have that נקודה, you're left with nothing. That נקודה is nothing, it won't explain anything because it's only a נקודה. You must have the development of the נקודה, you must have בינה. And the same thing here. Each one has its function and they're both just as as important. That's why בכלל it says that husband and a wife are compared to the two שבת candles. It says when we light שבת candles you should light at least two. So the reason is because one is for זכור את יום השבת לקדשו, one is for שמור את יום השבת, concerning שבת we find two expressions, but then as far as we know our custom is, I mean nowadays most people have that custom, that you light a candle for every member of the family. So the first two are for the husband and the wife. So you can't say, well, one candle is more important than the other, there are two שבת candles and they're both important. And the same here, the the jobs or the the roles of the man and the woman are both important. One without the other won't work. It's similar to the example given in ספרים that in order to live, you have to have a brain, you have to have a heart. Without the brain, you can't live, and without the heart, you can't live. Could one ask which one is more important? Well, some guys can come and figure out that the brain is the source of it, the other one will say, but the heart is what pumps the blood, they're both true, they're both true, they're both important. And the same thing here, the the role of both are important. On the other hand, when we're talking about the bottom line, the woman's role is more important than the man. Not that her role is more important, but what she accomplishes is the מעשה בפועל. What he does is philosophy, which without his philosophy, without his setting the tone, it won't work, true, but nevertheless, at that point, you haven't accomplished yet what השם wants. But when it comes to her part of the deal, that's when we actually accomplish down here what you're supposed to. That's how, when she brings it down למעשה, in a practical way that the house is run in a way that the that the תורה and the אמונה and everything that's there that's brought into the house is brought down in a realistic way, that's when it's accomplished. So really, if you want to look at it from one way, the the כוונה of השם, the the intentions of השם, are accomplished more when it comes to her department, let's say, to her role, than to his role. That's why you find interesting things.

You find when the יידן went out of מצרים, when it came to make the חטא the עגל, the יידן made a golden calf, they sinned with the חטא העגל, it says that the women did not give. The women did not give their gold to make the golden calf. The men did, the women didn't. The women understood more than the men. Why? Because the men, since their level is more in the philosophical part, So they find found all kinds of philosophical explanations that this golden calf could serve a purpose and that could be an intermediary and could be a god and all kinds of ideas. But the women, that they take this more in a practical way, in a realistic way, they saw that this is not true. So they didn't follow those that sinned with the חטא העגל. And the same thing when we go on further, when it came to the next big sin in the desert, which was the one that caused השם to make a decree that they should stay 40 years in the desert, was the מרגלים. The 12 spies. So it says clearly, the men, it says, said נתנה ראש ונשובה מצרימה, let's make another leader and let's go back to Egypt, and the women did not say that. And the women, we find בנות צלפחד, the daughters of צלפחד, the women, they came and said תנה לנו אחוזה. They said we want ארץ ישראל, we want a share in the land. And the women did not follow what the מרגלים said. And this has a lot of depth to it, because we all know what חסידות explains was the sin of the of the spies, of the מרגלים. Simple פשט is they came back and they spoke לשון הרע against ארץ ישראל and the יידן were afraid and they cried, etc, etc. But in חסידות it says a much deeper פשט. In חסידות it says that the פשט is that the מרגלים were not as bad as it seems. What the מרגלים wanted was they were afraid that if they would come to ארץ ישראל, they would have to get involved in physical matters. When they were in the desert, so there they didn't have to work, they didn't have to plow and plant and all kinds of things. They lived a spiritual life. All their needs were provided by השם in a miraculous way. They had the מן from heaven for bread, they had the water from the well of מרים, they had clothes that the ענני הכבוד, the clouds, would clean for them, would iron it, it would even grow with them, it says. So, they didn't have anything to What did they do all day? They sat and learned תורה and they דאווענט, they were close to השם in a spiritual way, they weren't involved in physical matters. When it came to ארץ ישראל, they saw, \"Oh, we're going to move to ארץ ישראל. What are we going to have to do? We'll have to work in the fields, we'll get involved most of the time in physical matters. Why should we do that?\" So, they came back and they said let's stay in the מדבר. It was a sin, it was wrong because that's not what השם wants. השם wants that we should bring קדושה, holiness, godliness, not to spiritual levels. Bring it down into the physical world, into מעשה. So, that's why the men made the mistake, cause the men, even though in the philosophy of it, the spiritual part of it, they have this idea and they understand it well, but to be practical and to bring it down to earth, bring it down למעשה, that they're lacking. So, they made a mistake and followed the מרגלים. While the women, they didn't make that mistake because they have The women have this ability of being able to take the spiritual matters that's supposed to be brought into the house by the husband and they're able to bring it down and see in a practical way how it should work. And therefore, since that's the כוונה of bringing it down, and going to ארץ ישראל was the idea of taking godliness and bringing it down in a form of practicality, physicality, so the women were able to understand that better. That's why they didn't make a mistake. This is the פשט in the גמרא where it says, איזו היא אשה כשרה, who is called a kosher woman, a proper woman, עושה רצון בעלה, that does her husband's will. Some people say, \"Well, here we see that women really are more like slaves. Whatever the husband wants, that's what they're supposed to do and that's called אשה כשרה.\" That's not the פשט. The פשט is, the meaning here is that she does what he wants. In other words, he, the husband, doesn't have that real ability of doing it, of bringing it down into action, into מעשה. He could have the proper רצון, the will, but when it comes to מעשה, she is better than him. Therefore, what is אשה כשרה? She is עושה! She does, because she has the ability of doing, of being practical, what the רצון בעלה, what the husband has, when by him it's only in the level of רצון, he wants it, but practically, she would understand more than him. The truth is, after she does it, he is able to follow it too. That's why there's another פשט that the רבי learned in the same גמרא. איזו היא אשה כשרה, what is called a kosher woman? That she makes up her husband's will. עושה רצון בעלה, not only she does her husband's will, she makes it, if he doesn't have the proper will, she has the ability of making him have the proper will, the right רצון. Which means that she has the כח of bringing it down in a proper way, in a way that he should also be able to understand it, and then he could follow also. So, this is basically what חסידות says and and other ספרים is the difference in what השם give the role of the man and the woman. It doesn't mean that in certain cases it can't be different. What happens, God for- forbid, if you have a family which with one parent, and it's only the husband or only a father or only a mother, so then definitely השם gives the כוחות that even the father would have the ability, it's a special, exceptional case where השם has the gives the ability, that he should also be able to be practical and bring it down in a practical way. And the same thing the opposite, if a woman has to, you know, play the role of father and mother, she has the ability of that also. But that's an exception, and we always have exceptions, and we know that השם, if he puts a person into a certain circumstance, then he gives him the strength to follow through. But that's not the normal, average way. The normal way is that you have these two roles, and they're both just as important, but on the other hand, like I said before, the one that does it למעשה, down the bottom line, is the woman. That's the reason we find that השם and the אידן, השם and כלל ישראל, are compared to a husband and a wife. Because by השם and the אידן, we find the same thing. השם has the will of דירה בתחתונים. We know השם created the world, it says in חסידות based on a מדרש, why? Because he wants a dwelling place for him in this physical, lower world. He wants it, but who accomplishes it? The אידן. השם is not the one to accomplish it, the אידן are the one that do it! Which is similar to the role of the husband and the wife, and therefore השם is compared to the husband, because the husband is the one that has the רצון, השם had the רצון, he wants this to be accomplished, but the אידן are the ones to accomplish it, which is similar to the job the wife does. She's the one that's able to accomplish it למטה.

Being that this is the bottom line, that what the woman does, that's why it says when משיח will come, נקבה תסובב גבר, says that the woman, the נקבה, the female, is going to surround the man, the male. That means she's going to be in a higher level than the man. Which is the reason why, nowadays, by a חופה, you have the כלה surround, walk around the חתן seven times, and it says the רמז for that is because this is supposed to hint to the future when the נקבה will תסובב גבר, will surround the man. Now what does that mean? It means that there will be, she will have, be in a higher מדרגה than the man. Why? So it says that because the whole, what would be accomplished, when will משיח come? When we actually accomplish דירה בתחתונים, when we fulfill השם's will to make this physical world a dwelling place for השם. Who's the one that does it more, the man or the woman? It's the woman that does it more, and that's why then will be revealed how her job accomplished the bottom line. It's not to minimize his role, because if he wouldn't have his role, she can't do anything, we said before. But nevertheless, when we look practically speaking, what she does is more. That's why a woman is called עקרת הבית. She's the עיקר, she's the most important part, the main part of the house. She is the house! The גמרא actually says, I think רבי יוסי said, מעולם לא קראתי לאשתי אשתי כי אם ביתי, I never call my wife 'wife', I called her 'my house'. She is the house. Doesn't mean the building, she is the home! She is the whole home! It says by a כהן גדול, it says on יום כיפור, it says וכפר בעדו ובעד ביתו, that by bringing the certain קרבנות, sacrifices, that he will forgive, bring forgiveness for himself and for his בית, for his house. What does that mean? So the גמרא says it means his wife. And that's why there's a דין that a כהן גדול must be married on יום כיפור, you can't have a bachelor כהן גדול. All year round there are big different opinions if you're allowed or not. Because, like I said, a regular כהן could be a bachelor, there's no דין that he has to be married. A כהן גדול, there are many opinions all year round that he has to be married, some say yes. But יום כיפור everyone agrees that he must be married. Why? Because the פסוק says וכפר בעדו ובעד ביתו, that he has to bring a forgiveness for his home. And what's the home? That's his wife. Why is the wife called the home? Because what brings the home to it, who leads the home in its proper way is the woman. The husband, טאקע, has to set the tone to bring it into the house, but you can't say that the house is run according to what he says, because that's still in a level which is not so down-to-earth, not so realistic, but she is the home. And that's why when the תורה was given, and השם said to משה רבינו he should speak to the אידן, so he said כה תאמר לבית יעקב ותגיד לבני ישראל, this is how you should speak to בית יעקב, to the home of יעקב, and this is what you should tell to the בני ישראל. What is בית יעקב? So רש״י says it means the women. So first of all he said speak to the women first, but he referred to them as בית יעקב, the home. Why as בית, connected with the home? We all know a home is made of a father and a mother, so they're both the home. Why is she the home? Because what brings the תורה into the home in a practical way that a home should actually have it and run that way, that's her obligation. And the truth is that everyone has to stick to their obligation. When people start reversing roles, then we have a problem. It says that the worst the hardest work for a person is when you reverse the role of the man to the role of the woman. Contrary to what people think nowadays, that there is this woman liberation and they want to do and be like men, it's not it's not I mean they could try, but it's not really the right thing to do, because if a person does what his or her obligation is, then you succeed. It's like trying to say that the heart is going to try to take play the role of the brain, and the brain is going to click play the role of the heart. And they're both important, but you can't change roles. Unless like I said before, sometimes there's a case when השם gives special כוחות for a special situation, that's different. But normally that's how it is. So, says in מצרים they worked very hard. השם made them work עבודת פרך, I mean the פרעה, I'm sorry, made them work עבודת פרך. עבודת פרך means very hard labor. So it says in the חז״ל what was the hard labor? He switched around the jobs of the men he gave it to the women, and the women to the men. And that's called עבודת פרך. Why? Because that's against the nature of the person. And it is not because of any חסרון, anything lacking in either one, it's just השם gave him the nature. Just like physically השם made a nature that this is how the child is born, the same thing here. We see another thing, an interesting thing. When it comes to whether the child is Jewish or not, depends on the mother. Whether the child is a כהן, or a לוי, or a ישראל, or even other things the child is is all kinds of different categories we find in the גמרא, that all depends on the father. But whether the child is Jewish or not, that depends on the mother. Whether the child the child is Jewish or not, that's the essence. Everything else, a כהן or a לוי, they're all Jews. These are different details. This person, the the אידישקייט is expressed in a form of being a כהן, by him the אידישקייט is expressed of being a לוי, he's a ישראל, different forms of being a איד. But the fact whether you're a איד or not, that's the essential point, that's a איד. So the other things, that follows the father. But this follows the mother. What is the reason? So in ספרים we find different reasons, but one of the reasons is this: being that she is the one that is able to bring her job is to develop and bring it down to earth in the way that it should actually be done, that's why she is the one to determine whether the child is Jewish or not. Because, after all, the more important part, I wouldn't use the word important, they're both important, the one that brings it down לפועל into actuality is her. Therefore, השם made that it depend on her whether the child is Jewish or not, because she's the one that does most of it. And this is what the חז״ל tell us is the difference between the role of the man and the woman. The בינה the חכמה is by the man, the בינה is by the woman, and each one has to do his job. And when a person everyone does his job properly, then together you accomplish. The פסוק says, זכר ונקבה ברא אותם ויקרא שמם אדם. He created the male and the female, and He called their name, that means both, אדם. He called them both together אדם. Now אדם here does not mean man. As some people claim, well, you see when you have the זכר and the נקבה, the male and the female, who's the dominating one? It's the man, but it says what did He call them? אדם. Here אדם doesn't mean man, אדם means person. Together, there is one unit, it's not like two separate entities. They together make up one unit, so together, it's an interesting פסוק. It says a זכר and a נקבה of the male and the female, ויקרא שמם, He called their name together, He called אדם. Because only if you have both parts, you are an אדם. Because an אדם is the being that accomplishes what השם wants, and you could only accomplish if you have both sides. That's why the גמרא says, מי שאין לו אשה אינו אדם. One who has no wife is not a person. To be a complete person, you have to have a wife, you have to have both parts, and then together you have one unit. Just like the יוד קיי together make up one name of השם, even though they're two parts. So we don't say, \"Well, there are two parts to השם, God forbid,\" right? There are together, it's one unit. And the same thing here: together it is one unit. That's why the גמרא the זוהר says that a man is a פלג גופא, he's half of a body, and the woman is פלג גופא, half of a body. Each one is a half, and together they make up one unit. It says in the זוהר concerning the נשמה that the נשמה originally was one, and then the נשמה split, and it comes down into this world into two separate bodies, but it's originally one נשמה. And when it comes to two separate bodies, it could be who knows where: one body could be in Australia, one could be in New York, could be far away. And השם makes things happen that these two נשמות meet, and then they unite, and they become one again. And if they're one, each part of this one is not better than the other part, but together they are one unit that make up one. So ויקרא שמם אדם, together they are the אדם, they are the unit of אדם that accomplishes what השם wants us to accomplish in this world. And therefore, when it comes to understand what is the role of the woman, and looking at the other way, what is the role of the man, and which one is more important, and some people say, \"Well, you look at this way, that way.\" They're both important. She has her job, but because of her job, there are certain things she doesn't have of the man, and the man has his job and doesn't have certain things of the woman. For instance, we see the man is obligated in 613 מצוות. A woman is exempt of many מצוות. Does that mean she's exempt because she's less important, so she doesn't have to do so many מצוות? It's not true. The אבודרהם says, why is a woman not obligated in certain מצוות, and which are they? They are מצוות עשה שהזמן גרמא, those מצוות which have a time limit, the women are exempt. So he says why? Because she has other obligations. So if it has no time limit, so she could always find time to do it. But if it has to be done in a special time, could be at that special time she will be obligated to do other things. What is that? To run the home, to take care of the children. So some people say, \"Well, that means that she's like the maid. She only give her If first comes her taking care of the children like the maid, and then if she has time, she'll do מצוות.\" It's not so. That is the most important part! So important that השם took away מצוות from her in order she should be able to do it! So we can't say it's less important. The fact that we say by דאווענען שלא עשני אשה, which means we thank השם not being a woman, only because we look at it that we have more מצוות. But it doesn't take away from the fact that she has other obligations, which the man doesn't have. And certain מצוות is that the reason that they weren't given is because they don't have to be told to do it. I know the רבי once explained the דין is that we know that one of the מצוות is מצות פרו ורבו, to multiply, to have children. Now, the הלכה is that האיש מצווה על פרו ורבו, the man is obligated to fulfill פרו ורבו, to have children, ואין האשה מצווה על פרו ורבו, a woman is not obligated to fulfill this מצוה. A man has an obligation to get married and have children, at minimum a boy and a girl, and a woman doesn't have this obligation. Now, in simple פשט, it means that she doesn't have the obligation, she is exempt. Why? Because it wasn't given to her. But it sounds a little bit strange that a woman who is more attached to the children and has more feelings should be the one that shouldn't be obligated to do it. Why? So, the רבי says the רבי says because her you don't have to command. A commandment is the פשט a person who you have to tell to do. \"If you won't tell me, I won't do it.\" The woman has this feeling inborn in her that she'll do it anyway. She doesn't have to be commanded, because this is her nature, this is her role that was given by השם, and she has this feeling that she'll do it anyway. The same concerning another מצוה. There's a מצוה of חינוך. There's a מצוה to educate your children, which technically means, if you want to look at it very literally, it means that every מצוה that a person is supposed to do only starts from בר מצוה. The תורה said that only from when you're 13 years old, or 12 years old a girl, you have to do it. When you're a child, you're not obligated, so you don't have to do it. Children are exempt from all the מצוות. Came the חכמים, the rabbis, and they said, \"No. We put on an obligation on the children too, on the parents to take that the children should also...\" So little children also have to fulfill מצוות. פסח they have to eat מצה, and שבת they have to keep שבת. By doing that, you fulfill the מצוה of חינוך. That's the מצוה of חינוך. חינוך, which means education, includes having the children the parents have to see that the children should do all the מצוות. It's interesting that this מצוה of חינוך was given only on the men and not on the women. The חכמים said a man is obligated to see that his child should shake the לולב on סוכות, and eat in the סוכה, and eat מצה, and all and all the מצוות, eat כשר. A woman doesn't have an obligation to be מחנך her children. And again, that's interesting. Strange! The woman who's closer to the children shouldn't have the obligation? The answer is she doesn't need the obligation. She will do it anyway, for she knows and feels this idea, this ענין of being מחנך and bringing it down to the children in a way that the children should be able to take it. Which is the reason by the way the רבי says why when השם told משה to tell the אידן about the תורה, the פסוק I quoted before, so he said first speak to the women and then to the men. But רש\"י says, he said when you speak to the women, speak to them softly. And to the men you could speak harshly. So again, simple פשט, how do you learn? Because the women are more sensitive, you've got to be careful, don't start up with them, if you speak to harshly who knows what they'll do. But the men, they're, no they, they have a thicker skin, you could give them. The רבי says a different, the רבי has an look outlook on everything completely different. He says not because of that. By the men, if you speak softly, it won't affect them. They won't accept it. You got to push it into them. The woman just by telling them softly it'll be enough. So since it's enough telling them softly, why go worse, why go harsh. So משה, השם said to משה, \"To them you speak כה תאמר, אמירה.\" Why? Because it's enough for them, because they have this within them, this ability of accepting it and knowing what to do with it, that you could tell it to them in a very in a weak way and they'll also accept it, because they have this כח. So basically from all this comes out that we can't judge and say the men have, you know, a more important role, the women have a less important, nor the opposite. They're both important, on the other hand, down the bottom line, the woman has more than the man. But never nevertheless, you need both, one without the other, and when they work together then what happens then you have the י\"ק, he does his חלק, his part which is the י, חכמה, she does her part which is the ק which is the בינה, and together you have the שכינה, and the שכינה rests between them, meaning that we bring Godliness into the world and the home then is run according to תורה, and it's run run with שלום and with קדושה and with אלקות, with Godliness, and השם has נחת, and the parents have נחת from the children, and then this is going to bring משיח when we will see then the importance of the role of the role of the woman. Yes. כח rabbi,

very insightful lecture on the role of woman. However, we live in modern times There is a man speaking, okay. We live in modern times, Yeah. and a modern Jewish family, I don't mean modern, I mean even even a תורה, a תורה Jewish family, a פרום family can it exist with the expenses in today's world without a two income situation? Two income means the woman is forced to go out and work, teach or whatever. So the roles become a little, will change here. She is bringing like as you said, the, the השקפה into the house, but like the man, so she's still responsible, her role is to be מחנך the children and to keep כשר and what you're basically saying is Oh So the question is that creates, that creates other and and do stretches on on that on that situation. The woman becomes more like like you said עבודת פרך like Pharaoh or whatever, so the economy is creating that kind of situation. So how do you, you got to make a a severe adjustment here. Okay, you're right. You see, the the adjustment, you're right there has to be an adjustment. The adjustment cannot be in the תורה. The adjustment could be, no no no, all right, I understand. The adjustment has to be in the technicalities. In other words, we have to know what the תורה tells us is the role here and the role there. Exactly how to apply it in every situation so every generation every time, according to the way the מצב of the situation is, we have to apply this philosophy, this idea. So nowadays since they both have to work let's say because otherwise they can't, you know, survive, so we still have to apply the same idea, but we have to adjust it it should fit to the מצב the way it is now. So the adjusting is not done in what the תורה expects of the man or the woman. The adjustment is done how that is done according to the circumstances of nowadays. So within the framework of him working and her working, we have to work out that she should nevertheless be able to מחנך the children, etc., etc. Plus nowadays things are a little bit different, that by the woman going out to work, and I'm not saying it's right or wrong, I'm not going into that because I remember once by a פברענגען the רבי spoke about it and he said, without going into whether it's right or wrong, it's the fact is that way, but it's not that by the woman going out to work it takes away from her being able to run the home, because years ago, the job of the woman took up all her time. And washing dish, washing clothes meant a day. You take the עמער, you take the pail, and you walk down to the river, and it take eight hours. Now, okay, it's a big job, we ask the woman with all the clothes and everything, but still, you know, you have the washing machine, cooking, all these things, ממילא so she's it's not taking השם made it so that since now it's needed, they should be able to still do their job, role their role, and nevertheless not take away and still work. But it has to be adjusted, true. It has to be adjusted. This concept has to be adjusted according to the circumstances of the times, and nowadays, טאקע, it has to be that way. Yes. Explain so Who's talking about learning? Surely they have to learn. They have to learn A woman only is supposed to learn the הלכה, the תורה that deals with those מצות that they're obligated to do, which means like this: A man is obligated to learn תורה, not for the sake of doing מצות. There is a מצוה to learn תורה for the sake of learning תורה, and therefore we learn תורה about the קרבנות even though we have no בית המקדש nowadays, we still learn תורה. We learn תורה about things which don't apply nowadays. We have to learn תורה. Women are not obligated to learn תורה, but they do have to learn those parts of תורה that deal with the מצות that they are obligated to do, because otherwise how will they know what to do? So, therefore, they should learn much of תורה. I remember the רבי once said, הלוואי the men would know of the תורה what the women are obligated to learn. In other words, they are obligated so much, even though it's only concerning those מצות they have to do, there's so much there that they הלוואי the men would know it. But there is still not a restriction, but a difference in the way of learning. When you talk about learning קבלה or חסידות, when you talk about קבלה, we really mean learning חסידות, that, the women are obligated. Does that make sense? Yeah? Nu, the ceiling has a hole. We just said that the תורה that deals with those מצות that the women are obligated to keep, they have to learn. Learning חסידות deals with those מצות that the women have to keep. Learning חסידות brings a person to have אהבת השם, to love השם, יראת השם, to fear השם, to have אהבת ישראל, to have יראת שמים, to have all these ענינים that חסידות brings you to. These are מצות which women are obligated like the men. These are not מצות that have a time limit. As a matter of fact, these are the מצות that a person is supposed to fulfill every moment of his life, because you see, even those מצות that have no time limit, but doesn't mean every minute that you do it. You can just do it anytime you want, but not every second they have to be done. But אהבת השם, it says to love השם you have to love Him every second. There's a The חינוך, the ספר החינוך, in his הקדמה, his introduction, says that there are six מצות that you have to do every second. And he says the רמז, שש ערי מקלט תהיינה לכם, whatever, he says, which is you shouldn't follow your eyes, and you should have אהבת ישראל, and you should have אהבת love השם, and love יידן, and fear fear השם. These are מצות you have to do, and these are מצות that women have to do too, because it's not מצות שהזמן גרמא. And what brings them? How do they fulfill this מצות? So, the רמב״ם says, the רמב״ם says when he speaks about loving השם, he says, וכיצד היא הדרך לאהבתו וליראתו? What's the way? How does a person come to love Him and fear Him? So, he answers, when you learn about it and you think about it, it'll bring you to love, it'll bring you to have fear. So, חסידות brings a person to have אהבת השם and יראת השם. And the women, being they're obligated to have אהבת השם and יראת השם, doesn't say anywhere that they have to love השם less than a man, or a man is more obligated to love השם than them, so they have to learn חסידות as much as a man. That's why the רבי said that women have to learn חסידות. But still, when it comes into the home, it's the man that will bring in what is expected, at least that's how it should be, he should understand, and the woman will be able to take that and develop it and understand how to bring it down practically, that the children should actually gain from it and follow it. Yes. I said before that when the circumstances are there, so we know אין הקדוש ברוך הוא בא בטרוניא עם בריותיו. השם doesn't put a burden on people that they cannot take, and if השם made it that this is a single parent, because everything is from השם, so obviously He gives this parent special כחות, that's an exception, that if it's a mother, she will be able to do the role of the father, if it's a father, he'll be able to do the role of a mother, and they'll have a complete home. In דרך הטבע, naturally, you have to try to have both, and therefore a woman has to try to get married and a man has to try to get to get married, and but as long as it doesn't happen, and that's not through the person's fault, If a person chooses that way, then you can say he mixed in his own free choice and then we don't know what השם does here. But if it's he tries his best, and she tries her best, and in the meantime they're single, and השם wants the person, this woman to, or this man, to educate the children properly, השם gives the כוחות. And then we can rely השם, so it's a, but it's an exception. But that's not the norm. The norm is that השם divided the role by the man and by the woman. Yes? I have a couple of questions. One was this kind of wondering about, we know that השם gives from שמים, he doesn't make collabs. So the mentions about clothes growing with people, what happens after a baby? Turned into clothes that are smaller then? Large babies? You mean her clothes? What is the question? Wait, I don't know. What is the question? No, it's not important. The other question was how come there was so much antagonism against education for women? Against תורה for women, not education. Historic education, against studying תורה. Against תורה, studying תורה, not education. Because for a woman's role the way it was then, it was enough when she was home and she would take it from her mother. The mother would give her יראת שמים and teach her whatever she had to know, and how to cook, and how to bake, and how to take care of the children. But יראת שמים, all these things were taken home, so there was no need. And there is the פסוק that says כל כבודה בת מלך פנימה that it's not צניעותדיק, not modest for a woman to be going out. So to go out in the schools and things like that, since it wasn't needed, so they were against it. Right, right. Because it wasn't needed, they said you shouldn't do it, because you're you're taking him out of that צניעותדיק מצב. So you're not allowed to. Plus, there's something else. The modern people at those times started teaching the children, the girls, and therefore it became a modern thing, so the real פרומע didn't want to follow. But the main thing was because they didn't need it, it was enough, and then automatically they shouldn't do it. But when the times changed, and it's not enough to gain at home, and therefore this, the זכות was to this one woman, שרה שנירר, that established the בית יעקב, and then other schools, and then, but in truth, those schools saved Jewry. If not for these schools, there would be no אידישקייט, because you would have בחורים sitting in ישיבה and learning, and טאקע ישיבה תורה learning was flourishing those years, and the girls, since the times changed, so the home wasn't enough and just sitting home cooking wasn't enough, they would have all gone away, and they wouldn't have who to marry and would have been end of אידישקייט. And this פשוט she had a זכות to save אידישקייט. Even if you look back back into like times of ברוריה, there were individuals Individuals. Always exceptions. Everything that we're talking about, always exception, for whatever reason, whether you know, reason על פי קבלה, reason על פי פשט, exception. So ברוריה was an exception, but it's, we can't base philosophy or or or דרך or direction from an exception. We base our direction from what we see is the common, the most, the general. So this was an exception, but בכלל it was not accepted because of this reason. Because they didn't need it. Actually, the גמרא says, כל המלמד את בתו תורה כאילו מלמדה תפלות, you shouldn't teach her תורה. Hey, whatever reason. But when started becoming needed, it was done. So today, there are many women who דאווען, דאווען שחרית, מנחה, מעריב and then they say תהילים Yeah, yeah. Is that לפנים משורת הדין, or what? For a woman to דאווען once a day is not לפנים משורת הדין, you have to do it. Women have to דאווען. But one might ask, One might ask it's a מצוה שהזמן גרמא, it's a מצוה that has a time limit. You have to דאווען one during the day, once during the day. The גמרא says, the גמרא asks this question, the גמרא answers, but דאווענען is for the sake of חיי, of life. You're asking for life. Women don't have to live? There are exceptions that they are obligated to do מצות that time, limited time. For instance, they have to eat מצה on פסח. That's a מצוה שהזמן גרמא. שופר they don't have to hear, but מצה they do. So the גמרא gives reasons why. So there are exceptions for different reasons. The reason here the גמרא says why דאווענינג is because דאווענינג is for life and women have to live also. Well, like he said about ברוריה, that was לפנים משורת הדין. That she learned? Yeah, for sure. She didn't have to learn. She was a big חכמה, sure. So if a woman learns גמרא, she Yeah? She is performing a מצוה? She is She fulfills a מצוה of תורה? She is not obligated to learn תורה. She is learning תורה. So she is learning תורה, she fulfills a מצוה, but it's not that if she wouldn't learn she would be עובר. That's If you want to judge something Sometimes there are things if you do, it's good. It's לפנים Yeah, definitely לפנים משורת הדין. Not not It's not a מצוה, not a חיוב. It's a מצוה, but not a חיוב. Yes? I didn't hear. You say the woman is, she has to דאווען all three times? No. Once a day is enough. There are women who דאווען three times a day, which is very good. According to the רמב״ם According to the רמב״ם. Yeah. You're supposed to, a person is really supposed to learn the whole day. But if you can't, you have to learn at least one or two hours, and then pay the rest to someone else who sits and learns. Is a woman also supposed to... Is a woman also... The רמב״ם said you have to pay someone else? Not pay, but he didn't set a law that you should learn the whole day. It says in a פסוק, it says והגית בו יומם ולילה, to learn all day. But it says, if you need to make a livelihood then you can learn. And if you have to work more, you can even learn one הלכה in the morning, one at night, and you're מקיים the מצוה. If a woman, if a woman... She's not obligated. She doesn't have a מצוה to learn תורה. If she pays someone else, she gives צדקה to someone that sits in order to sit and learn? Yeah. She gets the שכר. She gets the שכר? Sure! The גמרא says that how does a woman get the שכר of learning? So the גמרא says, by her waiting up at night for her husband to come from a שיעור, and for her waiting to greet her children that come from school from learning, she shares! The לשון is she shares! And the אלטער רבי brings in שלחן ערוך she gets half of the זכות of the learning! And I'll tell you more, the אלטער רבי says, listen to this: when a woman on her own learns תורה, as we were talking before, like ברוריה, learns תורה, she does a מצוה. But she does a מצוה of an אינו מצווה ועושה. Which means, a person who is not commanded and does a מצוה also gets reward. But the reward is not as great as if you do a מצוה when you are commanded. So when a woman learns תורה, she gets שכר, she gets reward like an אינו מצווה, like someone who is not commanded. But when she waits for her husband to come from the שיעור, and when she greets her children and helps them and gives them food and helps her husband learn, then she gets a חלק in his learning. And what kind of reward? Not like the reward of someone who is not obligated. She gets the reward like someone who is obligated, because she shares in his learning, and his learning was learned by somebody who was obligated. So she gets a bigger reward! So it's פשוט that she gets half. Yes. Doesn't it say that a husband shouldn't talk excessively to his wife? Is that correctly... It says, אל תרבה שיחה עם האשה, don't talk too much to a woman. באשתו אמרו, it was said even by your own wife. קל וחומר באשת חבירו, certainly someone else's wife. Okay. It means talking נארישקייט. For no purpose. So if you talk תורה, or you talk things of the home, or you talk in order to bring a closer relationship, so that's all with a purpose. But it's not, then it's just a waste of time. So in addition to being סתם דברים בטלים when you talk נארישקייטן with anybody else, here it's even worse. But not, but not that there isn't... Wouldn't that be the same for a woman? She shouldn't talk to a man? She shouldn't talk נארישקייט to a man. Right, right, exactly. Yeah, that's true, that's true. Maybe because he has to learn תורה, they didn't have to say... Yeah, but if she's going to talk to a man, she's going to stop him from learning, taking him away. Why does it look so bad when it's meant to a woman? Because mainly we want to say it means other women, which if you talk too much, it could bring a closeness which it shouldn't. So it says, even by your own wife if it's בובע מעשיות you shouldn't talk, someone else's wife certainly you're not allowed to talk because that could bring you to even worse things. Yes. You drew the analogy before about the women, they are not commanded, it's not a מצוה to raise the children, to whatever... So that, you answered the question, but it's very interesting that there are men who naturally want to do a מצוה, but you get the שכר if the אייבערשטער commanded you to do the מצוה. If you do it naturally, I mean, so you just answered the question, but there are people who want to do מצות, want to דאוון... Right, but this is a bigger שכר. Effectively... Right, this is a bigger שכר, השם commanded them to have a bigger שכר.