As I sit down to write this, I am reminded of the speech written in 1852 by Sojourner Truth, a speech entitled “Aint I a Woman?” In her speech Truth seeks to unite the
plight of slavery and the plight of women – both a struggle against the patriarchy. In halacha, women and slaves have much in common as well, except the halachic slave is only a theoretical being today, but the halachic woman (“the isha”)– is still very much in existence, still under the power of the patriarchal halachic system, where the isha will remain, until the isha perishes from this earth.
That being said, imagine if the halachic category of “isha” simply did not exist?
In halacha, the “isha” is not a free person – she is in the same basic category as children and slaves – this religious demarcation, of course, is simply a reflection of the patriarchal order – women slaves and children are under the control of the man who is the head of the household. While, I certainly oppose that world order, it is important to mention that slaves and women had some rights and obligations within the system and the man also had obligations towards his wives, slaves and children. While women were not equal to men or free under the patriarchal world order, they were often taken care off. Society tends to still believe this regarding children, modern parents have an obligation to provide for their children and children have some rights and obligations but they are reduced because of a belief that children are not ready to take on all the rights and responsibilities of adulthood. This same belief that we currently hold about children was once held to various degrees about woman, slaves and children.
In the halachic patriarchy, there is also the matter of conflicts that might arise when women, slaves and children are in a situation where the patriarch’s demands might conflict with requirements of halacha , thus halacha acts to secure the power of the patriarchy, by removing the requirements to proactively obey God (positive time bound commandments). Beyond the logistical needs of the patriarchy, there are also symbolic needs – the time-bound requirements that women, slaves and children are not required to fulfill intersect with the question of social standing – such leading communal prayers, which traditionally, can only be lead by men, who are representative of community leadership. Under the classical patriarchy of antiquity, simply put, MEN COUNT: women, slaves and children exist to facilitate the counting of men.
Contemporary approaches to include women in halacha (within orthodoxy)either apologize (women are holy already) or attempt to say that women can do things they are not obligated too, or that there might be some way to obligate them. The problem with these approaches to halachic innovation is that they are all attempts to create a more friendly patriarchy. This is an unacceptable solution – the woman in halacha, a creature named “isha” does not describe me. It also does not describe today’s ethics.
We can all agree that slavery is unethical (even though there are still slaves in this world). So too – the “isha” status, was a kind of slavery – wives were property – today we can mostly agree that this is wrong (even though there are woman who are still far from free).
Practically what does this mean?
1. The man of the torah – is the human of today: Whatever laws you apply to him you apply to woman.
2. Studying the halachot regarding women, is like studying the halachot of slavery or ritual sacrifices – does not have practical implications, but what does these days?
3. Kidushin is out – it’s a patriarchal marriage: it depends on the existence of the “isha” – owning someone’s halachic status is wrong, and more importantly, impossible if there is no “isha.”
4.Queerness: not a problem, a man in an egalitarian relationship is not lying with another man like an “isha.” Hell, a man cannot even lie with another woman as an “isha,” assuming their relationship is egalitarian.
