Jewish Role of Women
Since the beginning of the Jewish religion, women have had what seems to be a marginalized role that encompasses almost every facet of life. In many cases within the body of Jewish texts, clear misogynist statements and commentary are made dealing with every aspect of what it means to be female. Within the Orthodox movement, these restrictions appear to be the most prevalent. Through examination of the role of women within the key elements of the Orthodox Jewish life cycle: birth, adolescence, adulthood, and death, I hope to discover whether the female discriminatory point of view of Jewish Orthodoxy is founded or if the traditional ways of the Orthodox community are simply misunderstood. It is difficult to understand the role of women within a religion without a basic understanding of the religion in question; especially if talking of Judaism. It is now important to recognize that for faithful Jews, everything, whether within religious or secular life, revolves around religious laws or mitzvot (singular mitzvah).(1) The Jewish way of life encompasses every aspect of human endeavor. There is a verse in the Book of Isaiah: God desired for his righteousness' sake to make the Torah great and glorious."
Each Orthodox movement has it own day schools, yeshivas (Jewish schools), seminaries, rabbinical, and congregational organizations. (Baskin 1991, 20) Within the Mishnah this separation is clearly defined. (Haut 1992, 142) However, these groups have not received a warm reception by Orthodox traditionalists. However, keeping in mind the emphasis placed on Halakha (the entirety of rabbinic law) which prohibits female participation I this life cycle event, it will prove to be a difficult road ahead for those proponents such as the women's tefillah groups who are striving for women to gain an equal footing in the b'rit milah tradition. Oral Torah consists of commentaries and instructions written by rabbis concerning how to follow Written Torah. It began in the Middle East around the present day state of Israel. It is also understandable for some parents to wish this deeply significant experience for their daughters. This is also true for the Oral Torah. This name is only used for religious purposes in the setting of the synagogue service. Jewish immigrants brought these differing viewpoints with them to America and today, over half of Jews define themselves based on one of these movements. There are many degrees of Orthodoxy. The Orthodox view these acts as a "twisting" of the b'rit milah into something it is not.
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Oral Torah,
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Acceptance Essays
