Depending on the time period and society, women throughout history have had varying levels of agency, but it was always secondary to that of men. Before the 20th century, women in most societies had no legal standing outside of marriage or family ties. Ownership of property or the ability to influence politics was a privilege only the very wealthy or elite women could achieve. Women never played an equal role in the production and transmission of knowledge or in shaping and ruling empires and nation-states.
Even while we can recognize the essential responsibility women have always borne of maintaining the home and raising children, there were entire spheres of life they were excluded from. This is true on the global stage, but also within Judaism, women traditionally have not had access to Jewish texts, central communal roles, or the level of literacy to record their thoughts, beliefs or inner world.
What to do in the face of this evidence? On one extreme we find adherents of the belief that the whole idea of gender norms must be destroyed and remade, that all traditional notions of gender are confining and hollow. On the other extreme, we find a view of womanhood that is rigid, anachronistic, and scared of any innovation or progress.
The Rebbe’s view was that a Jewish woman’s role is a crucial factor in the continuity of Judaism itself and such a position is a divine mandate, and at the same time, there must be an expansion in the areas of Jewish life that women can make an important, unique contribution. Therefore, when we look at the full picture of a woman’s status historically and in the contemporary period we must ask: What led to her secondary status and what has caused the change in her present role?
To answer this question, we must turn to the true source of what the secular feminists call “Patriarchy” and what Judaism calls “the diminishment of the moon.” It is fitting to begin the year with this fundamental topic, especially since it appears in the first portion of the Torah, this week’s parsha, Bereshis. In both approaches above, the fundamental question is why men seem to have had an advantage over women throughout history. The answer from Jewish mysticism is very different from those posed by academic or secular theories. It is not due to men’s physical strength, the dynamics of hunter-gatherer society, or the winds of chance. Men say the blessing each morning on not being made a woman because G-d built a fundamental inequality into existence. In order to understand the ideal relationship between masculinity and femininity (as well as between men and women), we must start with the original source of their hierarchical relationship in which the feminine is lower than the masculine and relies on his effusion to gain her own light– exactly the paradigm of the sun and the moon. In this way, we can gain an honest, full reckoning with the status of women in Judaism (and beyond) over the course of human history within the context of G-d’s master plan for creation.
The story of womanhood begins in the very early days of creation on the day that G-d created the sun and the moon. It is here we begin our cosmic story of gender.
In the link below I present the full, translated talk of the Lubavitcher Rebbe on the diminishment of the moon and her eventual rise:
When the Moon Became Small (Lekkutei Sichos, chelek 30, Bereshis 2).docx
(I highly recommend downloading, printing out and learning this talk over Shabbos!)
On the third day of creation, the moon and sun are created as two equal “great” lights, yet the moon comes to G-d and states the obvious, “Two kings cannot share one crown!” Admitting the logic of her claim, G-d tells the moon to diminish herself, thus for all of creation the moon, representing the feminine, will be the “small” light, receiving from the sun.
The Rebbe parallels this to the Written Torah (sun) and the Oral Torah (moon). He writes:
The Oral Torah is the small light, the moon, because just like the moon receives light from the sun, the Oral Torah receives from the Written Torah. Everything the sages decree over the generations is sourced in the Written Torah. How does this align with the lights being created equal first and then the moon is diminished? The Oral Torah only received from the Written Torah in the sense that the Jewish people are receiving the Torah. It was given in a way that they would be able to expand upon and unfold it over time. However, from the perspective of Hashem, the giver of the Torah, the Oral Torah does not receive from the Written Torah, rather they are two great lights. In fact, the Rambam explains that “every mitzvah and its explanation were given to us” (from above). Hashem gives both types of Torah to us and they are equal in His estimation; it is only from our position as receivers of the Torah that they become the great light of the Written Torah and then the small light of the Oral Torah that receives (is sourced) in the great light.
So too, Sun-Moon, Male-Female, Rich-Poor, every dynamic between giver and receiver is only coded as hierarchical from the limited human perspective. From G-d’s perspective they are not only equal, but the diminishment of the receiver will lead to a great, great light that could never emerge solely from the Sun alone.
In our own experiences we often wish we could be perfect in serving G-d. We know it is only human to make mistakes, to get stuck in the mud at times, and to feel down, but wouldn’t it be better to be perfect? Following the logic of the sun and the moon, this is also asking the question: Isn’t it better to be a man? To have an obligation to learn Torah, to have more mitzvos, to be less involved in the mundane, physical aspects of daily life? If we broaden this question, perhaps it also touches on the value we place on visibility, power, intelligence, and success. Aren’t those the things to strive for and to idolize?
Yet, in the talk above, we find a profound lesson in the mandate given to the feminine model throughout creation. It is precisely within her dark, inferior, eclipsed state that we find the seeds of a greater light. Revealed light comes easily in a sense– the power of holiness to dispel darkness, the perfect service of the righteous. These are natural, inborn tendencies to be good, to rise above, to shine everyday in the same level of radiance. But there is a limitation to this seemingly lofty level. It remains somewhat removed from the real darkness in the world. It doesn’t relate to that darkness and so ultimately it cannot worm its way inside of every crevasse of the world to show that G-d is also there. This is only the purview of the moon. Only by knowing darkness, by going through ups and downs, distance and closeness, yearning and confusion, can the feminine model truly unveil G-d’s hiddenness in the breadth of creation.
The deep yearning of women over the past century or so to regain their status as an equal to men has sometimes distorted Jewish values of motherhood, family, and faith; however, it points to a very real process of the elevation of the feminine to her rightful place alongside the sun as a full partner. I am grateful to be a woman in this time, as we find our power, our voice, and know that we have the critical role in bringing the world out of darkness to light.
Chava Green // The Hasidic Feminist 
Leave a comment