Theology

Talmud Torah is viewed as a central commandment in Judaism. This paper considers the origins of this mitzvah and focuses on the history of women’s access to Torah study from antiquity to the present. For centuries women were barred from studying the Talmud and other rabbinic literature even though the Mishnah (Sotah 3:4) transmitted conflicting opinions on the propriety of women’s religious education. An analysis of the relevant sources shows that restrictions on women’s Torah study have been rooted to a great extent in social conventions. After tracing the radical shift vis-à-vis women and Talmud Torah that began in the mid-19th century, the paper concludes with an overview of contemporary female Jewish scholars, their professional opportunities, and the impact of expanded access to education on Modern Orthodoxy in the United States and Israel.

May women participate actively in the Torah reading on Shabbat morning? Both the Tosefta (Megillah 3:11) and the Talmud (Megillah 23a) address this issue, and both contain the same contradiction: while at first women are included in the quorum of seven needed for the ritual, in the next breath they are disqualified from reading in public. What motivated the sages to say “All are qualified to be among the seven [who are called to the Torah and read from the Torah on Shabbat morning], even a woman and even a minor [...]” only to follow the statement with a refusal to integrate women into the synagogal ritual of Keriat haTorah? An examination of women’s presence in biblical depictions of public Torah reading (Deuteronomy 31:10–13; Nehemiah 7:72–8:3; Joshua 8:30–35) suggests possible answers to this question.

In the Footsteps of the Priests. Law and Gender in Torah and Rabbinic Literature as Illustrated by the Exemption of Women from Time-Bound Commandments
To whom are the commandments in the Torah addressed and how do the rabbis interpret these textual passages? And why do they exempt women from time-bound mitzvoth (mQid 1:7)? With these questions in mind, the 21 commandments discussed in bQid 33b–35a and bBer 20b are analyzed. The analysis demonstrates that instead of corroborating the rule laid down in mQid 1:7, fully one-third of these 21 commandments contradict it: women are obligated to four time-bound and exempted from three non-time-bound commandments. The analysis also shows that many of the mitzvoth from which the rabbis exempt women – sukkah, lulav, shofar, tzitzit, tefillin, shema Yisrael, and Talmud Torah – share a common feature, namely, their function as temple ritual substitutes. During the transition from a priest-based, Temple-oriented Judaism to a study- and learning-oriented rabbinic Judaism, rituals such as these played a crucial role. The author argues that the exemption of women from time-bound commandments created a hierarchy of mitzvoth between men and women that replaced the previously existing hierarchy of mitzvoth between priests and Israel. In both constellations the rabbis considered the obligation to more commandments to be a privilege and associated this greater obligation with higher social status.

In the Footsteps of the Priests. Law and Gender in Torah and Rabbinic Literature as Illustrated by the Exemption of Women from Time-Bound Commandments. – To whom are the commandments in the Torah addressed and how do the rabbis interpret these textual passages? And why do they exempt women from time-bound mitzvoth (mQid 1:7)? With these questions in mind, the 21 commandments discussed in bQid 33b–35a and bBer 20b are analyzed. The analysis demonstrates that instead of corroborating the rule laid down in mQid 1:7, fully one-third of these 21 commandments contradict it: women are obligated to four time-bound and exempted from three non-time-bound commandments. The analysis also shows that many of the mitzvoth from which the rabbis exempt women – sukkah, lulav, shofar, tzitzit, tefillin, shema Yisrael, and Talmud Torah – share a common feature, namely, their function as temple ritual substitutes. During the transition from a priest-based, Temple-oriented Judaism to a study- and learning-oriented rabbinic Judaism, rituals such as these played a crucial role. The author argues that the exemption of women from time-bound commandments created a hierarchy of mitzvoth between men and women that replaced the previously existing hierarchy of mitzvoth between priests and Israel. In both constellations the rabbis considered the obligation to more commandments to be a privilege and associated this greater obligation with higher social status.

Woher wissen Jüdinnen und Juden, wie sie beten sollen? Von Hanna! Denn die Frau aus dem ersten Samuel-Buch, die Gott um einen Sohn bittet, hat die Rabbinen beim Definieren des persönlichen Gebets mehr geprägt als jede andere biblische Figur. Wo die Gelehrten im talmudischen Traktat Berachot die Bestimmungen diskutieren, die für das Gebet gelten sollen, nehmen sie mehrfach Bezug auf Hannas Verhalten während ihres Besuchs im Tempel zu Schilo.

Why do the tannaim exempt women from time-bound commandments (m. Qiddushin 1:7)? In this paper it is argued that the unequal levels of obligation for men and women in rabbinic Judaism creates a hierarchy of mitzvot between them that mimics and virtually replaces the earlier biblical hierarchy of mitzvot between priests and Israel. In both constellations the rabbis consider the obligation to more commandments to be a privilege. The similarity between the hierarchies priests–Israel and men–women becomes apparent when the selection of commandments from which the tannaim and the amoraim explicitly exempt women are examined more closely: Many of them – the time-bound commandments shofar, lulav, tzitzit, tefillin, and shema as well as the non-time-bound mitzvah of Torah study – share a common feature, namely, their function as “ersatz Temple rituals.” During the transition from a Temple-oriented, priest-based Judaism to a study-oriented rabbinic Judaism, rituals such as these played a crucial role.

Was ist der Unterschied zwischen einem trauernden jüdischen Mann und einer trauernden jüdischen Frau? Etwas überspitzt lautet die Antwort auf diese Frage: Es gibt keinen Unterschied. Insbesondere in der allerersten Trauerphase gelten für Männer und Frauen dieselben religiösen Vorschriften. Eine Lektüre von mBerachot 3,1 im Spiegel von mBerachot 3,3.

Tradition und Moderne miteinander verbinden: Das wollten junge jüdische Intellektuelle zu Beginn des 19. Jahrhunderts mit der «Wissenschaft des Judentums» im Kontext der Haskala, der jüdischen Aufklärung. Prägend für die jüdische und säkulare Bildung war damals auch die Einführung der allgemeinen Schulpflicht, die in Europa schrittweise Einzug hielt. Denn parallel zum Grundschulbesuch eröffnete sie den Frauen Zugang zu jüdischem Wissen, das ihnen bisher weitgehend verwehrt war – eine Entwicklung, die im 20. Jahrhundert schliesslich zur rabbinischen Ordination von Frauen führte.

Women’s Exclusion from Serving as Witnesses: Biblical and Rabbinic Sources
A man can give testimony, but a woman cannot: This is the rule in rabbinic Judaism. The tannaim and amoraim define the exclusion of women from testifying as biblical rather than rabbinic law. In Mishnah, Talmud, and later rabbinic literature, the principle is “no, but”: No, women cannot testify, but there are exceptions to the rule. The rabbis justify the “no” in diverse ways. Their arguments range from masculine biblical language, to imminent influence by third parties, to women’s lack of competence – or they give no reason at all. What led the rabbis to this “no, but”? Why do they make a point of defining women's disqualification from testifying as biblical law? And why has there been no in-depth feminist discourse in modern Orthodox Judaism on the disqualification of women from serving as witnesses? A range of rabbinic sources will be used to explore these questions. Today, several groups are interested in integrating women into the pool of potential witnesses. These include bridal couples, who desire a more active role for women in their wedding rituals, and modern Orthodox congregations and their (female) rabbis, who do not wish to see classical rabbinic tasks such as divorces or conversions to Judaism carried out solely by male rabbis.

Burnout syndrome and depression are prevalent mental health problems in many societies today. Most existing methods used in clinical intervention and research are based on inventories. Natural Language Processing (NLP) enables new possibilities to automatically evaluate text in the context of clinical Psychology. In this paper, we show how affective word list ratings can be used to differentiate between texts indicating depression or burnout, and a control group. In particular, we show that depression and burnout show statistically significantly higher arousal than the control group.