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The Important
Role of Women in Judaism |
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Women play
a very important role in the Jewish religion as they are
entrusted with important laws that the family must keep in
order to ensure continuity of Judaism. Since Judaism is
family centered, it is the Jewish woman’s duty to ensure
that the family becomes a pure unit in showing love,
respect and obedience to the laws of Judaism. |
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Traditionalist
Outlook of Women’s Role in Judaism |
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Not all of
the Jewish rituals are open to women in Judaism. However,
there are more and more priestly duties that are accorded
to women based on their parental lineage in recognition of
their descent which gives them almost an equal footing
with men in the observance of Jewish traditions and
rituals. |
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A Close Look on
the Role of Women in Judaism |
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There are
two different views of the role of women, that of the
Reform Judaism and Orthodox Judaism. Although the Reform
view may seem to be cut and dried compared to the Orthodox
view, such is not actually the case. The main difference
between the two views lie in the definition of equality
but however this transcends barriers since both are based
on the Holy Book, the Torah. Although The Torah proclaims
the equality of man and woman in the performance of their
duties and responsibilities, the lack of a definitive
interpretation of rights and privileges for both sexes
makes the situation more complex and seem unequal. |
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Traditional
View of the Role of Women in Judaism |
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Women are
not considered as second class citizens in Judaism. In
fact, Judaism treats women with utmost respect and in very
high regards as the home is the center of Jewish religion.
The rights of women in Judaism is considerably more
advanced that those of the Western women who were granted
equality only recently unlike their Jewish counterparts. |
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Judaism on the
Issue of Polygamy |
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Judaism
does not explicitly allow polygamy but it does not also
condemn the practice. They neither tolerate nor prohibit
plurality of marriage because of ancient traditions but
have instituted conditions and requirements that
unmistakably prohibit the practice. |
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Understanding
Clean and Unclean in Jewish Law |
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The clean
and unclean interpretation in Jewish Law does not refer to
the physical state of cleanliness or of being dirty rather
it refers to an individual’s spiritual readiness as
prerequisites in order to satisfactorily perform certain
commandments. |
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A Closer Look
at the Ritual Impurity of a Woman Due to Menstruation (Niddah) |
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Niddah, the
time of a woman’s menstruation, is considered a period
wherein husbands and wives are not permitted to engage in
sexual relations and refrain from close contact with one
another. In Jewish Law, during the period of niddah, a
woman is considered ritually impure thereby making
everything she touches impure as well. In order to
preclude this occurrence, the Torah prescribes that man
and wife should not engage in any physical contact during
this period of ritual impurity until after the woman has
attained the stage of ritual purity (taharah) which is
after the observance of mikvah. |
